How Did Napoleon Bonaparte Fall To Power

Gandhi once stated, “Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love...” Unfortunately, France’s very own Napoleon Bonaparte only relied on the former during his reign; which potentially contributed to his fall. Before he was ruling a country, Napoleon was a young military leader that eventually rose to power due to him falling in the favor of influential people. The same people that brought him to power also expected to control Napoleon, however in the end he would trick them, and establish himself as a despot, and a truly cruel one at that. Napoleon Bonaparte was ruthless dictator who went against the ideals of the French Revolution. He did this by hurting and killing many people as well as impairing

To explain further, as a dictator, Napoleon did not give his citizens the right to vote, and made decisions on his own. This means that the citizens of France under Napoleonic rule, were deprived of a basic right, voting. This basic right was one of the principles the French revolution was working towards, and Napoleon went against it; thereby showing how he was a ruthless dictator that contradicted the French Revolution cause. Also, “He believed, in contrast to many Europeans of his day, that the ruling class would be chosen by merit, rather than heredity.” Now, many argue that Napoleon somewhat decreasing the gradient that was social mobility, demonstrates he valued equality. However, the fact that he purposefully preserved a ruling class exemplifies that he did not fully support equality because he only perpetuated the societal hierarchy. And like before, since he did not truly support equality, he did not support the French Revolution, and ultimately inhibited the cause. In conclusion, because Napoleon was a dictator and propagated a social ladder, it reflects a non-egalitarian standpoint, and ergo a anti-revolutionary stance, as