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Napoleon's rule over France was largely successful. His government was stable and made considerable progress on achieving the ideals set forth by the revolutionaries in 1789. However, Napoleon's rule was not completely successful - he had failed to address or even regressed upon some of the revolutionary ideals. First of all, the greatest success of Napoleon's rule was his introduction of a unified national legal system. The Napoleonic code (introduced 1804) was a success since it preserved the social aims of the revolution such as equality in the eyes of the law and also guaranteed civil liberties like freedom of religion. Furthermore, the code couldn't be challenged by regional traditions and local rights, thus unifying the country under …show more content…
Women did not enjoy equal rights under his rule. For example, Napoleon's law of the family monarchy dictated that a man could file for divorce on grounds of adultery. On the other hand, a man had to cohabit with his mistress for two years before a woman could justify a divorce. As it can be seen, Napoleon's rule wasn't completely successful since he had failed to ensure equality for all French citizens. Likewise, Napoleon's failure to ensure universal suffrage in France was another sign that his rule wasn't completely successful. Women couldn't vote and a man had to have earnings of more than 150 francs to participate. This often excluded the lower classes like the peasantry, who had no political representation. The failure of universal suffrage in France showed that Napoleon's rule was unsuccessful in some regards. As it can be seen, Napoleon's rule was, to a large extent, successful. He had achieved stability after years of chaos and he had progressed on some revolutionary ideals while also healing the wounds inflicted by past French governments. As a result, it's rather clear that Napoleon's government did mostly succeed after years of
Napoleon Bonaparte ruled in France from 1789 to 1815. Napoleon came to power in 1789 and immediately became a powerful figure in the French government. However, some thought Napoleon was such a great leader. The Napoleonic Empire started to grow France’s territories. Some might have believed that Napoleon was too eager with his rule, while losing and failing to succeed against the power of England, in an attempt to blockade their trade, and of Russia, where he led his army to a defeat and retreat back to France. Even in his success over Spain, the battle still costed Napoleon and his army in men and resources. Napoleon was mostly viewed as a powerful and militaristic leader in some aspects, but others saw him as a coward and terrible leader in other ways.
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 was able to grant French citizens natural rights, which was the main purpose of the Revolution, and use this to better society as a whole. For example, he used a plebiscite, vote of the people, to approve a new constitution that gave him power to rule. By getting the consent of the people to rule and to create and pursue certain actions in government, Napoleon used the governed as a ruling mechanism; he didn't ignore them. He created a system of meritocracy (what the people wanted): granting positions to those that deserved them based on qualifications, not just handing out jobs to people of higher social status giving “careers open to talent (Coffin and Stacey, 494).” Finally through his supremacy as French ruler,...
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.
Napoleon was an outstanding military commander and enjoyed many successful campaigns. Napoleon maintained the Revolutionary syst...
Over the years of his work, Napoleon had many achievements that were hard for many rulers to get. For one, he had his entire empire loyal to him. For example, his army were not only loyal to their nation, but Napoleon as well and they were from the revolution. Ever since the Roman empire, it has been hard for any other ruler to rule
Napoleon Bonaparte did establish a dictatorship within France during his reign as Emperor. He introduced reforms that seemed to contradict the ideals and goals of the Revolution. However, the changes that he did make were usually improvements of those ideals or laws put in place to achieve those ideals through means that appeared anti-revolutionary and they transformed France into a superpower.
...the laws in france were varied and included special privileges based on social class. The napoleonic code brought forth new laws that entailed equality. It guaranteed that all men were equal before the law as well giving freedom of religion and freedom to pursue any occupation. Pursuing any occupation was very important in his achievements as well as Equality. Napolean being born a second class citizen and moving up to being a leader was un common and showed just how determined a leader he was. “a career open to all talents, without distinctions of birth.” Going along with equality and not treating one class above another progressive taxation was instilled making it equal for everyone. For almost 2 centuries these laws and more were the basis of legal systems through out the whole world and continues to be the basis for many of the legal systems in our world today.
The biggest and the most important thing that Napoleon did in order to preserve the French Revolution was the Napoleonic Code or the Civil Code of 1804.
But, most importantly, Napoleon did what he thought would make his country stronger. 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 while under the control of the monarchy. He also created an army of government officials. He had the entire country linked under a rational administration.
...arly successes and his military brilliance classifies him as a hero in this sense. His political reign was also one of debate. Although he awarded many rights, he challenged them with other restrictions. Overall, France was stable following the horrid Reign of Terror but it also awarded more rights than in the old regime. Finally, the social aspect of France could prove Bonaparte to be either heroic or tyrannical as well. Many social changes transgressed during his reign. For instance, there was an increase in education and an end to feudalism, however Napoleon ruled the imperial catechism and was emperor for life. Overall the social changes were an improvement from the old regime, therefore classifying his as a hero for his time period. Overall, Napoleon was a hero in all three aspects of French life, although there were many aspects which were tyrannical as well.
Napoleon Bonaparte is often seen as a tyrant, however; through Napoleon’s strong tactics and military leadership he led France through a time of great turmoil and provided the stability and guidance France so desperately needed. During his reign, Napoleon was able to bring an end to the French Revolution, a series of wars that had fractured the French at their core. After the resolution of the revolution, Napoleon developed the Civil Code or Napoleonic code to unite all of France under one governing law. The Civil Code blended the governing laws of the Roman law practiced in the South with the customary law practiced in the North. Through the Code, Napoleon brought unity to France, improved the rights and lives of citizens, and allowed for France’s own growth and development. The Civil Code is considered one of Napoleon’s
Reasons for Napoleon's Success · One of Napoleon's great strengths as leader was the devotion of his men. His soldiers adored him. · Despite his generally unprepossessing appearance, when he wished to charm he could quickly win over anyone he met, however initially hostile they might be. Within a couple of days he had completely captivated the officers and crew of Bellerophon taking him to St. Helena in 1815, much alarming the British government.
Napoleon Bonaparte rose through the military ranks and became one of the greatest military leaders in history. He was such a great military leader that 1800 to 1815 has been renamed the Napoleonic Era because of all he has conquered. Napoleon ruled France, and eventually most of Europe during this time. Before Napoleon’s reign, France was struggling to recover from the government collapse during the French Revolution. The French government had gone through five different governments since the beginning of the revolution, and after the failure of the French Directory, the French desperately needed a leader.
The French Revolution principles focused on three pillars: equality, liberty and fraternity. When the French people revolted against the old system, they yearned for having a completely different political system that looked after the interests and welfare of the French citizens (Ellis, Elisabeth Gaynor). Unlike under the feudal system, people demanded equality on the political, economic, and social levels. The principle of equality guaranteed that French citizens are equal before the law irrespective of their social, religious, or ethnical belonging (Markham, David J). Likewise, liberty was another principle of the Revolution. People than had the freedom to express themselves as they liked and they were free to practice whichever religion they embraced. Lastly, fraternity was the care of the Revolution; In order to insure freedom and equality, there should be some fraternity between all the components of the French society. Thus, leading to the question: to what extent did Napoleon’s domestic policies respond to these principles?