‘Napoleon_Was_Nothing_More_Than_a_Dictator’._How_Far_Do_You_Agree_with_This_View_of_Napoleons_Rule_of_France_

By 1804 Napoleon was the sole ruler and Emperor of France, he had crowned himself Emperor on the 2nd December of that year. He had decided that the French government would not be going back to the political chaos and arguments that had preceded his reign as First Consul and Emperor in the 1790’s. Napoleon wanted his political and military systems to be decisive and efficient. After he had crowned himself Emperor he, alone, controlled these systems in France. In this sense there is no argument that he was in fact a dictator. However, this was not necessarily a bad thing for the France of that period and some historians describe him as the ‘Savior of France’ as his enlightened despotic methods benefited France, thus making him far more than just the stereotypical type of dictator that we have come to expect' Napoleon’s position of First Consul, then First Consul for Life and ultimately Emperor of France obviously gave him a great deal of power within the state. By putting a plebiscite to the people of France to approve each promotion he cleverly gave the impression that he had been elected democratically at each major constitutional change. This tactic allowed Napoleon to maintain a veneer of democracy, whereas in truth these plebiscites were not democratic as he used his army to vote for him en masse and used them to employ intimidating tactics to fix the vote, this voting was not representative of the entire population and as a last resort the result of the vote would not adhered to if the outcome was not what Napoleon required. In this way when he first took power it was far from democratic although it appeared as though it was. This was, in fact, a form of propaganda, as was the idea of Three Consuls in the Consulate as Napoleon was the only one who had any power, even before he crowned himself Emperor. This suggests that Napoleon was a dictator who sought to conceal his power behind heavily fixed plebiscites and a constitutional façade. He manipulated the power of the mob and was able to gain ultimate power though cleverly planned deceit. Many other ideas also point towards Napoleon being little more than a tyrant as he exploited France in pursuit of his own ambitions to achieve a dynasty in his name. A dictatorship is often associated with repression and the workings of a police state. Both of these were, in fact, being used in France. For example Napoleon vigorously censored the press and even the theatre. When Napoleon took power, Paris had a vibrant newspaper business, by the end of his reign there were only four newspapers left due to his denial of a free-press and all of these had been under his control. These newspapers were censored and used by Napoleon for propaganda. He also had spies and informers working for his Ministry of Police, he used special courts and arbitrary imprisonment which really supports the concept of a police state under a dictatorship. Implementing these resources allowed Napoleon to repress any opposition to his rule and crush any civil unrest. Considering these facts only it would appear that Napoleon was nothing but a tyrannical dictator, but, this would not necessarily be a fair judgment as throughout his reign he continued to use certain administrative bodies which limited his freedom of action, such as the Senate and the Legislative Body which suggests he didn’t have or want overall power as a dictator for matters such as law making . He also introduced the Civil Code, which assured legal rights, he also instituted a number of reforms that brought genuine benefits to the French people, such as religious toleration, which not only followed revolutionary ideal of freedom and equality as anyone was allowed to practice their chosen religion, but would also have had popular support in France. However, Napoleon actually controlled the hierarchies of the various churches, and the issue to consider surrounding his reforms is his motive behind those reforms; it seems likely that he made the reforms merely to secure popular support and secure loyalty amongst the mob whose power he always feared, rather than merely to benefit the people. It appears that he has in fact given the public something that doesn’t affect his ambitions, to secure the resources, such as the support of the populace, so that he could use to actually pursue his wider ambitions, expanding his empire. Napoleon made educational reforms which could have been made out of his concern for the people and academic freedom but may also have been motivated by a desire for loyal subjects, and trained servants. Some of Napoleon more enlightened legal reforms include the codification of the law, the confirmation of the abolition of feudalism and the principle of equality before the law were all enlightened. Conversely, his attitude to workers and arbitrary arrest and inhumane punishments in the Penal Code were all rather unenlightened policies. In terms of recognizing revolutionary principles such as popular sovereignty, equality and freedom, we know most aspects of freedom (such as a free-press) were ignored, and popular sovereignty was, in Napoleons view adhered to (though looking back it was not), equality on the other hand was largely practiced, the principle of equality of taxation was upheld because all citizens were liable for taxation, and the belief in ‘careers open to all talents’ was continued due to the ideal of meritocracy as holding office depended on ability, loyalty and experience, not by accident of birth. However, Napoleon did not regard women as equal, and he also reintroduced slavery which were also unenlightened. I would argue that Napoleon only preserved those reforms that suited his beliefs and helped him follow his higher ambitions. He did not allow a free-press as it could harm his regime, yet he maintained any revolutionary principle that could aid him, such as a meritocracy. And despite his sometimes unenlightened motives behind political decisions the changes he made certainty benefited France at the time and he managed to keep the populace happy for most of his reign. I don’t feel that ‘nothing more than a dictator’ does Napoleon justice as I feel he was a very certainly an enlightened despot and not just a ‘dictator’.