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Napoleon's rise and fall
Napoleon as a leader
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Many individuals have been celebrated within western history, but one puts them all to shame with his sheer magnitude. During his prime, Napoleon Bonaparte subjugated most of Europe, revolutionized European politics and government. His legacy is evident in the establishment of the French civil code, and the spread of new revolutionary liberal ideas. He broke norms by ruling an empire without a hereditary claim and established an unprecedented hegemony over most of Europe. Napoleon Bonaparte is the most significant western historical figure. I will approach the essay by dissecting Napoleon’s immediate impact on European society, politics, and warfare. Highlighting Napoleon’s legacies on international legal systems, and the contemporary western philosophies of freedom, liberty and equality. As well as how Napoleon broke norms by ruling much of continental Europe through military and political prowess, all without having royal hereditary claims, the basis of legitimate rule for hundreds of years. I will research the French revolution, the biography of Napoleon, the French Civil Code, his policies Europe, his beliefs, his supporters, enemies and the countless changes in Europe caused by his conquests. Currently, I know that the chaos from foreign invasions to restore the French …show more content…
He started from a Corsican village to leading much of Europe. Following his first exile, Napoleon escaped and recruited an army by himself, as his mere presence inspired the French. He fought off foreign coalitions, forced the dissolution of the millennia old Holy Roman Empire and modernized Europe into increasingly secular nation states. I admire that he did not come from royalty; that he fought alongside the common people in the revolution and against foreign aggression. I think he really had a love for France and its people. And despite mixed opinions about Napoleon, few can deny his enormous impact on world
Napoleon was an emperor, military officer, husband, and father to many. He ruled France before being exiled and lived a long life, leaving behind a lasting legacy and impression that most people will not forget.
Napoleon Bonaparte’s attitude towards the French Revolution is one that has often raised questions. That the revolution had an influence on Bonaparte’s regime cannot be denied – but to what extent? When one looks at France after Napoleon’s reign it is clear that he had brought much longed for order and stability. He had also established institutions that embodied the main principles of the revolution. However, it is also evident that many of his policies directly contradict those same principles. Was Napoleon betraying the same revolution that gave him power, or was he merely a pragmatist, who recognised that to consolidate the achievements of the revolution he needed to sacrifice some of those principles?
Napoleon had been influenced and guided by the revolution, but he was able to use it to his ends. One of Napoleons greatest strengths was being able to take advantage of a situation, and he certainly was able to utilize the chaos and fear of the revolution. He is forever intertwined with the French Revolution, and it with him.
France entered into the Napoleonic Wars as a result of the French Revolution and the European sovereigns’ opposition to the creation of the French republic out of the fear that such ideas of democracy may spread to neighboring nations and remove the monarchs from their thrones through revolutions. The actions of these nations only served to ironically lead to the spreading of French idealism across the continent during France’s peak of military prowess. By alienating and siding against France, France entered into war with the “Coalitions” of European Monarchies and under Napoleon’s rule, conquered their opposition and under their rule, learned of the French ideology of Demo...
As the revolution calmed, the National Assembly attempted to maintain power; however, Napoleon Bonaparte, an outstanding national general, ousted the newly set republic in a coup d'etat in 1799, imposing himself dictator of France and leading the country to new militaristic heights that prompted French nationalism and the spread of Enlightenment ideas. Even though Bonaparte’s title as a dictator, emperor in 1804, connotates a restricted freedom, he actually took great lengths to enact policies that reflected Enlightenment ideals such as freedom of religion. Bonaparte centralized France’s government and moved to consolidate all of Europe under one nation. Touting Enlightenment ideals where his soldier traveled, Napoleon's conquest set the foundation for the republics of the future.
Napoleon was a military general that participated in multiple war victories. His interests included history, law, and mathematics. His strengths as a leader benefitted in planning financial, legal, and military plans. His aspiring attitude made him believe he was destined to be the savior of France (Coffin & Stacey, 494). He favored a republic over a constitutional monarchy. When Napoleon came to power, he immediately consolidated personal power by overthrowing the five-man Directory and created a Republic. Napoleon used his status and power during the Revolution to bring out and surface Revolution ideals and help his people. Napoleon’s role in European history was the savior of the French Revolution due to the fact he accomplished most objectives that the people hoped for. Goals of the French Revolution included overthrowing the old regime of an absolute monarch, write a basic and worthy constitution, and give more rights to the third estate and limit the first and second estates power in the Estates-General.
