Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who significantly influenced European history. Born in Corisca on August 15th 1769, Napoleon first rose to prominence as a general in the French Revolution (Hutt, 4). With his “strength of will, character, application, and daring” (Napoleon) characteristics, Captain Bonaparte made a name for himself. Staging a coup d’etat in late 1799, Napoleon managed to install himself as First Consul and within three years, as Consul for life (Hutt, 3-4). Ultimately, Napoleon’s military background and cunning character led him to become a self-crowned emperor of France beginning in 1804(Dziewanowski, 90). Under Napoleon’s new military dictatorship, many of the French Revolution’s reforms were preserved and even strengthened, but at the cost of political freedom (Perry et. Al, 117). Napoleon continued to demonstrate his excellent military tactics through his army, conquering many countries and a series of principalities and duchies. It was not until 1813, when Napoléon pursued the Russians far into their land, did he suffer his greatest defeat. With the loss of his rule, Napoléon was exiled and he would die on May 5th, 1821 (Peyre, 29). But before becoming emperor or even First Consul, Napoleon was foremost an excellent general. One of his most memorable campaigns took place in 1798 when Napoleon proposed a military expedition to seize Egypt.
The campaign in Egypt marked a new stage in Napoléon’s career and represented the conflict that existed between France and Great Britain. Napoleon set out hoping to strengthen his own country by weakening Britain’s economic market through his Egyptian expedition. Napoléon brought with him to Egypt the finest of scholars, writers, desig...
... middle of paper ...
...mber of great discoveries were also made on Egyptian soil permitting a better understanding of the culture. So although Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt was an overall failure, great things were achieved and Napoleon’s leadership capabilities remained recognized.
Works Cited
Al-Jabarti, Abd A. Napoleon in Egypt. 1798. 97-99.
Dziewanowski, M K. "Napoleon: Legend and Propaganda." Military Affairs 9
(1945): 89-94.
Hutt, Maurice. Napoleon. Englewood Cliffs: Pentice-Hall, 1972.
Marvin, Perry, Joseph R. Peden, and Theodore H. Von Laue. Sources of the
Western Tradition. 7th ed. Vol. 2. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,
2008.
Peyre, Henri. "Napoleon: Devil, Poet, Saint." Yale French Studies 26 (1960):
21-31.
Rosensweig, Brahm. "Napoleon in Egypt." Discovery Channel. 4 Mar. 2007. 29
Feb. 2008 .
The Chronicle of the French Occupation, 1798 – Napoleon in Egypt, was written by the Egyptian born scholar and jurist, Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti (c. 1753-c.1825) between 1798 and 1801, framing the French occupation of Egypt. Both the Middle East and Europe, during the late 17th century were in a state of redefinition. Although the chronicle had covered only the brief period during first seven months of 36, it serves as a crucial accounting. Clearly illustrated is a paradigmatic shift between a modern culture and an antiquated system with a chronicle of events that swings between something that is merely observational to something written by an emotionally charged spectator. Although the work has been widely accepted, there is still some speculation as to degrees of censorship and possible omissions through various translations.
Napoleon Bonaparte’s attitude towards the French Revolution is one that has often raised questions. That the revolution had an influence on Bonaparte’s regime cannot be denied – but to what extent? When one looks at France after Napoleon’s reign it is clear that he had brought much longed for order and stability. He had also established institutions that embodied the main principles of the revolution. However, it is also evident that many of his policies directly contradict those same principles. Was Napoleon betraying the same revolution that gave him power, or was he merely a pragmatist, who recognised that to consolidate the achievements of the revolution he needed to sacrifice some of those principles?
Napoleon was a military general that participated in multiple war victories. His interests included history, law, and mathematics. His strengths as a leader benefitted in planning financial, legal, and military plans. His aspiring attitude made him believe he was destined to be the savior of France (Coffin & Stacey, 494). He favored a republic over a constitutional monarchy. When Napoleon came to power, he immediately consolidated personal power by overthrowing the five-man Directory and created a Republic. Napoleon used his status and power during the Revolution to bring out and surface Revolution ideals and help his people. Napoleon’s role in European history was the savior of the French Revolution due to the fact he accomplished most objectives that the people hoped for. Goals of the French Revolution included overthrowing the old regime of an absolute monarch, write a basic and worthy constitution, and give more rights to the third estate and limit the first and second estates power in the Estates-General.
Napoleon was an outstanding military commander and enjoyed many successful campaigns. Napoleon maintained the Revolutionary syst...
Simmons, Melinda and Amanda Price. “British Imperialism of Egypt.” British Imperialism of Egypt and the Sudan. 4 March 1998. 29 January 2010. .
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.
... outweigh the problems solved by imperialism, it wasn’t all bad for the Egyptians; the financial aid and the Nile were only some of the problems Britain touched upon.
... It is important to understand that since France had just exited a revolution, it was pretty fragile; one big mistake and France might have ended up in another one. Napoleon was not only a child of both the French Revolution and the Enlightenment, he was also a very intelligent person. His cunning and wits led him to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, enlightened despots of all time. Works Consulted (none of the above).
Napoleon returned to home to France with only about 10% of his Army still alive. He lost most of his soldiers during the Great White Death, which is one of the largest French disasters to date. Since all the coalition allies knew he was in trouble, they decided to follow him and take him out while he was down and burned out. This is when he decided to give himself up and be exiled to Elba with 1000 guards. Before he left though, he promised his men that he, “… would return when the flowers bloomed.” And that was a promise that Napoleon kept.
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.
Egypt developed a railway from Cairo to Alexandria as well as ports along the Mediterranean coast because of its dependence upon the European market. The structure of Egyptian politics and state administration was also redefined during Ali’s rule. As the government centralized, it required individuals specialized in Western forms of education to fill its roles of leadership.... ... middle of paper ... ...
...cientific expedition to Egypt in 1638. Greaves set out to describe the Great Pyramid, and his measurements proved to be highly accurate. Throughout the rest of the 17th and 18th centuries the efforts of European diplomats and travelers, such as Benoît de Maillet of France, Richard Pococke of Britain, and Frederik Norden of Denmark, helped stimulate European interest in the monuments of ancient Egypt. Other great men in history have to has their run with the Pyramids, like Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte of France invaded Egypt. A large team of scholars accompanied his army, with the intention of documenting not only every ancient monument but the plants, animals, geography, and culture of the modern inhabitants. The results of this effort, which ended in 1801 with the French retreat from Egypt, were published in a monumental series of books entitled Description de l’Égypte (1809-1828)
Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the famous figures in French history by the importance of his internal reforms. However, he remains primarily in global memory as one of the greatest military commanders in history. Indeed, Napoleon Bonaparte delivered more battles than Alexander the Great, Hannibal, or Caesar. His campaigns covered all Europe from Spain to Russia, without forgetting the East with Egypt and Syria. The French Emperor entered in the prestigious capitals of Europe, Milan, Vienna (twice), Berlin, Madrid and Moscow. Napoleon has greatly influenced the Western way of war, not only by the new organization of armies, but also by the optimization of different capabilities and the combination between leadership and creativity in the battlefields.
Davenport, John C. The French Revolution and the Rise of Napoleon. New York: Chelsea House, n.d. Print.