More handpicked essays just for you.
Napoleon rise to power European history notes
Foreign policy of napoleon 3 and impact on contemporary European politics
Napoleon military genius
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Napoleon rise to power European history notes
Although Napoleon had his negative effects, his overall performance in rising to power, making social reforms, and creating a legacy all had a positive effect on France and Europe. Napoleon proved himself to be a strong leader of France despite some the negative things that happened. During his time Napoleon took France out of the so called “dark ages” which proved him to be a great leader in the end.
On his rise to power Napoleon took it upon himself to make sure that the old government system called the directory was taken out because overall that system was doing no good to the already broken country.This taking out of the directory become known as a coup d’ etat. Napoleon quickly went into action making the French consulate and then to add on to that he made himself the first consul which eventually made him have all the power and allowed him to become emperor. On his way up, like every leader Napoleon had to fight in wars with other countries which in most he ended up winning. After taking control of most of Europe Napoleon continued to expand the lands of french territory and...
By that time, Napoleon had ruled France and surrounding countries for twenty years. Originally an officer in the French Army, he had risen to become Emperor among the political chaos following the French Revolution in which the old ruling French kings and nobility had been destroyed.
Nationalism was sparked, feudalism was overthrown, and Europe was modernized. Napoleon changed Europe, and it was a change for the good. Napoleon Bonaparte was a dictator, so you may wonder why I say he helped usher in the era of democracy. Although the people did not vote for him, through conquering nations he spread the French culture, and with that, the ideas of the French Revolution. The people of the nations in Europe saw that they could revolt, like France, and create a democratic government in their country.
Napoleon's rule over France was largely successful. His government was stable and made considerable progress on achieving the ideals set forth by the revolutionaries in 1789. However, Napoleon's rule was not completely successful - he had failed to address or even regressed upon some of the revolutionary ideals.
But his flaws do not negate all the good that he did. Napoleon’s Civil Code is still in use today. I won’t get into specifics on the Napoleonic Code, but they obviously did a lot of good for France and, by extension, the entire world. Napoleon transformed a frantic France, still reeling from the aftermath of the French Revolution, into a thriving country. I think it is safe to say that France was a collectively better place during the Napoleonic Era than it had been in the time directly before it. He gave the people the freedom to choose their own religion in a society that had, for so long, been told what to do and what to worship by the
Stability and sheer examples of greatness are the reasons why Napoleon's impact on France and Europe was monumental. He built structure and gave blueprints to modernize society. One could argue that Napoleon's impact was nothing but negatives and sheer violence. My perception is that he wanted to create balance in a traditional form.
Peace and tranquillity in France came with Napoleon's strong, autocratic rule. After making himself a consul for life, he re-established the French monarchy, naming himself Emperor Napoleon I in 1804. He centralized France's government by appointing new officials, made tax collections more systematic and efficient, and created a National Bank. He believed that it was by God's will that he was brought to power and persuaded others into believing it through the Napoleon Catechism. It taught the French people that Napoleon was due their respect and loyalty because it was "he whom God had raised up under difficult circumstances to re-establish the public worship of the holy religion of our fathers and to be the protector of it." In other words, his coming to the French throne was a blessing.
After Napoleons big loss against Britain in the Battle of Trafalgar he had an itch to defeat and ruin Britain. This would eventually play into a reason he invaded Russia. This whole time Napoleons main idea was to create an empire and conquer Europe. He had tried to create land and property in the New Americas, he even tried controlling the main sugar-producing colonies of St. Domingue. Due to civil war, battles with rebels and disease, Napoleon decide to give up on those territories which focused him back on conquering the rest of Europe. Area in Europe, he didn't control were Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Sweden. At the same time Britain was trying to convince Russia, Austria, and Sweden to join Britain in the fight against France.
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.
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who significantly influenced European history. Born in Corisca on August 15th 1769, Napoleon first rose to prominence as a general in the French Revolution (Hutt, 4). With his “strength of will, character, application, and daring” (Napoleon) characteristics, Captain Bonaparte made a name for himself. Staging a coup d’etat in late 1799, Napoleon managed to install himself as First Consul and within three years, as Consul for life (Hutt, 3-4). Ultimately, Napoleon’s military background and cunning character led him to become a self-crowned emperor of France beginning in 1804(Dziewanowski, 90). Under Napoleon’s new military dictatorship, many of the French Revolution’s reforms were preserved and even strengthened, but at the cost of political freedom (Perry et. Al, 117). Napoleon continued to demonstrate his excellent military tactics through his army, conquering many countries and a series of principalities and duchies. It was not until 1813, when Napoléon pursued the Russians far into their land, did he suffer his greatest defeat. With the loss of his rule, Napoléon was exiled and he would die on May 5th, 1821 (Peyre, 29). But before becoming emperor or even First Consul, Napoleon was foremost an excellent general. One of his most memorable campaigns took place in 1798 when Napoleon proposed a military expedition to seize Egypt.
Napoleon lived from the years 1769 to 1821. He became commander of the French Army in Italy in 1796 (pg. 589). He then made Austria make peace with Italy. From then he was completely in charge of the French Army as well as being the Emperor of France which gave him even more power. He led his men through great victories, all the while conquering much of Europe (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bonaparte_napoleon.shtml). In 1812 he decided that he wanted to take over Russia. He led his men into the harsh Russian terrain, thinking that they could easily and quickly take down the Russian Army. However he was very wrong. The Russians didn’t engage in any type of battle. Instead they went ahead and made sure that the French could no access any food or shelter, knowi...
Napoleons recontrustion of Frances physical and political formation caused many successes. France became a productive country with a large scale of the population open to educating themselves and pursuing a career choice based on their education. Napoleon reconstructed roads, made new networks, repaired old broken buildings and rebuilt symbolic cities such as Paris. Napoleons Code ensured citizens their equality both inside the court of law. The population educated themselves which meant more critical thinking and liberty between them. Under Napoleon, France once again became a respected nation that it was once and has ever since been one of the most economically and military powerful nations in the world.
A combination of all of these faults led to the great fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. If Napoleon maintained the ideals that he created as a young man, and perhaps held back on his attempts to gain more power, he could have lasted longer as the ruler of France, and could have maintained France’s position as the most powerful country in Europe.
The French Revolution inspired the idea that the subjects of any government have the right to freedom, politically, socially, and economically. The citizens of France needed a strong, powerful leader to take initiative and set France back on the track to become the great nation that it once was. Therefore, Napoleon was able to quickly rise through the ranks as a military commander, eventually crowning himself Emperor of France. Once Emperor, he led France to become a prosperous nation, while promoting, but also sacrificing some goals of the Revolution. Napoleon, “.would govern in the interests of the people as an enlightened but absolute ruler,”(7).
Napoleon Bonaparte rose through the military ranks and became one of the greatest military leaders in history. He was such a great military leader that 1800 to 1815 has been renamed the Napoleonic Era because of all he has conquered. Napoleon ruled France, and eventually most of Europe during this time. Before Napoleon’s reign, France was struggling to recover from the government collapse during the French Revolution. The French government had gone through five different governments since the beginning of the revolution, and after the failure of the French Directory, the French desperately needed a leader.
Some of the effects are still in existence. Napoleon was very efficient and attained the greatest increase in his power during the end of the 18th century. During 1792 to 1815 a number of wars were fought by Napoleon and he was extremely successful in those. This resulted in French hegemony over a major part of Europe. Napoleon’s power increased and attained the highest point in the year of 1810.