World History Dbq

World History In-Class Essay 9/17

No late work accepted. Once work has been graded, students have 1 day to fix their assignment and resubmit. If work is resubmitted, students must email the teacher.

Your Contributions to Class Brainstorm/Discussion
To get credit for your contribution to this week’s classroom brainstorming/discussion exercise, copy-and-paste your contributions from the shared class document here.

Notes (Compiled from my 4 sources):
Napoleon broke away from the Old Regime of the Bourbon monarchy.
He is known as Napoleon Bonaparte, or Napoleon I.
Martyn Lyons argues “Napoleon was not an enlightened despot but rather the founder of the modern state, and that his regime was the fulfillment of the ‘bourgeois’ Revolution of

1789 - 1799.”
The new state emerged from the Revolution and was shaped by Napoleon - secular and without a trace of the “divine sanction”, once an ideological prop of the old regime monarchy.
Napoleon turned the state into an “instrument of dictatorship” and “negated its democratic essence by claiming that he alone embodied the indivisible rights of the people. Manipulating a series of plebiscites for the consolidation of his personal authority.; Bonapartism drew power from repeated consultations with the popular will of 1800, 1802, 1804 and 1815 and at the time was not a military dictatorship. Instead, it was a regime which ended parliamentary life and towards the liberal intellectuals who defended a democracy, showed contempt. When Bonapartism became imperial, its years were anti-parliamentary and anti-liberal, with media being strictly controlled by Napoleon’s dictatorship.
Once Napoleon rose to power, the French Revolution changed the society of orders; destroyed legal privileges and tax exemptions were a part of his reign.
As an Enlightened Absolutist, one’s standard role was the rationalize the Old Regime, but Bonaparte’s role was to rationalize the New Regime and to build the institutions which would realise new forms of equality of opportunity and not to safeguard the social prestige of the aristocracy.
He was born in Corsica, which was obtained by France a year before his birth.
His family was of the lower nobility and was not wealthy.
His final battle was the Battle of Waterloo, defeated by the British with assistance from Austria.
Napoleon crowned himself emperor - contrary to the tradition of having the pope crown you (which meant your power came from God), implying that he was his own source of power and was in turn. higher than God.
Restored universal suffrage in France -- coup d’etat of 1851, December.
Lieutenant -> General; good strategist
Introduced Napoleonic Code, liberalism
He was responsible for most, if not all, of the stabilization of France after the Revolution
Sold the Louisiana Territory to the US
Exiled from France twice, died on St. Helena

Instructions/Essay Prompt
Use this week’s brainstorm discussion notes and cited references to answer the following essay prompt:

Prompt: Use evidence with correct in-text citations to analyze Napoleon's lasting impact on Europe and the world.

You will need to share this document with the members of your group (comment access).
You will be required to give peer feedback on your group member’s essays. Review their essays, and add comments to their papers.
You can use CTRL-ALT-M as a handy shortcut for adding a comment!
Use @ in a comment, and then pick a person’s email address, to send them an email notification of your comment. You can even use this to tag Mrs. Robinson to get feedback on something you’ve written.
Make sure to properly in-text cite resources that you use and include a work cited at the end of the essay.

Your

Essay

During Napoleon Bonaparte’s lifetime, his actions as both military general and emperor of France had impacts on both Europe and the rest of the world that lasted throughout the ages. Restoring universal suffrage - the right to vote in political elections - within a new constitution by mounting a coup d’etat in the December of 1851, for example, won him the hearts of the majority of the French people and earned them the right they still have today. Bonaparte also conquered about 8 countries on the behalf of France, with 6 being the country’s entirety and 2 being the majority of the country. Upon analyzing his achievements, it is apparent that Napoleon has done great things for his country, many of which have prevailed through the years and made it to present day; however, that does not mean he did not have an affect on other countries as well.
While fighting for France, Napoleon slowly earned more and more for his country; the aforementioned coup d’etat earned the people of France voting rights being one of his achievements. He could not have done this, however, without being the military general and strategist he was. To get to where he was, he started off as a boy in Corsica and a member of Corsica’s lower nobility, without much wealth. Corsica was obtained by France a little before Napoleon was born, technically rendering him French. Attending a French military academy, he graduated in 1785, starting off as a second lieutenant and later promoted to brigadier general. Returning to his later life, Bonaparte was also responsible for overthrowing the French Directory, replacing it with a three-member Consulate with himself as first consul, resulting with him being France’s new leading political figure (Lyons, 1994). The centralization of the French government as well as the stabilization of areas that suffered during the French Revolution were a part of his handiwork; the Napoleonic Code, introducing the concept of liberalism, was developed during this time and still forms the foundation of French civil law today - other countries such as Germany also follow this code. After a good amount of wars, Napoleon was made first consul for life by an amendment to the French constitution in 1802; two years later, he proceeded to crown himself emperor of France (Staff, 2009).
In addition to the benefits he brought to France, he also had an impact on many of France’s neighboring or conquered countries. During his Egyptian military campaign of 1799, the Rosetta stone was found by one of his soldiers - an artifact that was the key element in deciphering the almost-lost Egyptian hieroglyphics. The other countries of Europe convened as a result of Napoleon’s mindset, that “a single country could dominate Europe” (Phonpei, 2014), altering the borders of their countries in an attempt to regulate the levels of power of each one. Napoleon’s idea of nationalism also caught on in other countries, inadvertently unifying countries like Italy and Germany. He also sold the Louisiana Territory to the US, making the US both larger and stronger (Phonpei, 2014). Britain, among others, was one of the countries that were the most affected by Napoleon. Their politics were greatly involved with France’s during Napoleon’s time, and indeed after, during the time of Napoleon III (Semmel, 2004). The country had to maintain an informal alliance with France, which it depended on for its ability to affect European affairs - for France never conquered Britain, due to Britain’s superior naval forces. On the other hand, Britain, assisting and receiving assistance from France’s rival countries, defeated Napoleon in several battles, including his last, particularly at the Battle of Waterloo (Staff, 2009).
Napoleon’s reign, although loved by the French, was abruptly brought to a halt following the losses of wars against Russia, the Peninsular War and the Battle of Leipzig, or the Battle of Nations - he was exiled to Elba after being forced to abdicate the throne in 1814, only to return in less than a year and organise individual attacks on the allied forces, yet lose once more at the previously discussed Battle of Waterloo, resulting in his second forced abdication (Lyons, 1994).

Bonaparte was finally exiled to Saint Helena, which proved to be his final resting place once he died on May 5, 1821 from what researchers believe was stomach cancer (Phonpei,

2014).
To conclude, one cannot fail to see the impacts Napoleon Bonaparte made on various parts of the world; both good and bad actions were made on his behalf, but each one contributed to how some countries operate today. Some unveiled new discoveries, ideas or concepts for the rest of the world to experience, all of which have lasted to this day.