More handpicked essays just for you.
Napoleon rise to power European history notes
World history chapter 6 the french revolution and napoleon
The french revolution and napoleon world history ch. 1-3
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
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. First of all, the greatest success of Napoleon's rule was his introduction of a unified national legal system. The Napoleonic code (introduced 1804) was a success since it preserved the social aims of the revolution such as equality in the eyes of the law and also guaranteed civil liberties like freedom of religion. Furthermore, the code couldn't be challenged by regional traditions and local rights, thus unifying the country under …show more content…
one set of laws. By unifying the country under a single code of law that further progressed upon revolutionary social ideals, it can be argued that Napoleon's government was successful where other governments had failed. Furthermore, Napoleon's fiscal and economic reforms were successful, stabilising the nation after years of financial and economic stability. First of all, he reformed the taxation system into a universal system which increased government income, taxes were collected by Napoleon's officials. Furthermore, he provided France with a banking system in 1801, the Bank of France was both efficient and reliable. By making substantial economic and financial reforms, Napoleon was able to balance France's budget after years of fiscal and economic distress. As a result, Napoleon's fiscal and economic reforms are evidence of his success as First Consul. Moreover, Napoleon's religious reforms made his support grow, thus contributing towards his success as a leader. The Jacobins had managed to alienate France's population with Robespierre's dechristianisation process. On the contrary, it appears Napoleon had recognised this mistake. In 1801, he improved relations with the Pope by signing the Concordat which recognised and tolerated Roman Catholicism in France. This made Napoleon's support grow, which increased his power over the nation thus contributing towards the success of his government. However, Napoleon's government did fail to address some of the revolution's ideals.
Women did not enjoy equal rights under his rule. For example, Napoleon's law of the family monarchy dictated that a man could file for divorce on grounds of adultery. On the other hand, a man had to cohabit with his mistress for two years before a woman could justify a divorce. As it can be seen, Napoleon's rule wasn't completely successful since he had failed to ensure equality for all French citizens. Likewise, Napoleon's failure to ensure universal suffrage in France was another sign that his rule wasn't completely successful. Women couldn't vote and a man had to have earnings of more than 150 francs to participate. This often excluded the lower classes like the peasantry, who had no political representation. The failure of universal suffrage in France showed that Napoleon's rule was unsuccessful in some regards. As it can be seen, Napoleon's rule was, to a large extent, successful. He had achieved stability after years of chaos and he had progressed on some revolutionary ideals while also healing the wounds inflicted by past French governments. As a result, it's rather clear that Napoleon's government did mostly succeed after years of
failure.
After the Reign of Terror, Napoleon Bonaparte rose to authority. When he was in power, Napoleon only kept some of the ideas that were used in the French Revolution. For example he was for equality, but disregarded liberty. Napoleon started many wars for France, in hopes of gaining land. France did win some land, but more times than not France lost the wars, putting them into extreme war debt.
The Reign of Terror during the French revolution can be seen as the restructuring of France to create equality by eliminating the nobility who created an inequality in the society of France as well as political rebels against the new “equal” system under the later rule of the elected dictator, Napoleon I. The system granted all French adult male citizens in the empire the right to vote, once even “giving (Napoleon I) over 99 percent of the popular vote. ”(Life) The voting was definitely rigged but as in the modern governments currently show, no system is perfect.
Napoleon was able to grant French citizens natural rights, which was the main purpose of the Revolution, and use this to better society as a whole. For example, he used a plebiscite, vote of the people, to approve a new constitution that gave him power to rule. By getting the consent of the people to rule and to create and pursue certain actions in government, Napoleon used the governed as a ruling mechanism; he didn't ignore them. He created a system of meritocracy (what the people wanted): granting positions to those that deserved them based on qualifications, not just handing out jobs to people of higher social status giving “careers open to talent (Coffin and Stacey, 494).” Finally through his supremacy as French ruler,...
...ig concepts, such as equality before the law, but he also did what would benefit his country. It is important to understand that since France had just exited a revolution, it was pretty fragile; one big mistake and France might have ended up in another one. Napoleon was not only a child of both the French Revolution and the Enlightenment, he was also a very intelligent person. His cunning and his wits led him to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest enlightened despot of all time.
To him the elections only brought about political instability. Very soon he had buried popular democracy. Popular sovereignty caved in and in its place was raw authority of the Napoleonic regime - There could be no durable peace in the country with wars being fought continuously Support for Napoleon - Napoleon had been considered as 'son of the Revolution' by the revolutionaries of 1789 - Among the reasons were the following: - He was against the unjust and ineffective institutions of the ancien regime such as: Seigneurialism, the cumbersome institutions of Bourbon absolutism; the aristocratic privilege - Above all Napoleon valued principles of the Revolution which stressed equality of opportunity - The French wanted a strong and stable government; an assurance of basic revolutionary gains, and settlem... ... middle of paper ... ...and confiscated from the Church and sold during the Revolution would be retained by its purchasers. - On the other hand, the government dropped the ten-day week and restored the Gregorian calendar.
