How Far Did Napoleon Maintain the Ideals of the French Revolution?

Napoleon helped France come out from the ashes & fog into the light of sun. Napoleon tried to as much as he could for majority of the French population, but some still were not pleased. Napoleon wrote a new constitution for all men; like freedom of rights, freedom of religion, and equality before the law. Napoleon believed natural rights should apply to the country. Napoleon also allowed the rights to average/poor citizens of France[doc.3]

Ultimately, the French Revolution led to a law system that was very much against the established principles of the Enlightenment thinkers. Napoleon Bonaparte became the first strong leader of the new France republic in 1799. He was a leader that often gave off the appearance of inclusion of the people in governmental decisions but placed the most importance on his own authority. Though universal suffrage had been established for white males, democratic principles were not exactly used for Bonaparte’s reign. He tampered with voting until he had himself elected as consul for life in 1802. In 1804, he established the Napoleonic Code which took away many rights women had gained during the Revolution, such as the equality they had in marriage. It

We can see how Napoleon Bonaparte repeatedly opposed himself in each one of the French Revolutionist areas. Napoleon claimed to stand for Liberty, to free the people of France and provide them with justice. He planned to do this by standing for the reform the French people needed the most,

In France in 1789, A revolution began. The people of France were fighting for their inalienable rights such as freedom from serfdom , equality between the classes. Within this chaos in France, Napoleon, a new thinker, came about and changed France in many ways. Napoleon's policies can be seen as preserving the legacy of the French Revolution by giving equality to the lower classes and creating a governmental system that helped to put the people in charge of their sovereignty, however it can be seen as hurting the legacy by protecting the ideas of absolutism.

How Napoleon Maintains Control in France 1799-1814 After the long period of instability in France, Napoleon seemed to acknowledge the importance of maintaining his power, influence and control over France and the French people. Napoleon was very able in this regard as it is important to make the people to support you and to limit opposition, something that Napoleon and Hitler shared in common. Napoleon maintained his power in many different ways, rewarding people that supported him, repressing people who didn't, censoring material that would harm his regime and producing other material to boost its popularity. He also controlled things which were important for everyday people like religion,

The French revolution is notably the start of the creation of modern Europe. Within this revolution, the country experienced a drastic change in power and in government. Along with the French Revolution, the rise of Napoleon, played a huge role in the changes in Europe economy. Under napoleons rule and conquest, similar to the French revolution, citizens experienced great depression, debt, and confusion. Similar to the American Revolution, the French revolution was influenced by enlightenment ideas particularly the concepts of popular sovereignty and inalienable rights.

Napoleon continued in the Revolutionary tradition of liberating and introducing revolutionary ideals to the territories he claimed for France. In the areas he conquered Napoleon granted constitutions, introduced law codes, abolished feudalism, created efficient governments and fostered education, science, literature and the arts. However these reforms always failed as Napoleon was always attempting the politically impossible. This did not stop Napoleon from continuing his conquests. Napoleons battles were fought in order to consolidate his dictatorship. His Military success initially consolidated the revolution, but once he turned France into a military dictatorship he betrayed the revolution.

Napoleon as an emperor told people that there would be public schools and that there they would teach things such as science, language arts, etc. This benefitted the people of France. Now everyone would receive education. Back then, those in the government did not want anyone uneducated to vote. Now they had a chance to voice their opinion. As stated in Document 8. I think this motivated Napoleon because again he wanted to win their support and love and wanted them to feel empowered as well as others who can vote and feel as they can too do the things they can. In the book, it stated that he won many wars and that also ties into being the son of the revolution because he did not let his country down and kept it strong. It kept the enemies away and kept the people happy. He used propaganda every time he won a war. He usually asked someone to paint a mural of him seeming superior to please the people of France. Napoleon is the son of the revolution to those he pleased. The motivation for this was as well to win over the people's support and love as well as to show them that he can protect them and be a good leader to them and him showing them that he can win many wars would make them feel safe around him, I

After Robespierre and the Directory, Napoleon came to power. Though he is criticized for being a militaristic dictator, Napoleon was able to spread Enlightenment ideals, in the form of the Napoleonic Code, throughout Europe. This shows the progression of ideas throughout Europe, and also that France succeeded in using the ideals that the revolution was based on. In this way, the French Revolution was extremely successful.

Napoleon actions in power appear to completely contradict his supposed beliefs during the French Revolution, as he reverted back to former times in regards to his power, his administration, and even his self appointed title of emperor. One could suggest that Napoleon utilized the ideals of the revolution to put himself into power with no actual regard for the beliefs of the people who placed him there. With that said, his prominence as a ruler can be explained through his military might, oppressive and unequal policies amongst his constituents, and his successful method of delegating authority over territories to his family and other loyal subjects. Catherine the Great, in a similar fashion to Napoleon, used her power to deny or limit the rights and knowledge of her subjects, as she did when attempting to keep the dialogue of the French Revolution out of her empire. Her consolidation of the social classes served to keep people in their place while simultaneously giving her more structure and stability over her empire. These rulers showcase a style of rule that is oppressive, unequal, and yet wildly

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.

Napoleons’ rise to emperor in France was indisputable mostly because of his overthrow of the Directory. His success’s as commander of the French army in Italy, only led to his aspiring status change to “Emperor” of France after overthrowing the Directory in November of 1799. His undying ambition for expansion of the empire he was creating however would be his undoing. Napoleons rule as emperor of France was quit spectacular actually and many admired and adored him as ruler. His ways were very appealing, and as a speaker he was very persuasive and admired by most of his people until his later years in his fall and demise. However, Napoleon did not seriously adhere to the ideals of the French Revolution, he did that of the Enlightenment but his undying ambition and character as “Emperor” undermined the true need of the French Revolution.

During his reign Napoleon supported some of the enlightenment ideas and didn't support other enlightenment ideas. Some of the ideas Enlightenment that Napoleon supported were the ideas of freedom of religion and fairer taxes. He supported these ideas by being very religiously tolerant of the religions that were in France and by allowing people to for the most part be able to pick their religion. Napoleon was the man who imposed fairer and steady taxes for all people which was an idea that many of the enlightenment people wanted. However as much as he supported these he also did not support some ideas of the enlightenment like the freedom of the press. Napoleon in a letter sent to the minister of Police he talked about how no newspapers should

Napoleon was someone that raised out of the humiliated of France. Due to the Seven Years’ War with Great Britain it puts France in a financial crisis. This led to a political crisis since the government needed money to pay off the loans from countless short-term, high-interest loans from private sources. To pay off completely the loans the government started higher taxes. Nobles and clergy were largely exempt when the peasants had to carry the burden of most the tax burden (Session 6, Mr. Rozenman). These events lead to King Louis XVI and Queen Marie- Antoinette detest.

Napoleon’s political ideas were efficient and worked well to rule a country; he even adapted his ideas to help France run more efficiently. The Napoleonic Code gave equality to all male citizens and he rehabilitated the Catholic Church for his people, despite his belief in religious freedom. He created a bureaucracy with subprefects, prefects, and mayors that ran France. All of these ideas helped France run smoothly.