Support of Napoleon Within France
Introduction
The French Revolution had proceeded in the name of liberty, yet
successive forms of repression had been mounted to defend it.
No support among liberals, those who fought to bring about success in
the French Revolution.
- Napoleon drifted away from his own ideals. He became more interested
in his own. His domestic and foreign policies forced on France were
designed to support his imperial ambitions. His government
concentrated on recruiting soldiers and funds for his armies.
Revolutionary liberties did not matter much to him.
- In a way, the Napoleonic regime promoted unlimited expansion and
continual warfare. That surely went against the principles of the
French revolution that he was supposed to espouse.
- Napoleon saw elections as 'useless'. To him the elections only
brought about political instability. Very soon he had buried popular
democracy. Popular sovereignty caved in and in its place was raw
authority of the Napoleonic regime
- There could be no durable peace in the country with wars being
fought continuously
Support for Napoleon
- Napoleon had been considered as 'son of the Revolution' by the
revolutionaries of 1789
- Among the reasons were the following:
- He was against the unjust and ineffective institutions of the ancien
regime such as: Seigneurialism, the cumbersome institutions of Bourbon
absolutism; the aristocratic privilege
- Above all Napoleon valued principles of the Revolution which
stressed equality of opportunity
- The French wanted a strong and stable government; an assurance of
basic revolutionary gains, and settlem...
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...and confiscated from the Church and sold during the Revolution
would be retained by its purchasers.
- On the other hand, the government dropped the ten-day week and
restored the Gregorian calendar.
- The balance of church-state relations tilted in the state's favour.
- Napoleon intended to use the clergy as a major prop of his regime
only.
- The pulpit and the primary school became instruments of social
control, to be used, as a new catechism stated, "to bind the religious
conscience of the people to the august person of the Emperor." As
Napoleon put it, the clergy would be his "moral prefects."
- Devout Catholics resented this subordination of the Church.
- Eventually Pope Pius renounced the Concordat, to which Napoleon
responded by removing the pontiff to France and placing him under
house arrest.
During his rule, Napoleon called himself an emperor, but he acted like the kings before him. The French Revolution stood against the idea of one leader with all authority over one country and promoted liberty, equality, and fraternity. The French citizens did not glorify Napoleon as a king because he gave his people sovereignty over political situations. He used plebiscites or voting to spread equality, however, the majority was always in favor of Napoleon. This happened due to fear because he was the strongest man in Europe at the time. He idolized himself as a hero, saving the French people from the
Amid his ascent to power, Napoleon stuck to the goals obediently. In his discourse to his troops, Napoleon said, "We are taking up arms as liberal foes, and we wish just to squash the despots who subjugate [the Italian people]" (Document 1). He instructs them to be deferential of different nations, to give them rights they have the privilege to appreciate. This takes after Locke's illumination thoughts, that everybody has natural rights that can't be taken away. Being a supporter of equivalent rights, he picked up notoriety with the French individuals.
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?
After the Reign of Terror, Napoleon Bonaparte rose to authority. When he was in power, Napoleon only kept some of the ideas that were used in the French Revolution. For example he was for equality, but disregarded liberty. Napoleon started many wars for France, in hopes of gaining land. France did win some land, but more times than not France lost the wars, putting them into extreme war debt.
Napoleon had betrayed the idea of liberty of the French Revolution through his conquests and new laws. His conquests led to multiple reforms and laws which failed because they were considered politically impossible. He established new codes that limited the freedoms that the conquered had previously. After crowning himself Emperor, Napoleon started regulating public opinion, censoring books and media, and monitoring his people to avoid rebellion. He had suppressed anyone who tried to write articles that attacked him, curtailed free speech and freedom of the press, and
Napoleon had been influenced and guided by the revolution, but he was able to use it to his ends. One of Napoleons greatest strengths was being able to take advantage of a situation, and he certainly was able to utilize the chaos and fear of the revolution. He is forever intertwined with the French Revolution, and it with him.
