Examples Of Enlightened Despotism

Enlightened despotism, which is also called enlightened absolutism, was inspired by the enlightenment and is one of the forms of absolute monarchy. Napoleon I who was sometimes called the greatest enlightened despot, what the first figure in politics to use the rhetoric of revolution as well as nationalism, use the military force as back up, and combine all of this into a way of conflicting damage of expanding the empire in the service of power. Napoleon made many changes to the French government, though he was one with absolute power as well as an enlightened despot. There were many policies Napoleon used such as the Constitution of the Year VII, agreeing to a concordat with the Roman Catholic Church, and making peace in both domestic and

foreign affairs. Many of his accomplishments include having his entire empire loyal to him, nationalism, as well as abolishing the Old Regime.

As part of many of his policies, a couple of them were the Constitution of the Year VII as well as agreeing to a concordat with the Roman Catholic Church.

For example, with the Constitution of the Year VII, as a despot, this marked the beginning of his rule. The start of his enlightened policies included the destruction of the feudal privileges that were old. This was because of the social as well as political reformers who wanted change as well as new forms of government in France. Not only that, but the revolution ending in France while under the Consulate. By that point in time, the Third Estate reached almost all of their goals. Their goal was that the peasants had wanted to destroy the old feudal privileges and Napoleon gave them security. This Constitution agreed with the republican theory as well as the Council of State. This also established the First Consul as well as ruler as Napoleon. Not only was the Constitution of the Year VII show that Napoleon was an enlightened despot, but the concordat with the Roman Catholic Church did as well. For example, Napoleon and Pope Pius VII made an agreement which was that the clergy and those who wanted the revolution to resign. Not only that, but the church had to give up its claims on any property that was confiscated. The pope had wanted religious dominance, but with the concordat he was not able to get that. In fact, the Concordat stated, “Catholicism is the religion of the great majority of French citizens.” Overall, the

Constitution of the Year VII as well as the concordat with the Roman Catholic Church helped show the enlightened despot that Napoleon truly was.

Not only did the Constitution of the Year VII help show the absolute monarchy that Napoleon had, but making peace with both domestic and foreign affairs did as well.

For example, he gained the confidence of his people by seeing the enemies of France and gaining them as allies. Napoleon gained so many allies that England was alone, causing both England and France to create a treaty in 1802 that brought peace to all of Europe. Not only that, but he also used the teaching of Voltaire, who taught peace and advocated it. This showed that the policy was enlightened. He also created a centralized administration. This made the rule in Paris effective as well as stabilized. Lastly, Napoleon thought of ways to eliminate his enemies. Like for example 1804, people plotted against him and he used this as a way to get the Jacobins and finally get to attack them. But, the whole plan was due to the royalists and not the Jacobins, but he still used this as a way to get at them, though they did nothing wrong under the circumstances. All in all, Napoleon used this peace between domestic as well as foreign affairs to become an absolute ruler and enlightened despot.

Over the years of his work, Napoleon had many achievements that were hard for many rulers to get. For one, he had his entire empire loyal to him. For example, his army were not only loyal to their nation, but Napoleon as well and they were from the revolution. Ever since the Roman empire, it has been hard for any other ruler to rule

over such a great landmass, both conquer as well as control it, and Napoleon was able to do that. He spread equality across his entire kingdom as he imposed the Napoleonic Code everywhere. No matter what territory or who lived there. In addition, he also spread nationalism.