With such driving momentum, yet unstable, the French in the late 1700’s needed something or someone who was willing to lead their country, unite them, and bring order to their society. In 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte emerged to become that very man. Controversy wells up now a days as people begin to argue whether this man was a hero or tyrant, however I believe him to be a hero for doing exactly what the French needed at the time. He created a legendary domestic system that modified French society and is still used today, his warfare experience and keen sense of tactics revolutionized military then and for years to come and led France to become a dominant nation in the world, and lastly through his many contributions he created a sense of nationalism and identity nothing like the French had ever had before, all of these accomplishments not only bettering France but the world.
It is an indisputable fact that Napoleon Bonaparte greatly changed Europe. It is my position that he was a hero, and changed it for the better. Although I certainly do not agree with some of the methods that he brought about this change, I still agree with the change he wrought. Through him, the era of democracy was ushered in. He helped bring back a basic human right, being that all men are created equal.
Kreis, Steven. “Europe and the Superior Being: Napoleon.” The History Guide: Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History. 13 May. 2004. 6 Dec. 2004.
Napoleon was an outstanding military commander and enjoyed many successful campaigns. Napoleon maintained the Revolutionary syst...
In Conclusion, Napoleon was a very charismatic leader, and did many great things for France. As an emperor he was more than well liked and was probably one of the most intriguing individuals of his time, he was a brilliant strategic thinker, and got what he aimed at done generally. However, his over ambitious thoughts led to his downfall at the battle of Waterloo in which the allies of Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Britain defeated him and imprisoned him on the island of St. Helena far off the western coast of Africa.
Kreis, Steven. "Lecture 15: Europe and the Superior Being: Napoleon." The History Guide Main. 28 Feb. 2006. 28 Apr. 2009
During his lifetime, Napoleon made a great number of significant impacts, affecting his reign, country, and the places surrounding him. He invented the Napoleonic Civil Law Codes, establishing that all men were equal, but they still preserved their constitutional authority over women (Flow). He was extremely involved with education, even believing women's education was of importance (Markham). On May 1, 1802 a declaration was made, which established a new system of education in France (Markham). He popularized the metric system in Europe, and he also produced the Louisiana Purchase with the United States, allowing him to acquire money for his army (Knighton).
Napoleon Bonaparte was an interesting ruler in that he was compromised of attributes of both a tyrant and a hero. Napoleon had a strong following throughout his reign and even during his two exiles. He was the emperor of France between 1799 and 1815, following the fall of the Directory. Despite the efforts of the French Revolution to rid the country of an autocratic ruler, Bonaparte came to power as Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte I in 1804. He claimed that he preserved the goals of the Revolution, which can be easily argued as his rule became more dictatorial as it progressed. Despite his departure from some of the gains of the Revolution, he overall was a hero for the French people. Through his military ventures, political changes and social reform, Napoleon proved himself as a hero. This is not to say that there were aspects of his reign that were tyrannical, but he was overall beneficial for France.
With all the glory and the splendour that some countries may have experienced, never has history seen how only only one man, Napoleon, brought up his country, France, from its most tormented status, to the very pinnacle of its height in just a few years time. He was a military hero who won splendid land-based battles, which allowed him to dominate most of the European continent. He was a man with ambition, great self-control and calculation, a great strategist, a genius; whatever it was, he was simply the best. But, even though how great this person was, something about how he governed France still floats among people's minds. Did he abuse his power? Did Napoleon defeat the purpose of the ideals of the French Revolution? After all of his success in his military campaigns, did he gratify the people's needs regarding their ideals on the French Revolution? This is one of the many controversies that we have to deal with when studying Napoleon and the French Revolution. In this essay, I will discuss my opinion on whether or not was he a destroyer of the ideals of the French Revolution.