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French Revolution Dbq Analysis

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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. Document 2 speaks to Napoleon's trueness to the revolution in the sense that he believed in many of the ideas of the revolution such as the demise of noble privilege, the division of …show more content…

These ideas of progression for people, but keeping a absolute ruler can be seen in an Enlightenment thinker known as Thomas Hobbes. Thomas Hobbes believed that man could not be trusted to rule over themselves and that a strong central government was key. In the same thought Napoleon believed in the equality of people but was still taking power and becoming more and more absolute. Document 1 is describing the manner in which Napoleon ruled over the people of France. The purpose of this document is to show both the pros and cons of Napoleon's rule and in which was he both embodied ideas from the Revolution and strayed back to thinkings from the Old Regime. This document shows how Napoleon went away from the ideas of the French Revolution by forcing an administration system and protecting the ideas of absolutism by ruling authority. This document speaks to how in many ways they put Napoleon on a pedestal and how he took this view in order to gain more power. The purpose of this document is to show Napoleon as a more godly figure and to move him into the view of an absolute ruler. This helps to show how Napoleon betrayed the legacy of the French revolution by taking on an absolute

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