Napoleon

Napoleon

`I wished to found a European system, a European Code of Laws, a European judiciary: there would be but one people in Europe,'

Napoleon himself has many critics some call him a wicked dictator and others just remember him for the battle of Waterloo, against the British Admiral Nelson. Nevertheless, Napoleon was a very clever man and was the first to come up with the idea of a united Europe, an idea that we are still trying to live by today.

Napoleon had this idea over 200 years before Europe finally became the European Union.

Napoleon's idea for Europe was that the French, Spanish, Italians, and Germans would live together in peace and share laws and trade.

But why did Napoleon want to unite Europe, and was this for a better life for everyone?

Before the French revolution, the laws in France were set by the monarchy and this was the same for most of Europe. At that time, all the areas of France had over 14,000 different laws and so did the other countries in Europe. These laws varied from state to state in France. Napoleon wanted his Empire to have one unified code of laws and he introduced this in the early 19th century. This was known as the Code Napoleon. However, as the French had controlled or influenced most of Europe at that time it was a clever way of enforcing his ideas not only over France but over Europe too.

The code Napoleon consisted of a more simple set of rules, and concentrated on the rights of man but was still very biased against women, the code made men more powerful and women and children their property. Before the code was introduced, the church had the greatest influence over the way people lived. The code concentrated on the rights of men to live and work in freedom and to ma...

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...tually unaltered for more than 150 years. Even in France today the laws have not been fundamentally changed, and in many other countries, it forms the basis to their own laws.

In many ways, the Code has played a very important role of shaping society in Europe, as we know it today.

Although Napoleon had tried to create a union of Europe, by using the force of his many military victories, we cannot judge it as a bad idea. We have been trying to create a united Europe since the end of the Second World War. The People and governments of Europe have finally realised that countries needed to be at peace with each other. They also need to foster strong links with each other to benefit them all.

References

Will & Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilisation: The Age of Napoleon.

Philip J Haythornthwaite, The Napoleonic Sourcebook

Felix Markham, Napoleon.