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Napoleon's rise and consolidation of power
Napoleon's role in the French Revolution
To what extent was Napoleon a son of the revolution
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1. What seem to be Napoleon’s main goals with his rule?
Napoleon wanted to be in power, he’s ultimate goals were to make build a European Empire, erase the social class and establish equality into the system. He also wanted to improve the relationship between his regime and the pope by letting the pope marry him and furthermore, he wanted to make France the most powerful country in Europe economically.
2. What’s Napoleon’s relationship to the revolution? How would you describe Napoleon’s view of his position and his power?
Napoleon was just a soldier during the French revolution. He gained support from the people and the army for his military success. The people looked up to him and hope that he can help to end the chaos brought on by revolution
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He had such a big ego. He wanted to show people that he was a successful leader and by having a grand army he thought he would be able to conquer the world and remain undefeated. His main purpose was to establish a democratic states to other countries just like he did for France.
3b. Napoleon is known as a great military strategist. Is that reputation justified?
Napoleon had great strategy one it comes to fight the enemies. His tactics was to move quickly and attack the opposing army, take them down and take over the country. He will than go back and start planning the next attack.
4. Why did the Russian campaign turn out so devastating? What role did it play in Napoleon’s demise? Why did Napoleon Ultimately lose his power?
The campaign was devastating because when Napoleon decided to invade Russia he did not expect the Russians to retreat. Since, Napoleon had the grand army he thought the war will be quick and they’ll be able to go back before the brutal winter and they be able to survive with the local supplies. The Russians beat him at his own game. They intentionally burn down everything, therefore there were not enough supplies for all the troop and they were not ready for the cold weather. Most of the troops ended dying from starvation and
During his rule, Napoleon called himself an emperor, but he acted like the kings before him. The French Revolution stood against the idea of one leader with all authority over one country and promoted liberty, equality, and fraternity. The French citizens did not glorify Napoleon as a king because he gave his people sovereignty over political situations. He used plebiscites or voting to spread equality, however, the majority was always in favor of Napoleon. This happened due to fear because he was the strongest man in Europe at the time. He idolized himself as a hero, saving the French people from the
Napoleon just maintains the goals of the French Revolution since he needed to secure and reinforce his own energy.
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.
Napoleon Bonaparte, an unparalleled military commander who conquered most of Europe around the early 1800’s, invaded Russia in 1812, who was under the rule of Tsar Alexander at the time, lost three quarters of his Grande Armee which was composed of soldiers from all over Europe totaling 600,000 soldiers. This part of history is the most talked about and studied military campaign even today by scholars and military school alike. Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 was a extraordinary expedition that shocked the French Empire to its foundation and led to its eventual collapse just a year later. This Historiographic comparative
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...
Napoleon was an outstanding military commander and enjoyed many successful campaigns. Napoleon maintained the Revolutionary syst...
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.
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.
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...
The Campaign of 1812 should have been a another crusade for Napoleon, but he now faced 2 new policies that he had never faced before, the severe Russian winter and the notorious scorched-earth policy. On June 23, 1812 Napoleon's Grande Armee, over 500,000 men strong, poured over the Russian border. An equal amount of Russian forces awaited them. The result of the campaign was a surprise. Two authors, General carl von Clausewitz and Brett James, show similarities in reasons why Napoleon had lost this campaign to Russia.
There is a question that people wonder about if they should be strongly attached to the tough Napoleon. The answer to that is yes because he had restored the order of the public with all his wisdom. It states in document eight, “he defends the state by his powerful arm.” Meaning, he is protecting his people with his military. If Napoleon was a tyrant, he wouldn’t put any effort into securing the French public. By reestablishing the order again, the people of France could gain more trust in their leader. Another great thing that Napoleon had done was allow the Catholic and Roman religion to be expressed. Document 12 states that the religion could be “freely and publicly done in France.” This would have made the public satisfied.
Napoleon’s military career is what eventually led to his prominence. Napoleon began his military career above most of the other men his age. He rapidly made his way through the ranks eventually gaining a great support system. As the directory leaned more and more heavily upon the military, a coup d’état developed. Because of his military expertise, he immediately became first consul of France. The empire of France was soon to grow once Napoleon was in reign. In the 1790s the French army was near one million men, an advantage in the Austrian wars as well as future ventures. Wars raged with other European countries in the early 1800s. Napoleon was able to beat the continental coalition, thus gaining territory for France. France annexed some of Italy but also controlled states such as Spain, Holland ...
Certain individuals approved of Napoleon's reign as the saviour of France. He finished and completed the Revolution by fulfilling the ideals the people of France demanded. A person such as one belonging to the bourgeoisie, or even a peasant would be very satisfied with the way Napoleon ruled over the country. He gave them equality, freedom, justice, and many rights. Such things never existed during the reign of the monarchs before Napoleon stepped in. A banker too would be very affirmative on how Napoleon had truly helped France in its economic problems. He made the franc the most stable currency in Europe, and the banker had witnessed that, as probably one of the bankers of the Bank of France. Another type of individual that agrees that Napoleon isn't the destroyer of the ideals of the Revolution would be his soldiers and generals. He had fought alongside with his men in many battles. Through inspiration, he gained their loyalty, to "follow him to the stars" if he asked them to. Such inspiration would never be gained if he never respected them, if he never treated them fairly. And then, the "Legion of Honour", which awarded to some certain citizens for their civil and military achievements.
Misused intelligence and underestimated opponents were at the heart of Napoleon?s downfall. This was clearly shown at Moscow when the Russians outwitted him by using their scorched earth policy and not meeting him in battle as they agreed. With careful planning, the Russian invasion could have gone a lot better and maybe not have led to Napoleon?s downfall.
In this investigation I will be investigating Napoleon administration rather than his military tactics and strategy which he so famous was for. The question that will be researching will show Napoleon as a general but a governor. The question will be how was his policy makings and who did it affect, did the civil code have any effect on the army? And how did he dealt with his conquered nations.