Napoleon Friend Or Foe

During the French Revolution Napoleon Bonaparte was the leader of the French Republic. Napoleon crowned himself as emperor, and worked to take over all of Europe. He served his area for sixteen years. Napoleon was a dictator that held power over the french people because he was in love with power, liked people seeing him in charge, and he wants to be considered the perfect image to everyone.

Napoleon Bonaparte is sometimes viewed as a democratic reformer, the views he expressed to give people this image was a complete lie. In a letter Napoleon sent to his brother after defeating the Prussians, Bonaparte says that he believes in public trials along with liberty, equality, and prosperity. These statements are the ideas of the French Revolution and what he told the citizens of France that he believed in. These ideas are what a democratic reformer would believe in and what made him popular during the revolution among the people. These viewpoints he expressed in this letter are not those of which he gave to the people of France. In December of 1812 Bonaparte said to other European monarchs, “Since I have worn a crown I have shown clearly enough that I mean to close the door on revolution. The sovereigns of Europe are indebted to me for stopping the revolutionary storm that threatened their thrones.” With these words he proves that he has no intention of giving the people of France a democracy and that he plans to stop the revolution. The belief that Napoleon Bonaparte is a democratic reformer is based solely on his words and not his action, making them lies to his people.

In France in 1789, A revolution began. The people of France were fighting for their inalienable rights such as freedom from serfdom , equality between the classes. Within this chaos in France, Napoleon, a new thinker, came about and changed France in many ways. Napoleon's policies can be seen as preserving the legacy of the French Revolution by giving equality to the lower classes and creating a governmental system that helped to put the people in charge of their sovereignty, however it can be seen as hurting the legacy by protecting the ideas of absolutism.

How Napoleon Maintains Control in France 1799-1814 After the long period of instability in France, Napoleon seemed to acknowledge the importance of maintaining his power, influence and control over France and the French people. Napoleon was very able in this regard as it is important to make the people to support you and to limit opposition, something that Napoleon and Hitler shared in common. Napoleon maintained his power in many different ways, rewarding people that supported him, repressing people who didn't, censoring material that would harm his regime and producing other material to boost its popularity. He also controlled things which were important for everyday people like religion,

In conclusion, Napoleon has done things that I believe are villainous and therefore he is a villain. The people of France wanted change and some sense of leadership after the revolution and that is what Napoleon could give them. Unfortunately he began to show the signs of a villain and forgot about the principles of the revolution, was blinded by power, and overestimated his abilities as the leader of an empire and an army. Had people realized earlier he was not going to be the great change they wanted and hoped for it may have saved them from his

Impressed by his feats the five main military leaders asked Napoleon to invade England, instead he offered a plan to invade Egypt. After he got the okay to do so Napoleon took over the Egyptian army and its main leaders (www.history.com, www.thefreesource.com). In 1799 Napoleon overthrew the French Directory in an attempt to gain more power. After the defeat he was the leading political figure to most historians (www.history.com). As leader Napoleon improved not only the military of France but also the economy and other parts of the French empire. He helped reform the banks and education system as well as improving the arts and sciences. But his biggest contribution was the Napoleonic code, which was a big part of the legal system in France.(www.history.com, www.thefreesource.com, www.bbc.co.uk). In 1804 Napoleon declared himself emperor of France, which was meant he was the sole leader of this great empire (www.history.com). Napoleon won many battles and his reign stretched from the edge of the border of Spain to Italy and also some parts in Austria and Egypt. It was a strong and powerful empire at the time. The start of Napoleon’s downfall began when Russia broke agreements with France. So Napoleon brought about 600,000 troops into Russia to attack but the Russians were prepared and had the perfect strategy to defeat the French army. The Russians would retreat and keep the French marching

Napoleon Bonaparte, an influential leader of France, was a man of many facets. On one the one hand, Napoleon was a strong leader who created durable institutions and strengthened France, but on the other, there is a more pitiful view of Napoleon. The view of Napoleon was initially very positive: he viewed himself as a protector of the people, and the people saw this too; however, over time, this image was greatly worsened, due to military hardship.

