THE RISE OF NAPOLEON
AND IMPERIAL FRANCE
THE DIRECTORY
• 1795 – a new plan of government was
drafted by the National Convention
• Called for a two-house legislature
• The executive body was made up of five
men, known as the Directory
• Established a period of order, but
corruption was a part of this government
• Named Napoleon Bonaparte general and
gave him command of France’s army
NAPOLEON
• Born in Corsica in 1769
• Sent to military school in
France at the age of 9
• Finished school at age of
16 and became a
lieutenant in the artillery
• Joined revolutionary
army when the revolution
broke out
NAPOLEON TAKES CONTROL
• November 9, 1799 Napoleon was placed
in charge of the military in France
• November 10, 1799 Napoleon took over
the government in a coup d’etat
• The legislature dissolved the Directory and
established a group of 3 consuls
• Napoleon assumed dictatorial powers as
first consul of the French Republic
NAPOLEON’S
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Economic
– Fairer tax codes
– Established a national bank
– Stabilized currency and gave state loans to
businesses
• Political/Social
–
–
–
–
Appointed officials by merit
Fired corrupt officials
Created the Napoleonic Code (law code)
Created lycees
Accomplishments cont.
• Religion
– Recognized Catholicism as the “faith of Frenchmen”
– Signed concordat with the pope
– Retained seized church lands
Napoleon as Emperor
• Decided to make himself
emperor in 1804
• Took the crown from the
pope and placed it on his own
head, signaling that he was
more powerful than the
church
• Expanded his empire to
include most of Europe by
either taking over territories
or forcing them to ally
themselves with France
NAPOLEON’S THREE COSTLY
MISTAKES
• The Continental System – a blockade of Great
Britain intended to destroy Britain’s commercial
and industrial economy
• The Peninsular War – attempt to invade Portugal
through Spain enflaming the nationalistic
feelings of the Spanish and Portuguese
• Invasion of Russia – disastrous campaign
against Russia in 1812 in which Napoleon lost
nearly 400,000 troops
NAPOLEON’S DOWNFALL
• A coalition of European nations waged war
against France (Britain, Russia, Prussia,
Sweden, and Austria)
• In April 1814, Napoleon gave up his throne and
was exiled to the island of Elba
• Louis XVIII (brother of Louis XVI) was named
king of France, but was unpopular among the
masses
• Napoleon escaped on March 1, 1815 and within
days was again emperor of France
NAPOLEON’S FINAL DEFEAT
• Napoleon’s forces were defeated at Waterloo,
Belgium on June 17, 1815 by British forces led
by the Duke of Wellington
• Napoleon was shipped to St. Helena, a remote
island in the South Atlantic
• He lived there in exile for six years. He died in
1821 of a stomach ailment (probably cancer)
REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS AND
NAPOLEON
REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS
REVOLUTIONARY
ACCOMPLISHED:
IDEAS DESTROYED:
• Restored peace with the
• Liberty was replaced
Church
by despotism
• Codified laws
• Limited freedom of
the press by shutting
• Centralized the government
down
newspapers
• Created a new aristocracy
based on service to the
government
• New economic policy and the
Bank of France