Preserving the Revolution Since 1804

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After the death of Louis XVI in 1793, a river of blood flowed down the streets of France. The Terror, led by Maximilien Robespierre, took the lives of many by guillotine who have been claimed to be "counterrevolutionary," no matter how outlandish the evidence was. The people of France longed for a new form of government as "none dared to utter the word 'republic' so deeply had the Terror stained that name" (Remusat 491). In other words, they needed an able body to put an end to the chaos and in 1799, by the means of a coup d'état, it would be Napoleon Bonaparte who would bring such order to the French government. In 1804, he crowned himself emperor and through his Code Napoleon, he provided post-revolutionary France "its first coherent set of laws concerning property, colonial affairs, the family and individual rights" (history.com). This code was based the three principles of the French Revolution: equality, liberty, and fraternity. It granted all male citizens equal rights and religious freedoms, rules completely different from that of the Ancien Régime and similar to the ideas of the French Revolution. Thus, it can be said that from 1804 to 1815, Bonaparte used his political and military intellect to uphold order and preserve the reforms and principles made during the French Revolution.

Others may say that Napoleon Bonaparte was, in fact, a destroyer of the Revolution. They disagree that he was a preserver of the Revolution because they believe that although most of Bonaparte's actions were based on the principles of the French Revolution, his arrogant way of thinking disputes them. For instance, Joseph Fouché describes in his memoirs how Bonaparte implements a secret police. He was made minister of this secret police by the...

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...History and Theory. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1939. Print.

• Fouché, Joseph. Memoirs: Napoleon's Secret Police. London: Gibbings and, 1894. 188-91. Print.

• Grossman, Ira. "Napoleon the Reader: The Early Years." The Napoleon Series. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. .

• "Napoleonic Code Approved in France — History.com This Day in History — 3/21/1804." History.com — History Made Every Day — American & World History. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. .

• Robinson, James Harvey., ed. Readings in European History. Vol. 2. Boston: Ginn &, 1904. Print.

• Rogers, Percy M. Aspects of Western Civilization. Eagle Wood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Print.

• Smith, Bonnie G. Changing Lives: Women in European History Since 1700. D.C. Health and, 1989. Print.

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