Napoleon managed to maintain the lesser ideals of the French Revolution. However, he managed to do this by giving all of the former ideals a ‘twist’ of his own if he was displeased by them. This included the fact that he re-wrote the constitution that had previously been written; he partially reversed the relationship with the Church, turning France into a Catholic country. It can also be stated that the way he gained power was against the French Revolution’s ideals: and this was the very beginning! On the other hand, Napoleon managed to maintain equal taxation, which had previously been a big issue, especially for the poor. Distinction was removed and there were no privileges for any parties neither was there a way to ‘sneak out’ of

Napoleons’ rise to emperor in France was indisputable mostly because of his overthrow of the Directory. His success’s as commander of the French army in Italy, only led to his aspiring status change to “Emperor” of France after overthrowing the Directory in November of 1799. His undying ambition for expansion of the empire he was creating however would be his undoing. Napoleons rule as emperor of France was quit spectacular actually and many admired and adored him as ruler. His ways were very appealing, and as a speaker he was very persuasive and admired by most of his people until his later years in his fall and demise. However, Napoleon did not seriously adhere to the ideals of the French Revolution, he did that of the Enlightenment but his undying ambition and character as “Emperor” undermined the true need of the French Revolution.

Napoleon Bonaparte will remain in the heart of many French nationals as one of the greatest military leaders that the nation has had when it comes to warfare history. In 1799, Napoleon launched a series of wars, which historian call, “Napoleonic wars” in a bid to extend the territory of France in Europe. Many historians argue that the Napoleonic wars were a continuation of the earlier war under the tag, French revolution in 1789. The French revolution in itself had so many influences in Europe, especially with the armies who felt the greatest impact of the revolution. The revolution brought with it many changes, especially in the production of modern mass weapons with the conscription in place. The new improvements in weaponry made Napoleon seek hegemony in the entire Europe sparking his quest to expand and increase the revolutionary and territorial borders of France. Napoleon, Corsican aristocrat, who was a minor, rose to the position of emperor in France because of the revolution and his idea was to sweep the entire Europe with the reforms brought about by the revolution (Dwyer 32). The idea was to liberate the continent so that all citizens had a chance to take the helm of leadership and do away with the issue of kinship rule. Napoleon was a symbol of change, and although at some point, he comes out as a dictator, he was progressive and created rationalization of governance and all the social

However, even in his policies, they were subject to flaws and imperfections. As a ruler, Napoleon showed time and time against to be an egoistic ruler, to the point of censoring the press and creating propaganda, simply because by spreading bias information, his citizens treated him as a hero, which obviously, as shown, he felt he deserved. He received his place in government not by democracy, but by a coup d’état; an overthrow of the government. He did not become ruler by the will of the people, but instead, by the will and power of himself. The Revolution was the beginning of something great in France, however once in power, Napoleon crushed the spirit of the Revolution in its entirety. He simply was not a revolutionary man, as much as he considered himself one. He destroyed the ideals and laws that French men and women worked hard to create and accomplish during the Revolution. The rights of the Revolution that Napoleon implemented into his Civil Code were adapted and revised in such a way, that they no longer began to reflect the true ideals of the Revolution. The right of Liberty was limited to a certain group of the French population, leaving a large portion out. Due to this, it was impossible to live in an equal society, recognizing that only men were accepted as equal citizens in the eyes of the Civil Code and women were not. Due to the

Napoleon was a very military oriented and organized leader, which positively impacted the people. He reshaped the boundaries of Europe, and continued to expand as much as he could. The people were very happy with him, because they desired a strong leader like this. They felt this way since he seemed to care about the

Not only did Napoleon take control of neighboring countries to France, but he forced his administration, specifically the Napoleonic code, on them as well. When instituting the Napoleonic code, many people rejoiced over the enlightened ideas it spread and freedom it promoted. However, most, if not all of Napoleon’s positive reforms were done so with negative intentions or a counter force in mind. For instance, Napoleon restricted all information in and out of France that viewed him negatively or could potentially obstruct the submissive society he built. In fact, plays, newspapers, and books were censored, which kept his citizens in the dark. The deceit continued when Napoleon promised freedom for all people, but went back on his word once it was no longer convenient for him. For example, Napoleon was facing many

The French Revolution began as an expression of rebellion against centuries of absolute rule in France. After an interim of experimental liberalism under the rule of Jacobins and Girondins and then the infamous reign of terror, the people of French were drawn to a man who promised them a return to stability, and  honor through the expansion of empire. France and it’s people had long yearned for this sens eof honour, it had seemed, and could finally sens eit in a lasting rpesence under the rule of their prodigious, unbeatable general, Napoleon Bonaparte. He would soon take the reigns of civil government as well and become yet another Absolutist ruler, yet this

In late 18th century, the French Revolution brought a wave of social, political, and economic chaos that lasted ten years. From the abolishment of regulations from the Old Regime to the dictatorship that Napoleon Bonaparte established, France underwent great changes. In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the French revolutionary government in a coup. Bonaparte had enrolled in the Military Academy of Brienne at age 10, and after moving back to France and adopting “Bonaparte” as a French version of his last name, quickly rose through the ranks in the French military (Lyons