Almost every ruler in history can be accused of having some kind of religious fanaticism. This religious fervor has led to persecution, civil war, unrest, instability, ignorance, and even genocide. The enlightenment taught philosophes and scholars religious tolerance by lessening the importance of religion and God in everyday life. As a child of the enlightenment, Napoleon had a similar immunization to the devout and was able to use religion as a tool to accomplish his political ideas and goals. An example of this is the fact that whatever new land he conquered, he adopted the religion of that land in order to gain the acceptance of the general population. In France, he was Catholic. In Egypt, he was Muslim. But the only insight we have to his actual religious beliefs are that he said he followed his own "star" indicating that he pursued a somewhat mystical belief in destiny and fate. He completely regar...
The only way of determining whether Napoleon consolidated or betrayed the revolution is to explore his actions such as his military success, dictatorship and social reforms. The difficulty of this analysis is that Napoleon's motives for his actions determine whether he consolidated or betrayed the Revolution. If Napoleon betrayed the revolution, then he betrayed the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. For it is ideals rather than realities that Napoleon allegedly betrayed. The reality of the French revolution is 8 periods of constant change and succession of policies and leaders, with each new leader and party bringing amendments to the revolution.
Napoleon's reign reflected the enlightenment ideals in the following fashion. In 1796 He made a proclamation in which he stated "your property, your religion, and your customs will be respected." Napoleon also was sympathetic to other peoples faith, and he declared religious tolerance in France. He also spoke how every person or "sect" has there own spiritual road to follow.
Reason was their main concept and was held above all other things such as religion, meaning even if the bible said it was wrong, if their reason said it was right they would do it. This did not lead to a stable government nor did it secure their liberty, instead it lead France into a state of decay. They descended into terror during the reign of Napoleon, and, ultimately, restored the monarchy.
During the Napoleonic reign, the biggest reform appeared to be the loss of hereditary rights of the upper class citizens. Before Napoleon became a king, a lot of jobs were inherited. The purchase of the offices was rather common and skills were not required. Revolution believed in equality. Napoleon established that equality by granting everyone equal right to attempt the job. Now the positions were given out based on merit only. This change created fairness and limited the rights of the nobles at the same time. France was not the only country that felt the influence of the Napoleonic reform. Italian and German aristocrats were overthrown as well, and the weakening of the Spanish nobility even led to the revolt.
There is a question that people wonder about if they should be strongly attached to the tough Napoleon. The answer to that is yes because he had restored the order of the public with all his wisdom. It states in document eight, “he defends the state by his powerful arm.” Meaning, he is protecting his people with his military. If Napoleon was a tyrant, he wouldn’t put any effort into securing the French public. By reestablishing the order again, the people of France could gain more trust in their leader. Another great thing that Napoleon had done was allow the Catholic and Roman religion to be expressed. Document 12 states that the religion could be “freely and publicly done in France.” This would have made the public satisfied.
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...
The French people were quick to blame the government for all the misfortune they possess, yet ignored the potential evil or crisis the social body was heading towards within themselves. Because of the rapid sequence of horrific events in the beginning of the French revolution, it prevented the subversive principles to be spread passes the frontiers of France, and the wars of conquest which succeeded them gave to the public mind a direction little favorable to revolutionary principles (2). French men have disgraced the religion by ‘attacking with a steady and systematic animosity, and all it is there that the weapon of ridicule has been used with the most ease and success (2). Metternich was not in support of the French
In doing so, he prevented people from having judgment passed upon them based on a single person’s selfish whim, a common occurrence during King Louis XII reign. In addition, the Napoleonic Code appeased the religious freedoms of the people, specifically Catholic practitioners, through the Concordat of 1801. While all people were allowed to practice freely, those of whom were Catholic found themselves without a seminary or clergy in which they could preach to. Napoleon’s negotiation with the Pope, the Concordat was created, which permitted the reopening of seminaries and reinstatement of clergies, and thus true religious freedom. Through his utter allowance of religious freedom, Napoleon united his country even more, and gave them a reason to love and protect it, and subsequently lead the citizens of France to increase their nationalistic sentiment for their country. Above all, with the exemptions of all peoples taken into account, his law simultaneously allowed a crumbling France to unify together while catalyzing the nationalistic feelings buried within the hearts of France’s citizens through the implementation of civil freedom the people