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Le Monde
1/11/2012
First edition
Napoleon: Hero or Tyrant: You be the Judge!
By: Kevin Banh
Napoleon was a highly ambitious man who left a huge legacy on
France and the whole continent of Europe. Despite growing up in Corsica
hating France, he grew up to become its ruler through very opportunistic
means. The chaotic turmoil that followed the French Revolution coincided
with his military success and allowed him to take the opportunity to seize
more power for himself. Upon his return to Paris, he was recognized as a
national hero and his supporters helped him stage a coup d’état that resulted
in the creation of a Consulate and Napoleon was named First Consul. He
subsequently used his power to make France an empire and crowned himself
emperor. Napoleon was a complicated man who succeeded in doing many
positive things for France, but some of his actions and qualities were also
negative which leaves the question of whether he was a hero or a tyrant up to the individual to decide.
One of Napoleon’s crowning achievements was the creation of the Bank of France. The Bank of
France became France’s central bank and allowed the economy of France, which had been in turmoil
due to the Revolution, to stabilize. At the height of the French Empire, the franc was the highest valued
currency in Europe. Napoleon’s economic reforms kept France’s economy stable as he set out on his
conquest Europe. He reformed the tax collection method and made it vastly more efficient. He
encouraged the growth of domestic industries by placing tariffs on foreign goods. Napoleon’s reforms
on economy were an attempt to ensure that France never suffered the same economic turmoil that it did
before and during the French Revolution.
Napoleon also restored the status of the Catholic Church through the Concordat. Although he
recognized the Catholic Church as the majority church of France, he made the separation of church and
state clear to the public. He did not restore the power previously held by the Church and ensured that it
would not be able to interfere with the affairs of the state and ensured that the church officials would not
be granted any special privileges. The result of the Concordat was the restoration of religion among the
French people that had previously been quieted due to the anti-religious sentiment of the French
Revolution. The Concordat was another domestic reform that helped establish peace and stability within
France and allowed the church to regain much of its status.
Another key reform of Napoleon was the creation of the Napoleonic Code. The reforms made
eliminated numerous injustices by making uniform laws throughout France. The Napoleonic Code
promoted equality throughout France which was a key idea of the French Revolution that Napoleon tried
to preserve. The Napoleonic Code was used throughout the French Empire and allowed for the spread of
the ideas of equality throughout Europe that were started by the French Revolution. Under the reformed
laws, every man was treated equally and no one had any special privileges. Everyone was granted
various freedoms such as freedom of religion and freedom of press, although there were obvious
limitations on freedom of press because people were not allowed to just openly say anything they
wanted. The laws promoted order and authority over individual rights. Although the Napoleonic Code
largely had a positive result, its key flaw was that it did not include women, which reflected Napoleon’s
chauvinistic view of society in which he believed women were simply “machines for producing
children”.
Although Napoleon’s reign had many good qualities, there was also a dark side to Napoleon’s
reign. One of the most negative impacts he had was the decade long Napoleonic War. Throughout this
time period, France was constantly at war in order to fuel Napoleon’s ambition to conquer Europe. War
naturally comes with two very negative impacts, death and debt. As a result of the continuous warfare,
countless numbers of lives were lost between France’s soldiers and the opposing countries’ soldiers.
Over this time period, France also accumulated immeasurable amounts of debt that were crushing the
economy of France. However Napoleon’s ambition could not be satisfied and he continued the wars
despite knowing the repercussions the wars had. In this sense, Napoleon was power hungry and
indifferent about the lives and the money he was losing to achieve his goals.
Several of Napoleon’s characteristics were questionable and could be perceived as having a
negative impact on his reign. Napoleon was opportunistic which allowed him to seize power when he
returned to Paris but he was only able to do so because he had lied about fleeing the Battle of the Nile
that he was losing. In this sense, it could be perceived that Napoleon’s entire reign was started because
of a lie. Napoleon also had an unquenchable desire for world domination that often blinded him of the
damages he and his country were suffering due to the numerous wars. Napoleon also held a highly
chauvinistic view of society and believed women were in every way inferior to men and he did not
extend any rights to women during his reign and instead gave husbands complete authority over their
wives. Napoleon’s complicated nature leads to many arguments over whether he was a genuinely good
leader of if his qualities reflected those of a tyrant.
Another dark aspect of Napoleon’s reign was his catastrophic failure during the invasion of
Russia. Napoleon attempted to conquer the Russian Empire and he led a march of 400,000 soldiers to
capture and destroy Moscow, the capital of the Russian Empire. Although he and his army reached
Moscow and caused some damage, he was forced to retreat by the Russian czar Alexander I. It was
during his retreat that Napoleon suffered tremendous losses. Despite being a highly intelligent military
leader, he miscalculated his retreat and marched his army through the freezing cold winter of Siberia.
Napoleon and his army were not used to the extreme conditions and their method of living off the land
proved to be disastrous for them. By the time Napoleon returned to Paris, he only had roughly 10,000
men left and with the French army completely destroyed, it didn’t take long for a coalition of opposing
countries to seize Paris and force Napoleon to abdicate his throne.
Scholars have studied and debated the nature of Napoleon’s reign for many years. The question
of whether he was a hero or a tyrant is up to the individual to decide. There are many factors supporting
either side. However there are several facts that are clear. Napoleon was a highly complex and ambitious
man who was always in the right place at the right time. It is also clear that despite many people calling
him a little man, Napoleon has certainly left a huge legacy.
Sources:
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Holt World History: Human Legacy, Modern Era
http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/napoleon/summary.html
http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/napoleonic/terms.html
http://www.historyhome.co.uk/c-eight/france/napfra.htm