Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: napoleon as a leader
Napoleon was a tyrant because he betrayed the French Revolution ideals of freedom, equality, and poverty. He was the closest person ever to uniting Europe, but did not get that done. He had so much power and used it to become a tyrant. Everyone hated him and would make fun of him .Cartoonists mocked him with cartoons, and people would laugh about how he was so short, but with a big hat, and belly. Napoleon made 3 main and big mistakes; the continental system, peninsular war, and invasion of Russia. Napoleon failed almost everything he did, very few were accomplished.
On November 1806, Napoleon set up a blockade (a great forcible closing of ports) to prevent all trade and communication with Great Britain, and other European nations. Napoleon called this policy the Continental System, because it was supposed to make continental Europe more self-sufficient. Napoleon also intended it to destroy Great Britain’s commercial and industrial economy. Napoleons’ blockade wasn’t tight enough, that they got aided by the British; smugglers managed to bring cargo from Britain into Europe. The Blockade weakened the British trade but it didn’t destroy it. In addition, the British responded with its own blockade. The British had a stronger navy, so they were better able to make the blockade work. To make the blockade more forceful, the British navy stopped neutral ships bound for the continent and forced them to sail to a British port to be searched and taxed. America ships were among these stopped by the British navy. In 1812, the US congress declared war on Britain which lasted two years.
In 1808, Napoleon made a second mistake, the Peninsular war. He wanted to get Portugal to accept the continental system, so he sent an invasion f...
... middle of paper ...
...n faced the allied armies of the European powers outside the German city of Leipzig, where they easily beat Napoleon. Napoleon finally surrenders and is exiled to the Island of Elba, a tiny island off the Italian coast. Louis XVII, the new king is quickly overthrown and Napoleon returns from exile. In Belgium, near the village of Waterloo, British and Prussian forces defeat Napoleons new army. This defeat ends the ‘Hundred Days’ (Napoleons last attempt at power).
The British shipped Napoleon to St. Helena, a remote Island in the South Atlantic. There he lived in lonely exile for six years writing his memoirs. Napoleon had died in 1821 of a stomach cancer. Napoleon is mostly known as a tyrant now, but some people believe he is a hero. He’s done too many mistakes to keep his spot as a hero, but enough to make him a tyrant. That is why is mostly called a tyrant now.
Although he inspired new social, economic, and political ideas, Napoleon Bonaparte is better known for his military tactics. Even today, his battle plans are used and studied by many in the military. Napoleon, who started out as an extremely short and wimpy foreigner who rose to become Emperor of France, died in 1821 at St. Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic. He was fifty-two years old. Th cause is uncertain: either he was poisoned or he died of a stomach ailment.
Napoleon Bonaparte was an interesting ruler in that he was compromised of attributes of both a tyrant and a hero. Napoleon had a strong following throughout his reign and even during his two exiles. He was the emperor of France between 1799 and 1815, following the fall of the Directory. Despite the efforts of the French Revolution to rid the country of an autocratic ruler, Bonaparte came to power as Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte I in 1804. He claimed that he preserved the goals of the Revolution, which can be easily argued as his rule became more dictatorial as it progressed. Despite his departure from some of the gains of the Revolution, he overall was a hero for the French people. Through his military ventures, political changes and social reform, Napoleon proved himself as a hero. This is not to say that there were aspects of his reign that were tyrannical, but he was overall beneficial for France.
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...
Spain, who was an ally of France, disobeyed Napoleon's decree. Then in 1808 Napoleon overthrew the Spanish royal family and made his brother Joseph king of Spain. However, everything that Napoleon did such as put in a foreign ruler, take away noble privileges offended Spanish pride and created nationalistic feelings. The people of Spain revolted in 1808. The French troops stopped the riots, but the nationalistic spirit was not lost. For the next five years, there was warfare in Spain. British troops came to aid Spain. This led to the defeat of Joseph, death of thousands of French troops and it inspired patriots and nationalists of other lands to resist Napoleon. This war between 1808 and 1813 is called The Peninsular War.
Napoleon was a great soldier that graduated from military school at the age of sixteen and quickly worked his way through the ranks. Napoleon was a brilliant leader in battle and consistently defeated armies larger than his own; including when he forced the Austrians to make peace after defeating four of their generals. In 1799 Napoleon and his colleagues overtook the French government and established power. He revised the constitution in 1802 to make himself consul for life, and then again in 1804 to make himself Emperor of France. Soon after Napoleon came to power he restructured the administration, simplified the court system, and began monitoring the schooling system; French law was also put in the Napoleon Code which guaranteed the rights and liberties that were gained through the revolution. Napoleons violent behavior caused war with Britain to break out, who allied with Russia and Austria. Prussia later allied themselves with Russia; creating a huge alliances against France and Napoleon. Napoleon successfully extended his reign over large parts of Europe and put each state under the Napoleon Code, which gave citizens new rights and privileges. In 1812 all of Europe turned against Napoleon, which lead to his exile in 1814. He regained power in 1815 just to loose it later that year. He died in exile in Saint Helena in 1821.
