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Introduction of french revolution
Essay about french revolution
Introduction of french revolution
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Founded on three fundamental principles of equality, fraternity and liberty, the French revolution spanned from 1789-1799. The revolution was a historical world landmark for the massive bloodshed and intensity of the revolution. The country was torn apart by political and religious turmoil which had persisted for over a decade. The revolution began due to the resentment of feudalism, civil inequality and religious intolerance that was present in France. The people of the revolution wanted France to establish a new political and social system where all people could enjoy equality, and pushed for government centralization, abolition of feudalism, religious tolerance and equality in the access to different careers. It was a struggle against inhumanity in a bid to create a favorable atmosphere where all human beings could exercise their rights and freedoms without any obstruction.
Throughout the decade of the revolution, France did not have a centralized government and was stricken by a series of upheavals and instability. It wasn’t until after the revolution that Napoleon discovered the need for a strong centralized state in order to consolidate the revolutionary advances in a bid to build stability. Napoleon wanted to prosper with the benefits of the revolution and steer France to establish a stable foundation to institutionalize the gains of the revolution by enacting proper administrative framework. Napoleon came in as a shrewd administrator who would serve to convert the gains of the revolution and establish a humane French territory where the three principles of the revolution could be observed. I would argue that “Napoleon was a champion of the French revolution and steered the revolution principles to fruition”.(Martyn. L. 1...
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...ith the exception of liberty. Napoleon was an important factor in the revolutionary decade as well as the period immediately after the revolution: he steered France to the fruition of the principles of the revolution. (Jordan. 94).
Works Cited
Martyn. L. (1994), Napoleon Bonaparte and the legacy of the French revolution, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, USA.
Owen. Connelly. (1999), The French revolution and the Napoleonic era, Harcourt College publishers, Harcourt. pg. 111-112
David. P. Jordan. (2012), Napoleon and the Revolution, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, USA pg. 92-95
Louis. B. (1981), France under Napoleon, Princeton University Press, USA.
Michael. V. Leggiere. (2007), The fall of Napoleon: The allied invasion of France, 1813-1814, Cambridge university press, New York, USA.
Linda. F. & Marsha. F, (2004), the French revolution, Greenwood Press, New York, USA.
Bibliography D. M. G. Sutherland, France 1789-1815 Revolution and Counterrevolution (London 1985). Tom Holmberg, “Napoleon and the French Revolution”, 1998, www.napoleonbonaparte.nl/html/body_nap_and_revolution.html. www.chesco.com/artman/napoleonbonaparte.html (Quotes by Napoleon Bonaparte). George Orwell, Animal Farm, Middlesex, England 1945. Colin Jones, The Longman Companion to the French Revolution, (New York, 1988).
the French Revolution. Hunt, Lynn & Censer, Jack. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press (2001)
Cobban, Alfred . "Historians and the Causes of the French Revolution." Aspects of the French Revolution. New York: George Braziller, 1968.
How much does Napoleon owe to the French Revolution? Without the French Revolution, there would be no Napoleon. Napoleon’s life was forever affected and directed by the revolution in France. His relationship with France was complex, even from the very beginning of his life. Taking a path that began with his ultimate goal of ejecting France from his homeland of Corsica to ruling the nation he had so dearly despised.
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,...
Furet, Francois ‘Napoleon Bonaparte’ in G, Kate (ed.). The French Revolution: Recent Debates and New Controversies. Clarendon Press, Oxford (1997). Gildea, Robert. Barricades and Borders: Europe 1800-1914, Oxford University Press, New York 2nd edn, 1996.
Hilt, Douglas. Ten Against Napoleon Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1975. Holtman, Robert. The Napoleonic Revolution Philadelphia & New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1967.
New York: Barnes & Noble, 1969. Print. The. Kreis, Steven. A. A. "Lecture 12: The French Revolution - Moderate Stage, 1789-1792.
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.
Kirchberger, Joe H. The French Revolution and Napoleon. New York: Facts on File inc, 1989.
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...
With all the glory and the splendour that some countries may have experienced, never has history seen how only only one man, Napoleon, brought up his country, France, from its most tormented status, to the very pinnacle of its height in just a few years time. He was a military hero who won splendid land-based battles, which allowed him to dominate most of the European continent. He was a man with ambition, great self-control and calculation, a great strategist, a genius; whatever it was, he was simply the best. But, even though how great this person was, something about how he governed France still floats among people's minds. Did he abuse his power? Did Napoleon defeat the purpose of the ideals of the French Revolution? After all of his success in his military campaigns, did he gratify the people's needs regarding their ideals on the French Revolution? This is one of the many controversies that we have to deal with when studying Napoleon and the French Revolution. In this essay, I will discuss my opinion on whether or not was he a destroyer of the ideals of the French Revolution.
Napoleon Bonaparte took advantage of the chaos brewing in France post-revolution and the weakness of the French Revolutionary government--The Directory--to become one of the most powerful men in the history of the world. In 1796, after four years of war, France finally took the fight beyond their borders. It was Bonaparte who took command of French forces in northern Italy during the pivotal battles against the Austrians. Napoleon’s performance here cemented his status as the strong military leader that the weakly-governed France so desperately needed. Even when he failed, he was lavished with praise--despite his failures in the Egyptian expedition, he received a hero’s welcome upon returning to France. As the years went by, the Directory grew
The French Revolution was a bloody civil war that lasted from the years 1789-1799. [1] The revolution arose out of hard economic times that had befallen France. Widespread famine and hunger, due to a grain shortage, rampaged through sections of the country. The economic crisis led to an increase in taxes on the lower classes, known as the third estate, to upkeep the lavish lifestyle of the nobility. [1] All of these are the known factors that led to the rise of the French Revolution.
Nardo, Don. A. The French Revolution. San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1999. Print.