Napoleon Bonaparte was an effective tyrant.
He reinstated Roman Catholicism as the official religion of France through the Concordat of 1801. He introduced the Napoleonic Code, allowing for religious freedoms. As well he put his youthfulness to good use, rebuilding a dejected French army. He had huge victories over Austria, Egypt, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Germany, Poland, and Spain. Overall, by 1812 France and Napoleon controlled directly or by alliance most of western Europe. He also was at the head of efforts to weaken Great Britain and their commerce overseas. These attacks on France's enemies made him very popular amongst the French people and soldiers. In the ways of government, he passed the first Constitution of France as France's
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It forced French and European business men to close down their businesses and industries. This would lead to famine, inflation, unemployment, industrial breakdown, and financial crisis. And this was all just from one thing. However, with all the good he did, he also did a lot of bad. To start, he imprisoned the Pope in 1808, abrogating the concordat. When this occurred, it also reduced Napoleon’s popularity. As well he continuously centralized all powers to himself, leaving no room for democracy. By definition, this means he became a dictator. In education he abolished the teaching of subjects like history, philosophy, political science, and literature. Napoleon also segregated the education system away from girls because “marriage is all they look to.” Not only did he lead education away from woman, he issued repressive laws that violated the rights of women and allowed men to divorce their women for criminal offenses. He also suppressed and restricted the freedom of the press, saying “liberty was not for the common people.” He brought France into endless wars, costing thousand of soldiers and financial resources. The aggressive wars led to economic decline, heavy losses of soldiers, destruction of property, and isolation of France from the rest of Europe. Eventually his soldiers deserted him because of this and without an
Napoleon helped France come out from the ashes & fog into the light of sun. Napoleon tried to as much as he could for majority of the French population, but some still were not pleased. Napoleon wrote a new constitution for all men; like freedom of rights, freedom of religion, and equality before the law. Napoleon believed natural rights should apply to the country. Napoleon also allowed the rights to average/poor citizens of France[doc.3]
He made many good changes for France. One of the most important was he brought France out of the chaotic period of the Revolution. Without him the turmoil would have continued and France would be an entirely different country. Another significant thing he did was he created the Napoleonic Code. It was a very basic code of civil laws. This set of laws prevented people from being born into power. It made people work for a high prestige of power not just given to them by birth. The code also allowed freedom of religion. This code helped shaped many laws that are still used today like the constitution of laws that is currently being
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
As one can see, his ideas of religious freedom and the government is what brought about the French Revolution, which has affected France up to this very day because they no longer have a royal absolutist government like they once had.
Napoleon continued in the Revolutionary tradition of liberating and introducing revolutionary ideals to the territories he claimed for France. In the areas he conquered Napoleon granted constitutions, introduced law codes, abolished feudalism, created efficient governments and fostered education, science, literature and the arts. However these reforms always failed as Napoleon was always attempting the politically impossible. This did not stop Napoleon from continuing his conquests. Napoleons battles were fought in order to consolidate his dictatorship. His Military success initially consolidated the revolution, but once he turned France into a military dictatorship he betrayed the revolution.
The Napoleonic Age was the most controversial time period. Some people thought Napoleon was a reformer, while others thought he was an absolute dictator. One thing is for sure though, that he shaped France/Europe into the continent/country is is today. Napoleon was very narcissistic and cruel, and did not value human life. At the same time, he believed in education and instruction. Also, he positively influenced the schools and created the Napoleonic Code, which solved a lot of France's problems. Napoleon Bonaparte had a negative impact on France, because he mistreated the rights that every human should obtain, created a bad image for other countries, and only really cared about absolute power.
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
Napoleon Bonaparte will remain in the heart of many French nationals as one of the greatest military leaders that the nation has had when it comes to warfare history. In 1799, Napoleon launched a series of wars, which historian call, “Napoleonic wars” in a bid to extend the territory of France in Europe. Many historians argue that the Napoleonic wars were a continuation of the earlier war under the tag, French revolution in 1789. The French revolution in itself had so many influences in Europe, especially with the armies who felt the greatest impact of the revolution. The revolution brought with it many changes, especially in the production of modern mass weapons with the conscription in place. The new improvements in weaponry made Napoleon seek hegemony in the entire Europe sparking his quest to expand and increase the revolutionary and territorial borders of France. Napoleon, Corsican aristocrat, who was a minor, rose to the position of emperor in France because of the revolution and his idea was to sweep the entire Europe with the reforms brought about by the revolution (Dwyer 32). The idea was to liberate the continent so that all citizens had a chance to take the helm of leadership and do away with the issue of kinship rule. Napoleon was a symbol of change, and although at some point, he comes out as a dictator, he was progressive and created rationalization of governance and all the social
Napoleon Bonaparte was always destined to be legend. Under his ambitious command, France, and perhaps the entire world, changed. He spread the ideas of enlightenment across the globe, using his military skill to bring it to neighboring countries. He ruled his people justly, and was a true hero among men; except that’s not entirely true. Napoleon is legend, no questions to be had there.
He created new political codes and freedom to benefit the people of France. Because of Napoleon, the French citizens demolished and redesigned their country’s political
Napoleon Bonaparte betrayed the ideals of the French Revolution. He seized power for himself, which contradicted the Revolution’s aims, as the people wanted to be rid of aristocratic figures, especially after the Terror which had Robespierre as a frontman for chaos and misery. He also introduced the Napoleonic Code, which was not so beneficial for some groups as they were for others. His rule spread enlightenment ideals far across Europe, through all the countries he conquered, but because of this spread, those countries rebelled, since Napoleon himself failed to uphold the very ideals he spread forth.
In addition to his military achievements, Napoleon made lasting political changes and foundations, most notably the Napoleonic Code, which abolished feudalism, separated church and state, and promoted meritocracy. The Napoleonic Code was so effective it is still in use by many states today. In addition to the Napoleonic Code you can thank Napoleon for driving on the right, the metric system, canned foods, modern Paris, and the United States we know today (no Louisiana Purchase; no Manifest Destiny; no US). Without Napoleon, the world would be unrecognizably
By doing this, Napoleon created a new relationship with the Church in which the government acknowledged the importance of the Church but did not allow the Church to have any control in worldwide decisions. Overall, the larger part of the French people and the Church were supportive of this agreement.
The last years of the French Revolution saw the rise of a man who assumed a quintessential part in molding the eventual fate of France – Napoleon Bonaparte. He had a colossal effect and is viewed as a standout amongst the most really popular military and political pioneers. He filled in as the primary Consul of France and was later turned into the Emperor of France. Amid his opportunity, he achieved real changes in the nation, for example, presentation of advanced education, foundation incorporated government, establishment of Bank of France, charge code, street and sewer frameworks. He revised the laws of France which is the reason his common code was known as Napoleonic Code. What recognized him from his counterparts was his methods that
He understood that many people were opposed the Civil Constitution of the Church, so he made an agreement with the pope to prevent being bishops elected and to allow the pope have control over them. Napoleon protected the idea of religious tolerance, while Catholicism was acknowledged to be the religion of the majority of France. This was positive for Napoleon because he gained the support of the church.