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Napoleon's rise and fall
Napoleon as a leader
The rise of Napoleon and his reforms
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I guess you could say that when Napoleon is not on a horse, he’s Napoleoff it! In November 1799, the overthrowing of the French Directory caused its replacement with a three-member Consulate, and Napoleon became first consul, making him France’s leading political figure. Napoleon used his power to restore stability to post-revolutionary France and produced successful results. Two years after the making of the constitutional amendment that made him consul for life, Napoleon crowned himself as emperor of France. This raises the question, “Was Napoleon a Democratic Reformer?” Now, a Democratic Reformer is a person who changes the views and ways of the government for the good of the people. Concerning how he understands equality, how the people
favored him, and that he was a strong leader makes Napoleon a Democratic Reformer. Because Napoleon does understand the idea of equality transforms him into a Democratic Reformer. “ … It [public education] is essential to the morals and the political ideas of the next generation. Above all it is essential to equality” (Doc 8). When Napoleon reformed education, he made education more important by stating it is absolutely necessary for the next generation to know the principles of right conduct and relate it to their political ideas. By saying that having sense and being educated is important to equality, more people would want to be educated because everyone wanted to be treated equally. Napoleon also reformed laws so that it is more focused on how people should be treated more equally. “1. The exercise of civil rights is independent of the quality of citizens, which is only acquired and preserved conformably to the constitutional law. 2. Every French man shall enjoy civil rights” (Doc 11). Instilling a law that states a person could acquire a job based on their skills and not family connections provided equality concerning jobs. By creating the Napoleonic Code, order was brought to France. Giving the people have a sense of equality, Napoleon was approved by the people.
Being a supporter of equivalent rights, he picked up notoriety with the French individuals. After some time, Napoleon utilized these standards to increment and set his energy.
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?
He said that the citizens will recognize him as a soldier of liberty who is devoted to the Republic. He is saying that he is going to improve the nation under his power. Some people saw Napoleon as a terrible leader.
French Revolution and Napoleon The French Revolution entered a radical stage in 1972 because of the dissatisfaction of the poor, dissatisfaction of the nobles and the clergy, economic crisis, a crisis in leadership, foreign invasion, international polarization, Jacobins gaining power of the national convention, the grow of a counter revolution and the the september massacres. However, accomplishments like purging France of any old order thinkers, turning France into a republic and allowing Bonaparte to come to power came out of such horrific events that is the radical stage. Dissatisfaction of the poor was one of the reasons the French revolution entered the radical stage. The people were angry, too.
An Historiography Review of Napoleon failed invasion of Russia using Clausewitz and Theodore Evault Dodge books
Napoleon Bonaparte had crowned himself Emperor of the Grand Empire in 1804 and believed himself to be equal to god with his own divinity. He had given émigrés that had taken a loyalty oath high positions in his government and recreated the imperial nobility. He believed that only the rich and talented deserved an education and higher paying jobs, while women and the lower class did not deserve any sort of education. Women had lost many rights they had gained in the 1790s and basically became the property of their fathers/husbands. (McKay, pp 607)
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.
One of Napoleon’s first areas of concern was in the strengthening of the French government. He created a strong centralized government and pretty much got rid of the hundreds of localized law codes that had existed during under the control of the monarchy. He also created an army of government officials. He had the entire country linked under a rational administration. He also was able to get an easy supply of taxes and soldiers under his new and improved French government. Before he could get very far, however, he had to gain public favor and shape the public opinion. To do this he used reforms of propaganda and thus caused people to think that they were getting the better end of the deal, but were actually, subconsciously giving Napoleon their approval for his actions. Among some of the methods he used for propaganda included getting all of the printers and book sellers to swear an oath to Napoleon and all newspapers fell under state control, so Napoleon gained access to almost everything that the citizens of France were able to read. Many of the gains from the French Revolution were kept, such as equality before the law, and careers open to talent. Some anti-revolution actions that Napoleon took included repressing liberty, restoring absolutism, and ending political liberty. He believed that allowing political freedom would end with a state of anarchy. He believed that he could solve these problems by acting in favor of the people’s interests as an enlightened desp...
Though a modern thinker may say the only thing that keeps Napoleon from being enlightened is lack of democracy, the writer sitting in this chair thinks that the only thing that keeps democracy from being Napoleon is enlightenment. Had Napoleon been born merely fifty years earlier, he may have been a trendsetter of the enlightenment. Or he might have been a fisherman. Regardless, Napoleon was a child of the enlightenment and not a parent. He followed the ideas presented by that period with such strategy and genius, people are still writing papers about it.
Napoleon maintained the Revolutionary system of conscription and encouraged promotion based on ability.... ... middle of paper ... ... Broers, Michael.
French Revolution brought a great number of great ideas, but ideas are not beneficial unless they are realized and stabilized. The man to stabilize the concepts of French Revolution was Napoleon Bonaparte. He started out as an Italian general and ended up being one of the greatest historical figures. First, Directors requested Napoleon's support while organizing a coup d'etat. Then, Bonaparte fought Britain in order to benefit France. Lastly, he was called to help creating a new constitution and ended up as the First Consul of France. At home, he ruled using flattery, but also he strongly resisted the opposition. Napoleon is a pro-revolutionist because he denied all the privileges of the aristocracy, created a new constitution, and also established the Napoleonic Code.
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.
The Effectiveness of Napoleon III's Foreign Policy. In general terms, Napoleon's foreign policy was much less successful. than his domestic policy was. Generally speaking, the aims of his foreign policy were to present France as the champion of oppressed people throughout Europe, to create new countries, which would be grateful to France, to maintain good relations with Britain and to maintain a balance of power between Austria and Prussia.
Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the famous figures in French history by the importance of his internal reforms. However, he remains primarily in global memory as one of the greatest military commanders in history. Indeed, Napoleon Bonaparte delivered more battles than Alexander the Great, Hannibal, or Caesar. His campaigns covered all Europe from Spain to Russia, without forgetting the East with Egypt and Syria. The French Emperor entered in the prestigious capitals of Europe, Milan, Vienna (twice), Berlin, Madrid and Moscow. Napoleon has greatly influenced the Western way of war, not only by the new organization of armies, but also by the optimization of different capabilities and the combination between leadership and creativity in the battlefields.