Napoleon was a great soldier that graduated from military school at the age of sixteen and quickly worked his way through the ranks. Napoleon was a brilliant leader in battle and consistently defeated armies larger than his own; including when he forced the Austrians to make peace after defeating four of their generals. In 1799 Napoleon and his colleagues overtook the French government and established power. He revised the constitution in 1802 to make himself consul for life, and then again in 1804 to make himself Emperor of France. Soon after Napoleon came to power he restructured the administration, simplified the court system, and began monitoring the schooling system; French law was also put in the Napoleon Code which guaranteed the rights and liberties that were gained through the revolution. Napoleons violent behavior caused war with Britain to break out, who allied with Russia and Austria. Prussia later allied themselves with Russia; creating a huge alliances against France and Napoleon. Napoleon successfully extended his reign over large parts of Europe and put each state under the Napoleon Code, which gave citizens new rights and privileges. In 1812 all of Europe turned against Napoleon, which lead to his exile in 1814. He regained power in 1815 just to loose it later that year. He died in exile in Saint Helena in 1821.
Napoleon was an outstanding military commander and enjoyed many successful campaigns. Napoleon maintained the Revolutionary syst...
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
During the Napoleonic reign, the biggest reform appeared to be the loss of hereditary rights of the upper class citizens. Before Napoleon became a king, a lot of jobs were inherited. The purchase of the offices was rather common and skills were not required. Revolution believed in equality. Napoleon established that equality by granting everyone equal right to attempt the job. Now the positions were given out based on merit only. This change created fairness and limited the rights of the nobles at the same time. France was not the only country that felt the influence of the Napoleonic reform. Italian and German aristocrats were overthrown as well, and the weakening of the Spanish nobility even led to the revolt.
Reasons for Napoleon's Success · One of Napoleon's great strengths as leader was the devotion of his men. His soldiers adored him. · Despite his generally unprepossessing appearance, when he wished to charm he could quickly win over anyone he met, however initially hostile they might be. Within a couple of days he had completely captivated the officers and crew of Bellerophon taking him to St. Helena in 1815, much alarming the British government.
...the laws in france were varied and included special privileges based on social class. The napoleonic code brought forth new laws that entailed equality. It guaranteed that all men were equal before the law as well giving freedom of religion and freedom to pursue any occupation. Pursuing any occupation was very important in his achievements as well as Equality. Napolean being born a second class citizen and moving up to being a leader was un common and showed just how determined a leader he was. “a career open to all talents, without distinctions of birth.” Going along with equality and not treating one class above another progressive taxation was instilled making it equal for everyone. For almost 2 centuries these laws and more were the basis of legal systems through out the whole world and continues to be the basis for many of the legal systems in our world today.
...arly successes and his military brilliance classifies him as a hero in this sense. His political reign was also one of debate. Although he awarded many rights, he challenged them with other restrictions. Overall, France was stable following the horrid Reign of Terror but it also awarded more rights than in the old regime. Finally, the social aspect of France could prove Bonaparte to be either heroic or tyrannical as well. Many social changes transgressed during his reign. For instance, there was an increase in education and an end to feudalism, however Napoleon ruled the imperial catechism and was emperor for life. Overall the social changes were an improvement from the old regime, therefore classifying his as a hero for his time period. Overall, Napoleon was a hero in all three aspects of French life, although there were many aspects which were tyrannical as well.
Napoleon Bonaparte is often seen as a tyrant, however; through Napoleon’s strong tactics and military leadership he led France through a time of great turmoil and provided the stability and guidance France so desperately needed. During his reign, Napoleon was able to bring an end to the French Revolution, a series of wars that had fractured the French at their core. After the resolution of the revolution, Napoleon developed the Civil Code or Napoleonic code to unite all of France under one governing law. The Civil Code blended the governing laws of the Roman law practiced in the South with the customary law practiced in the North. Through the Code, Napoleon brought unity to France, improved the rights and lives of citizens, and allowed for France’s own growth and development. The Civil Code is considered one of Napoleon’s
The French Revolution principles focused on three pillars: equality, liberty and fraternity. When the French people revolted against the old system, they yearned for having a completely different political system that looked after the interests and welfare of the French citizens (Ellis, Elisabeth Gaynor). Unlike under the feudal system, people demanded equality on the political, economic, and social levels. The principle of equality guaranteed that French citizens are equal before the law irrespective of their social, religious, or ethnical belonging (Markham, David J). Likewise, liberty was another principle of the Revolution. People than had the freedom to express themselves as they liked and they were free to practice whichever religion they embraced. Lastly, fraternity was the care of the Revolution; In order to insure freedom and equality, there should be some fraternity between all the components of the French society. Thus, leading to the question: to what extent did Napoleon’s domestic policies respond to these principles?
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.