Napoleon Essay

Ultimately, the French Revolution led to a law system that was very much against the established principles of the Enlightenment thinkers. Napoleon Bonaparte became the first strong leader of the new France republic in 1799. He was a leader that often gave off the appearance of inclusion of the people in governmental decisions but placed the most importance on his own authority. Though universal suffrage had been established for white males, democratic principles were not exactly used for Bonaparte’s reign. He tampered with voting until he had himself elected as consul for life in 1802. In 1804, he established the Napoleonic Code which took away many rights women had gained during the Revolution, such as the equality they had in marriage. It

On the other hand, Napoleon provided the people of France with the Napoleonic Code and therefore freedom and justice; as he wasn’t particularly religious people could not confuse this act for selfishness it was obviously to make the people of France truly happy.

In France in 1789, A revolution began. The people of France were fighting for their inalienable rights such as freedom from serfdom , equality between the classes. Within this chaos in France, Napoleon, a new thinker, came about and changed France in many ways. Napoleon's policies can be seen as preserving the legacy of the French Revolution by giving equality to the lower classes and creating a governmental system that helped to put the people in charge of their sovereignty, however it can be seen as hurting the legacy by protecting the ideas of absolutism.

During the Napoleonic Era, from 1799 to 1815, France became a military power gaining and controlling land throughout Europe. While some historians believe Napoleon Bonaparte was a ruthless dictator, his military accomplishments far outweigh any atrocities he committed. He helped France gain stability after the French Revolution and he also abolished the Feudal contract. Napoleon was a brilliant strategist using military tactics to cause fear and to defeat whatever enemies stood in his way. Throughout his rule, Napoleon continually gained ground, and by the end of his reign, his empire encompassed all of Spain, Italy, and a small portion of land by Russia and Austria. (see map) He is one of

In 1804, the Napoleonic Codes were implemented, in which reformed laws. These codes were used to maintain Napoleon's views on order, security, and efficiency. Likewise, the codes maintained Enlightenment principles, which includes the people’s right of religion, equality, and advancements based on the values (Ellis 486). The Napoleonic Codes, however, undid most of the reforms that had been created during the French Revolution - mainly, the women’s rights of citizenship. Also, considering how Napoleon was considered to value authority over the people's rights, it is concluded that to a medium extent, men had gained more rights, whereas for women, to a low extent did the Napoleonic Codes advance the rights of women.

Impressed by his feats the five main military leaders asked Napoleon to invade England, instead he offered a plan to invade Egypt. After he got the okay to do so Napoleon took over the Egyptian army and its main leaders (www.history.com, www.thefreesource.com). In 1799 Napoleon overthrew the French Directory in an attempt to gain more power. After the defeat he was the leading political figure to most historians (www.history.com). As leader Napoleon improved not only the military of France but also the economy and other parts of the French empire. He helped reform the banks and education system as well as improving the arts and sciences. But his biggest contribution was the Napoleonic code, which was a big part of the legal system in France.(www.history.com, www.thefreesource.com, www.bbc.co.uk). In 1804 Napoleon declared himself emperor of France, which was meant he was the sole leader of this great empire (www.history.com). Napoleon won many battles and his reign stretched from the edge of the border of Spain to Italy and also some parts in Austria and Egypt. It was a strong and powerful empire at the time. The start of Napoleon’s downfall began when Russia broke agreements with France. So Napoleon brought about 600,000 troops into Russia to attack but the Russians were prepared and had the perfect strategy to defeat the French army. The Russians would retreat and keep the French marching

Napoleon was one of the most important figures in European history. As one of the greatest military leaders, Napoleon did many things to modernize the European nations he ruled.

In order to investigate the claim that ‘Napoleon betrayed the revolution’, it has to be determined what is the French revolution? And what are the revolutionary ideals that Napoleon allegedly betrayed? If Napoleon betrayed the Revolution then he betrayed the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. However if Napoleon did not betray the revolution, he consolidated the revolutionary ideals. The only way of determining whether Napoleon consolidated or betrayed the revolution is to explore his actions such as his military success, Dictatorship and social reforms. The difficulty of this analysis is that Napoleons motives for his actions determine whether he consolidated or betrayed the Revolution.

After Robespierre and the Directory, Napoleon came to power. Though he is criticized for being a militaristic dictator, Napoleon was able to spread Enlightenment ideals, in the form of the Napoleonic Code, throughout Europe. This shows the progression of ideas throughout Europe, and also that France succeeded in using the ideals that the revolution was based on. In this way, the French Revolution was extremely successful.

Napoleon managed to maintain the lesser ideals of the French Revolution. However, he managed to do this by giving all of the former ideals a ‘twist’ of his own if he was displeased by them. This included the fact that he re-wrote the constitution that had previously been written; he partially reversed the relationship with the Church, turning France into a Catholic country. It can also be stated that the way he gained power was against the French Revolution’s ideals: and this was the very beginning! On the other hand, Napoleon managed to maintain equal taxation, which had previously been a big issue, especially for the poor. Distinction was removed and there were no privileges for any parties neither was there a way to ‘sneak out’ of

Napoleons’ rise to emperor in France was indisputable mostly because of his overthrow of the Directory. His success’s as commander of the French army in Italy, only led to his aspiring status change to “Emperor” of France after overthrowing the Directory in November of 1799. His undying ambition for expansion of the empire he was creating however would be his undoing. Napoleons rule as emperor of France was quit spectacular actually and many admired and adored him as ruler. His ways were very appealing, and as a speaker he was very persuasive and admired by most of his people until his later years in his fall and demise. However, Napoleon did not seriously adhere to the ideals of the French Revolution, he did that of the Enlightenment but his undying ambition and character as “Emperor” undermined the true need of the French Revolution.

This gave France a new position in the European society and people gain a new confidence in him. The Napoleonic Code was a sudden change in the nation as well as the citizens. Each state was granted with a constitution, for male equality and a parliament including a bill of rights. This code gave French citizen freedom from arrest without due process, and equality of taxation of all three estates. Napoleon was so strategic in improving the economy of the France that he established an award, which he would, gave it to the citizens for their loyalty and service.

Unlike the previous monarchy in 1789, the Napoleonic Empire had a social base of support from the bourgeoisie. The principles of bourgeois power were expressed in the Napoleonic Civil Code, enacted in 1804. In it, Napoleon commenced land redistribution, getting the sympathy of the peasants. He reformed the tax system and created the Bank of France, controlling the coin issuance process and containing inflation; yet held public jobs, encouraged primary education of the French population, and militarized secondary

The research question of this Essay is What kind of role did roman law have on the creation of the French civil code of 1804? Now to understand how exactly roman law influenced the French civil one most look back to March 21, 1804. On this date the French civil code was enacted and was known as the Napoleonic code, the Napoleonic code can be one of napoleon Bonaparte’s most crowning achievement in how it not only helped codify French law but it as well had a major influence in the formation of the 19th century civil codes in most countries of continental Europe and Latin America. And despite some revisions that were introduced later, the Napoleonic code is still very applicable even today’s world. The napolonic code came to be with the help

Codification of the laws was one of Napoleons most enduring achievement. There were three hundred local legal systems before the Revolution but after the created the Napoleonic code of civil law. This law means that you can not give privileges based on birth.