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Napoleon's Success
Napoleon's Success
Essay how napoleon helped the revolution
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Napoleon Bonaparte
One of the most brilliant individuals in history, Napoleon Bonaparte was a masterful soldier, and a superb administrator. He was also utterly ruthless, a dictator and, later in his career, thought he could do no wrong. Not a Frenchman by birth, Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio on Corsica only just sold to France by the Italian state of Genoa on August 15, 1769.He attended French at the school of Autun and later the military academy at Brienne. He never fully mastered French and his spelling left a lot to be desired. The revolutionary fever that was spreading when Bonaparte was a teenager allowed a talented individual the opportunity to rise far beyond what could have been achieved only a few years previously. His first real military opportunity came as a captain of artillery at the siege of Toulon, where he expertly seized crucial forts and was able to bombard the British naval and land forces, eventually forcing them to sail away. Now a brigadier-general, Bonaparte served in the army campaigning in Italy but found himself arrested and jailed for being an associate of the younger brother of Maximilien Robespierre .With no position for him after his release, Bonaparte thought about joining the Turkish army and even joining a naval expedition to Australia, but became involved with a member of the Directory, Paul Barras, who used the young man's zeal to put down a royalist mob in 1795 with the now legendary "whiff of grapeshot". With his loyalty and ruthlessness proven, the next year Bonaparte took up command of the Army of Italy and set off on a campaign that was to take him to absolute power in France and Europe. Initially treated with suspicion, and not a little contempt, by the older generals he superce...
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...spite being branded an Enemy of Humanity by his enemies, the French people flocked to him and within months he had rebuilt his army for the expected arrival of the armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria, Sweden and Britain.
Rather than wait he launched a lightning campaign into Belgium in the hope of catching the British, under the Duke of Wellington, and the Prussians, under Field Marshal Blucher, off guard.
The plan worked, but a series of command errors by subordinates blew the opportunities offered and despite victory at Ligny and a tactical draw at Quatre Bras, he was defeated at Waterloo.
Exiled a second time, the man who ruled Europe spent his last six years on a small island in the South Atlantic called St Helena.
His death in 1821 brought relief to the royal houses of Europe and it was only in 1840 that his body was allowed to return to his beloved France.
In Germany, anti-French feelings broke out. However, the French invasions carried German nationalism beyond the small ranks of writers. In 1807, writers attacked French occupation of Germany. This nationalistic feeling spread to the Prussians. In 1806, the Prussians were defeated by the French troops. To drive the French out of Prussia there would have to be a spirit of cooperation and loyalty. To accomplish this there would have to be social and political reforms. A reformer said that if social abuses were eliminated the Prussians could fight with national honor. Military reforms improved the Prussian army. In the War of Liberation (1813), the soldiers showed great feelings of patriotism and nationalism. Afterwards, the French were driven out of Prussia. Russia, who was an ally of France, went against the word of Napoleon, So Napoleon decided to invade Russia. Napoleon's Grand Army had 700,000 people in it. Most of soldiers were not French and did not care for the war. In 1812 when Napoleon began the invasion, Russia retreated. As they were retreating, they burned all crops, which were valuable. When Napoleon reached Moscow, the Russians burned the city. Even worse, the winter was in a few months. The Russians also destroyed the food supply of Napoleon.
...ected its extravagances and exported its ideals to Europe. He certainly did not betray it. As Francois Furet wrote, “He was chosen by the revolution, from which he received his strange power not only to embody a new nation … but also to fulfil its destiny.”
and the plan had failed, also as the French had no back up plan they
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.
In the spring of 1940 Europe was enveloped in war. The German military machine had already conquered Poland, Denmark, and Norway. However, not content with northern and eastern expansion, Adolf Hitler wanted to control the western countries in Europe. Hitler had long been obsessed with attacking and controlling France. After their defeat in World War I, the German people, government, and military were humiliated by the enormous post war sanctions leveraged against them from the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler wanted to defeat and humiliate the French people in the same way that his country had to experience. For him, revenge was necessary. The German plan was to swing into France using a new tactic know as Blitzkrieg or “Lightning War”. Blitzkrieg used speed and surprise along with highly concentrated tank corps, supported by mechanized infantry and airplanes.
Napoleon Bonaparte is considered to be one of the greatest conquers and captains of modern times. In history perhaps no one person has ever aroused so many intense opposite emotions. Perhaps no one had ever claimed as much of the admiration, fear, and hatred of all men as did Napoleon. Napoleon was a man with many sides. He started many of his challenging voyages and defeats as a young child and they continued throughout his life. He had many accomplishments and many defeats that affect the world in which we live. Napoleon plays a very big part in history.
Longwood House. After being exiled to the Island of Saint Helena; Longwood House is on a
Enlightened despotism is when there is an absolute ruler, in some cases a tyrant, who follows the principles of the Enlightenment through reforms. Permitting religious toleration, allowing freedom of the press and speech, and expanding education are a few main guidelines to being and enlightened despot. Napoleon I is often referred to as one of the greatest enlightened despots. Although, he did not follow the ideas of the enlightenment entirely, he managed his country in a way that he maintained complete authority as well as many of the gains of the French Revolution. Yes, Napoleon did want to do a few things for himself, but he also ruled for the majority in most cases, promote government-funded education, and supported many other enlightened ideas. But, most importantly, Napoleon did what he thought would make his country stronger.
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.
The plan was to attack France, not on the main border, which was fortified, but to attack through Belgium and circle the capital Paris. This is all supposed to happen before the predicted 6 weeks it would take for the Russians to get their army ready for action. This would mean Paris would be taken by Germany, therefore capturing France, then the troops could go across the country and attack Russia.
When we think of Napoleon, we think of massive military conquest comparable to the Roman Empire. However, there are also the numerous reforms he made to domestic policy during his reign of 1799 to 1815. There are three main viewpoints relating to his domestic policy. The first is by Godechot who believed Napoleon "changed the history of France and the world". He thought that Napoleon's policies truly benefited France. However, a contrary viewpoint is made by Seward who thought Napoleon was a demagogue who had an "obsession with power". A third median of the two extremes was proposed by Soboul. Soboul thought that Napoleon advantaged France in some ways but hindered in others.
Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the famous figures in French history by the importance of his internal reforms. However, he remains primarily in global memory as one of the greatest military commanders in history. Indeed, Napoleon Bonaparte delivered more battles than Alexander the Great, Hannibal, or Caesar. His campaigns covered all Europe from Spain to Russia, without forgetting the East with Egypt and Syria. The French Emperor entered in the prestigious capitals of Europe, Milan, Vienna (twice), Berlin, Madrid and Moscow. Napoleon has greatly influenced the Western way of war, not only by the new organization of armies, but also by the optimization of different capabilities and the combination between leadership and creativity in the battlefields.
Some historians see that Napoleon respected and preserved some aspects of the revolution. In fact, when he took power ...
Napoleon Bonaparte, the son of Carlo and Letizia Bonaparte, was born in Ajaccio, Corsica on August 15, 1768. In 1779, he was sent to a military school in Paris. He was made fun of by the French there, and gave him the dream of power. Napoleon was waiting for the right time to achieve greater power, and that moment came when the French monarchy was overthrown.