During Napoleon’s reign there were numerous events that changed the world however for this essay I will only address three significant events. The first event I will discuss is the Code of Napoleon followed by the Haitian Revolution and finally the sale of Louisiana.
The arguments about Napoleon Bonaparte have never stopped through hundreds of years after his death. Hero or Tyrant? The answer is just as complex as the question. Napoleon was still one of the most controversial historical figures today. The life of Napoleon was glorious, solemn and stirring. Some say that he is a shrewd politician; some say that he is a hero, who changed the history of Europe; some say that he is a sinner of war, a warmonger and a tyrant; some blame him for re-established the monarchy, which is the reverse of history. His role in the long river of history will always be swinging between a hero and a tyrant. But without any doubt, Napoleon was once the dominance of Europe, who
After being exiled to the small island of Elba, Napoleon stayed there for approximately ten months until returning to France with an army of about one thousand people. The royal troops blocked the road so Napoleon could not continue moving his army, and so he walked in front of his troops and announced in anyone wanted to shoot their emperor, he stood before them without any weapon. Due to this act of bravery and his previous influence on the royal soldiers, they all came and joined Napoleon’s side. This goes to show that Napoleon was extremely brave and faithful in the fact that he had a great influence over
In Conclusion, Napoleon was a very charismatic leader, and did many great things for France. As an emperor he was more than well liked and was probably one of the most intriguing individuals of his time, he was a brilliant strategic thinker, and got what he aimed at done generally. However, his over ambitious thoughts led to his downfall at the battle of Waterloo in which the allies of Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Britain defeated him and imprisoned him on the island of St. Helena far off the western coast of Africa.
But his flaws do not negate all the good that he did. Napoleon’s Civil Code is still in use today. I won’t get into specifics on the Napoleonic Code, but they obviously did a lot of good for France and, by extension, the entire world. Napoleon transformed a frantic France, still reeling from the aftermath of the French Revolution, into a thriving country. I think it is safe to say that France was a collectively better place during the Napoleonic Era than it had been in the time directly before it. He gave the people the freedom to choose their own religion in a society that had, for so long, been told what to do and what to worship by the
The Siege of Toulon was where Napoleon gained his initial power within the French army. After that battle, he began to have more and more power and influence among the officers in the French army. In 1799 Napoleon led a coup that had the sole purpose of overthrowing the government. The same government that Napoleon had fought to establish during the Revolution of 1789. He was granted the power of a dictator, but he ruled as a monarch more than a dictator. Napoleon was supposed to be a leader with a consulate and advisors that he was supposed to listen to, but he wanted all the power for himself and quickly disposed of his advisors. At the beginning of Napoleon’s reign, there was peace in Europe. But Napoleon became power hungry, and sought to conquer the European continent.
Although Napoleon had many victories during his rule, his mistakes in battle not only caused his empire to collapse, but also affected the rest of Europe. His first mistake was the enforcement of the Continental System. That ultimately led to the Peninsular war which proved disastrous of Napoleon. Napoleon’s invasion of Russia was the ultimate disaster which left his army particularly destroyed.
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.
They resisted the continental system ? the system Napoleon set up ? based on Roman government, because it was cutting off their supply?s as it was aimed as destroying the British economy. Conflict broke out and Portugal violated the blockade against the British trade and Spain revolted against Napoleon?s brother?s rule. These small revolts resulted in guerrilla warfare ? small bands of troops that attack in short bursts. Napoleons worst battle was in Russia and it led to his downfall. Napoleon amassed a huge army when Czar Alexander I refused to suppress British trade, and marched on Russia in 1812. Napoleon wanted to fight the Russians in one big battle but the Russians, seeing that they were vastly outnumbered, withdrew and went back to Russia to build a better army. As they went back to Russia the instituted a ?scorched earth policy?, meaning, that they burned everythi...
One of Napoleon’s few bad campaigns was when he went into Russia, and instead of the Russians just letting the French capture them, they used guerrilla tactics and also the weather, to fight France. Once Napoleon finally defeated the Russians, he went to Moscow, only to see it in flames. The Grand Army, which was originally made up of 500,000 troops, now had a short of supplies and shelter from the harsh winter. Because of that, they had returned to France being known as "One of Napoleon’s worst blunders." Europe noticed that Napoleon was now weak, and they allied against him and came out victorious, and the European’s forced Napoleon the abdicate power on April 6, 1814.