The French Emperor’s, Napoleon Bonaparte, motto during his rule was “La France avant tout” ; thus he intended for France to be the most powerful country, even stronger than Great Britain. He believed that in order to realize his intentions he must maim the English commerce, a country he labeled “a nation of shopkeepers.” He believed that their wealth was fictitious, scattered and dependent on foreign trade; thus, the Continental System would cause the destruction of their economic stability and credibility, bringing on their collapse. He considered that “for France, the result will be a dream” as the British financial power would be transferred to him. Despite his expectations, the Continental System was futile. Its failure resulted from the Continent’s dissatisfaction with the order, the French Emperor inability to control Europe and enforce the structure, and most importantly, the miscalculation of the effects the economic blockade would have on the Continent and Britain.
Subsequent to the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the supremacy of the British navy was established in Europe. It became clear that France could not defeat Britain in a direct confrontation. With his first strategy of direct attack being too risky, Napoleon’s second option was an economical war. As the historian Sloane wrote: “To destroy British commerce is to strike England to the heart” , thus Bonaparte started the “coast system” that blockaded Britain from mainland Europe. He would then instate France as the capital of this empire, a capital led by nationalists who would propagate his ideologies.
In 1803, Napoleon said, while speaking of the English Ministers: “How could a nation of forty millions consent to let another nation lay down the law for it?” ...
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On December 4 1808 Napoleon announced in the Madrid Imperial Decree, that "primitive rights are nullified in Spain" (Document 8). By conveying to a conclusion to benefits of the respectability and the Inquisition, and letting each well behaved subject to utilize them, he endeavors to pick up the Spanish laborers' support. Napoleon tries to give all of Europe equivalent rights. Notwithstanding, a year prior, in a letter to his sibling and King of Westphilia, Jerome Napoleon, Napoleon composes that he needs his sibling's "subjects to appreciate a higher level of freedom, correspondence, and flourishing until now obscure to the German individuals" (Document 7). While this makes Napoleon an equivalent rights advocate for everybody, he likewise states in the same letter, "I need this liberal administration to reinforce your government" (Document 7). From this announcement, Napoleon competes for equivalent rights to keep the general population cheerful and not revolt. He instructs strategies to a solid tenet to his sibling. Napoleon, himself more likely than not utilized these strategies effectively before showing them to his sibling. Depicting him as force hungry is
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Two-hundred and ten years ago, the country of France was rapidly changing, whether for better or for worse was not yet known. At this time, young Napoleon Bonaparte was leading his fledgling empire in France. He was challenging all the laid down rules and regulations that had been in place within his country and Europe for hundreds of years. This year, however, he would enact a set of laws known as the Civil Code, which was later called the Napoleonic Code. This set of laws was one of Napoleon’s longest lasting effects on the world, as it “is still in effect today, and has served as the model for many other national codes, especially in Europe” (Princeton Review). It was this set of laws that laid down rules and guidelines that are seen as normal in a modern day sense, such as that all men are equal. These concepts were brand new to the period, and no leader had ever allowed such idea to be enacted. It went against what the kings and queens in Europe had fought so hard to maintain, the idea that aristocrats and priests were above commoners, and more importantly, above the law. The Civil Code would forever change the way the French governed their people, and how those people were represented in their government. One of the most significant aspects of it was that it protected private property, as well as restoring power to the males of the family. At this time, France was a country where you were born into your wealth and social status. However, this all changed with the Napoleonic Code as well. The society began moving towards a “merit-based society in which individuals qualify for education and employment because of talent rather than birth or social standing” (Bentley pg. 792). Among other things, the code improved education with...
Graham, Stephen. “Tsar of freedom: the life and reign of Alexander II”. New Haven, Yale University press, 1935.
(the writer could not help herself) Napoleon is a timeless example of an enlightened despot. The Bible still has not fully recovered from the rationality of his church. His codified law system is still active in France and the great state of Louisiana. Mankind today clutches desperately at his social ideologies.
In 1805, while Thomas Jefferson was the President, the world balance of power shook when the British navy defeated the French navy at the battle of Trafalgar, but the French military defeated the British...
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Sutherland, Donald M.G. The French Revolution and Empire: the quest for a civic order. Oxford, UK. Malden, MA: Blackwell. 2003. 40-43. Print.
Throughout this time, Jefferson was keeping tabs on Napoleon's military activities and intentions in North America. Part of his evolving strategy involved givi...
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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...
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.
In September 1814 – June 1815, the leaders who vanquished Napoleon, European representatives, and those who believe they were in “high circles” gathered together to redraw territorial boundaries and fashion a lasting peace at the end of the Napoleonic wars after the downfall of Napoleon.