Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon’s Background
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Napoleon Bonaparte
1769-1821
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Born in on the island of Corsica in
1769.
Sent to Military school in France
at the age of 9.
Graduated at 16 and became a
lieutenant in the French Artillery.
At the age of 26 he became a
hero defending the National
Convention from an attack by
Royalists.
A year later the Directory put
Napoleon in charge of the entire
French Army.
Napoleon the Statesman
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In 1799 Napoleon staged a
coup d’ tat and took over the
French Government.
He set up a new constitution
based on the old Roman
Consulate giving him complete
control as dictator.
This was ratified by a plebiscite
or free election, in which the
people of France, desperate for
strong leadership, accepted
Napoleon’s Dictatorship.
Napoleon’s Successes
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Dominated France’s
Enemies on the
Battlefield.
Compromise with the
Roman Catholic Church
Restructure of the
government.
Reform of the legal and
tax systems.
Victory on the Battlefield
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Through conquest of northern Italy
Napoleon helped defeat the first
coalition against France during the
revolution which included Austria,
Prussia, England, Spain and the
Netherlands.
He then led the French to a conquest
of Egypt from the Ottoman Empire
When he returned from Egypt, he
defeated a second coalition which
included Russia, Austria, Portugal and
the Ottoman Turks.
Later he defeated of the Austrian and
Russian forces of a third coalition at
the battle of Austerlitz.
Finally he defeated a forth coalition
made up of Prussian and Russian
forces in central Europe.
He seemed virtually unbeatable on
the battlefield for nearly a decade
from 1798 to 1808.
Peace with the Church
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The French Revolution had caused a
great rift between the French
Government and the Roman Catholic
Church.
The Church had been the target of
much persecution during the radical
phase of the revolution and all Church
property in France had been seized and
redistributed as private property.
Napoleon signed a concordat with the
Pope which proclaimed Roman
Catholicism as the cultural religion of
the French Empire while maintaining
separation of Church and state and
retaining the property seized during
the Revolution.
The Pope received control of the
Vatican state (Rome) and was allowed
conduct Church affairs freely.
Napoleon gained the good will of
French Catholics who wanted to return
to the Church and his regime was
blessed by the Church in a public
ceremony.
Restructured the Government
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Napoleon tried to make the
government more efficient
through a merit based state
bureaucracy.
He appointed and trained groups
of young and bright apprentice
bureaucrats which helped
centralize the government
through a system of civil service.
This system was supported by
state sponsored secondary school
called lycees which educated a
new generation of military
officers and government
bureaucrats and offered equal
opportunity to civil service.
Tax and Legal Reforms
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Napoleon established the
Bank of France to
facilitate state finances.
He ordered a land survey
and established a new
and fair direct tax system.
He established a single
uniformed legal code
throughout France which
protected property rights
and enshrined the equality
of all people under the
law as well as freedom of
religion.
Napoleon’s Failures
Napoleon was myopic in
his goals and lacked a
global perspective which
lead to his downfall:
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He failed to create an effective
navy to fight England.
Then he tried to economically
destroy England through and
unrealistic European trade
embargo called the Continental
System.
To enforce this embargo he
became entrenched in the
Peninsular war in Spain against
guerilla tactics.
Finally he destroyed his Grand
Army in a disastrous invasion of
Russia.
Napoleon makes a comeback.
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Napoleon was forced to
abdicate in 1814 and was
exiled to the island of
Elba.
He escaped in 1815 and
took control of France for
100 days until his defeat
at Waterloo.
He was imprisoned on the
island of St. Helena and
died there in 1821.
Napoleon’s Legacy
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Although a dictator, Napoleon ruled
by popular mandate and his empire
spread the ideals of the French
Revolution throughout Europe and
gave birth to Nationalism.
The Napoleonic Code became, and
remains, the basic model of all
European legal systems.
Napoleon’s policies led to the
eventual establishment of public
education and universal male
suffrage throughout Europe.
Napoleon’s sale of the Louisiana
territory to the United States insured
that England would someday be
overshadowed by the new American
nation.
Did Napoleon betray the Revolution or fulfill it?
Economy
Government
and Society
Religion
Goals of the *Equal taxation
*Lower Inflation
French
Revolution
Reduce government
corruption.
Equal access to power.
Reduce the power
of the Church.
Religious
Tolerance.
Napoleon’s
Actions
*Fair tax system
*National Bank
*Stabilized
Currency
Merit based civil
service.
lycees to train
bureaucrats.
Unified Legal Code.
Catholicism set
up as cultural
religion.
Separation of
Church and State
maintained.
Results
*Equal Taxation
*Stable Economy
Efficient government.
Equal opportunity.
Public education.
Religious
tolerance.
Secular State.
Presentation Writing Prompts:
Write a thesis and provide support for each.
1. Evaluate Napoleon as a historical figure.
2.
3.
4.
Was he a success or a failure?
Identify Napoleon’s greatest success and
greatest failure as emperor of France?
Analyze the success or failure of the French
Revolution in terms of Napoleon’s rise to
power.
Explain the significance of Napoleon to the
study of European History. What lesson can
be learned from such a study?
Essay Assignment
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Choose one of your prompts and write a
full essay of one to two pages in length.
Provide support paragraphs to defend
your thesis.
Use your textbook or other outside
sources to provide concrete details within
your support.