Essay on The Unknown Thing

The Rise of Napoleon * Napoleon dominated European history from 1799-1815. The coup that brought him to power occurred exactly 10 years after the Revolution, so in a sense, he ended the revolution. * Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Corsica in 1769 to and Italian lawyer who came from Florentine nobility, but developed discipline, thriftiness, and loyalty to his family. * Napoleon’s military training led him to commission as lieutenant in 1785, and was well-liked. For the next 7 years, he read the works of philosophes, esp. Rousseau, and educated himself on military matters and studying campaigns of Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, Frederick the Great. * Napoleon rose quickly in the ranks. In 1792, he became captain. In 1793, he became artillery commander in capture of Toulon. !n 1794, he became brigadier general. In October 1795, he save the National Convention from a mob and was promoted to major general. Napoleon met Josephine de Beauharnais, a widow of a beheaded general and married her in 1796. Soon later he became the commander of the French army in Italy, and led a band of ill-disciplined soldiers to defeat Austria and dictate peace in 1797. * In 1797, he came back as a hero and was made commander of the invading army of England, but he proposed to strike indirectly by taking Egypt and India, major sources of their wealth. The British cut off Napoleon’s supplies in 1799, and seeing no certain future of victory, he abandoned his army and participated in the coup d’état that led to his dictatorship of France. * The coup of 1799 set up a new constitution that made a new govt. that was vested in the hands of the 3 consuls, but it stated that “the First Consul’s decision shall suffice.” In 1802, Napoleon was made consul for life and, in 1804, he returned France to monarchy and crowned himself emperor.
The Domestic Policies of Emperor Napoleon * In 1801, Napoleon made peace with the Catholic Church but he was devoid of any religion. But he needed to come to terms with the church in order to stabilize his regime. * Both sides gained from the Concordat that Napoleon established with the pope. The pope had the right to depose French bishops, but had little control over the French Catholic church. By signing the Concordat, the pope realized the accomplishments of the Revolution, and agreed not to question the confiscated church land during the Revolution. As a result of the Concordant, the Catholic Church wasn’t enemies with the govt. anymore. * Before the Revolution, France did not have a single set of laws, but over three hundred legal systems and efforts were made to codify laws. Napoleon completed this work and the most important of which was the Civil Code, aka Code Napoleon. It recognized the equality of all citizens and the rights for individuals to choose their professions, religious, toleration, and abolition of serfdom and feudalism. But during the radical phases of the Revolution, new laws made divorce was an easy process for husbands and wives, restricted fathers control over children, and allowed children to inherit property equally. But they were undone and women were now seen as unequal. * Napoleon worked on France’s bureaucratic structure by developing a powerful administration. The National Assembly’s 83 departments had estates, nobles, etc., which were replaced with self-governing assemblies. The most important of his instituted officials were the prefects. * Napoleon’s overhaul of the administration made tax collection more efficient as they were now collected by professional collectors hired by the state. Nobody had any special exemptions from tax payment. * Napoleon worked hard to make a strong bureaucracy, and only cared for demonstrated abilities over rank or birth. 22% of Napoleon’s aristocracy was nobles, and 60% were bourgeois. * Although equality was preserved in the law codes, the strong protection accorded to property rights, and use of conscription

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