French_Revolution

From 1799-1815 Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power in France, and built a vast empire that included much of Europe. Napoleon dominated France and Europe. Napoleon was a hero to some and evil to others he gave his name to the final stage of the revolution which better came to be known as “The Age of Napoleon.” Napoleon was born on a French ruled island in the Mediterranean known as Corsica. His family were minor nobles, but had little money. At the age of nine napoleon was sent to France to be trained for a military career which would forever change his life. When the French revolution broke out he was a twenty year old lieutenant, eager to make a name for himself. Napoleon favored the Jacobins and republican rule. However, he found the conflicting ideas and personalities of the French Revolution confusing so he decided to make a change. In December 1793, he drove British forces out of the French port of Toulon, he then went on to win several victories against the Austrians, capturing most of northern Italy and forcing the Hapsburg emperor to make peace. Success led to his ambition , by 1799 he moved from victorious general to political leader. That year he helped overthrow the weak Directory and set up a three man governing board known as the Consulate. Two years later, Napoleon had gotten enough power to gain the title Emperor of the French. To help celebrate in this ceremony Napoleon invited the pope to preside over his coronation in Paris, but during the ceremony he took the crown from the pope hands and crowned himself, meaning that he owed his throne to no one but himself. During the consulate and empire , Napoleon rose in power by strengthening the central government. Order, security, and efficiency replaced liberty, equality, and fraternity as the slogans of the new regime. To control the economy Napoleon controlled prices, encouraged new industry, and built roads and canals. To make sure he had well trained officials and military officers he set up a system of public schools under strict government control. Napoleon also made changes in some of the revolution’s social reforms, he made peace with the catholic church in the concordat of 1801, which kept the church under the state control but recognized religious freedom for Catholics. Those who opposed the church didn’t agree with this decision but Catholics welcomed it. Napoleon won support from all classes. Peasants were relieved when they recognized their rights to lands they had bought from the Church and nobles during the revolution. The middle class who had benefited the most from the revolution, approved Napoleon’s economic reforms and the restoration of order after years of chaos. Out of all reforms one of the long lasting was a new law code know as the Napoleonic Code , the equality of all citizens before the law, religious toleration, and advancement. The Napoleonic Code took away some rights from some people of the revolution , the women for example, lost most of their newly gained rights and could not have the rights of all citizens. Males became the head of their households over the women and children. This again made Napoleon look like he was exceeding power and authority than over individual rights. From 1804-1814 Napoleon only focused on battling and conquering, he successfully took down the combined forces of the European powers. He took huge risks and suffered a lot of huge losses, and by 1810 his Grand Empire reached its greatest extent. As a military leader Napoleon favored rapid movements and made good use of his large armies. He made new plans every battle so that his opposing generals could never know what would be his next move, he was very unpredictable. As Napoleon began creating his French empire he annexed gaining him some areas to France, including the Netherlands, Belgium, and parts of Italy and Germany. He also abolished the Holy Roman Empire and created a 38-member Confederation of the Rhine under the French protection. He cut Prussia territory in half , turning part of old Poland into the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. By this time Napoleon controlled most of Europe through forceful diplomacy. To create this successful diplomacy he placed each of his family members on every land he conquered. He also forced alliances on European powers from Madrid to Moscow. A lot of times the rulers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, reluctantly just signed treaties with him. This sparked celebration and glory through the streets of Paris in success that Napoleon won for France. Out of all the empires Napoleon conquered, he had his eye on one empire that he was soon to try and conquer, Britain remained alone. Britain was blessed by mother nature and had sea power and land power which lead to keep out Napoleon and his soldiers. This killed all his options of getting Britain except for one, its trading and income. He waged economic warfare through the continental system, which closed European ports to British goods, this only made Britain respond with their own blockade. During their long struggles, both Britain and France seized ships they suspected was trading with the enemy. British attacks on the American ships is what later caused the war of 1812. To keep his empire together, Napoleon had to go to grave forces both inside and outside the French Empire , in my judgment the area that was more crucial was the French Empire because he had many opposes and he still hadn’t did anything for the peasants or the women of France which would later catch up to him. In the end, Napoleon Continental system failed to bring Britain down although Britain exports declined its powerful navy kept trading routes to America and India , but because Europe had no other trade routes they were limited to supplies so quantity went up and quality went down.