Download Napoleon Bonaparte - St. Agnes Academic High School

Napoleon: Hero of the Revolution or Traitor to the Revolution? You be the judge.
Timeline of Napoleon Bonaparte
1769- Born on island of Corsica
1785- Becomes officer in French army
1793- Helps capture Toulon from British; promoted to brigadier general
1794- Jailed briefly for his association with Augustin Robespierre, Maximillien’s brother
1795- Crushes rebels opposed to National Assembly
1796-1797- Becomes commander-in-chief of Army of Italy; wins victories against Austria
1798-1799- Loses to British in Egypt and Syria
1799- Overthrows Directory and becomes First Consul of France
1804- Crowns himself emperor of France
1805- Defeated Austro-Russian army at the Battle of Austerlitz
1808- Napoleon replaced the king of Spain with his brother, Joseph brutal oppression of
Spanish by French intensified anti-French sentiment in Spain
1809- Defeats Austrians at Battle of Wagram force Austrians to sign peace treaty giving
Napoleon control of significant portions of Austrian land, inhabited by three million Austrians
1810- Divorces his wife, Josephine, to marry Austrian princess Marie Louis he and his heirs
could now claim kinship with the royalty of Europe
1812- He invades Russia with over 400,000 troops only about 10,000 survive
1813- Russia, Britain, Austria, and Prussia defeat Napoleon at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig
1814- Napoleon abdicated his thrown and was exiled to Elba
1815- Napoleon escapes Elba returns to France rallies his troops he is defeated at
Waterloo by British and Prussian troops exiled to St. Helena
1821- Napoleon dies in exile
Documents
#1
“ Since one must take sides, one might as well choose the side that is victorious, the side which
devastates, loots, and burns.”~ Napoleon Bonaparte
Source: Ellis, E.G. & Esler, A. (2001). World History: Connections to Today. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
#2
“ I grew up on the field of battle and a man such as I am cares little for the life of a million men.”
~ Napoleon Bonaparte
Source: Ellis, E.G. & Esler, A. (2001). World History: Connections to Today. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
#3
At the Battle of Austerlitz, which took place in 1805, Napoleon won not only on the field of battle
but also in the hearts of the French people. After the battle, Napoleon made a grand gesture that
won him the loyalty and adoration of the masses. He announced in a public speech that he would
adopt the children of all the French soldiers killed in the battle- a number that was in the
thousands. To fulfill his promise, he ordered the state to pay for the children’s support and
education, arrange marriages for the girls, and find jobs for the boys. One final provision was
perhaps the most cherished- he permitted “his children” to add the name Napoleon to theirs.
Source: Ellis, E.G. & Esler, A. (2001). World History: Connections to Today. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
#4
If ever a ruler owed his position to what is called the "will of the people," Napoleon did.
Napoleon won it by his success with the sword, not the sword of execution, nor the sword of the
guillotine, but the sword of battle against the enemies of France.
The people of France elected Napoleon as the Emperor, because he saved France from its
enemies and he defended the gains of the Revolution at home.
For religion, Napoleon ended the schism and restored the Catholic Church to France by the
Concordat in 1801. He insured freedom of religions and equality to the Protestant sects, and he
declared France the homeland of the Jews, after it became obvious he could not establish their
national home in Palestine.
Source: Weilder, Ben. (2000, May). Napoleon: Man of Peace. Retrieved on November 23, 2007
from http://www.napoleon-series.org/
#5
Napoleon Bonaparte's endorsement of the Enlightenment is best exemplified by his series of law
codes, the Code Napoleon (1804-1810) which declared all men equal before the law without
regard to rank and wealth. This negated the Old Regime rule tainted with corruption, inherent
nobility, and aristocratic decadence. However, the code did not embody the full judicial reform
program advocated by enlightened thinkers by it favoring the selfish interests of the state above
those of the individual, and warranted the use of torture. The code itself repudiated [undid] other
revolutionary laws including laws protecting wives, juveniles, illegitimate children, and restored
the man of the family to his former legal superiority. Even the "peculiar institution" of "slavery"
was reinstated in French colonies.
Source: Goldblatt, Noah. (2007). Biography: Napoleon Bonaparte. Retrieved on November 23,
2007 from http://www.helium.com/tm/118920/napoleon-bonaparte-considered-greatest
#6
Napoleonic reform and the French Revolution greatly impacted education by ending church
monopoly over education. Cognizant of the Constitution of 1791 which promised a system of
state schools, the Thermidorean Convention set up municipalities for advanced training, including
a school in Paris for engineers. This ameliorated the fiscal schism of education leading to equality
of opportunity, one of the many virtues ingrained within the Enlightenment. Augmenting
numbers of pupils marching to military numbers and standard curriculum contributed to political
nationalism, perhaps a coincidental effect of educational reform. Napoleon still kept secularized
schooling and instruction to end the bitter feud between church and state characteristic of
nineteenth century France. Holistically, Bonaparte's educational reform typifies an enlightened
despot for his rousing unification of France while maintaining nationwide peace conciliating
tension between church and state, wealthy and poor by imposing universal public education
aiding in the spread of such Enlightenment ideas.
Source: Weilder, Ben. (2000, May). Napoleon: Man of Peace. Retrieved on November 23, 2007
from http://www.napoleon-series.org/
#7
Chapter VI: Of the Respective Rights and Duties of Married Persons~ Napoleonic Code
212.
Married persons owe to each other fidelity, succor, assistance.
213.
The husband owes protection to his wife, the wife obedience to her husband.
214.
The wife is obliged to live with her husband, and to follow him to every place
where he may judge it convenient to reside: the husband is obliged to receive her, and to
furnish her with every necessity for the wants of life, according to his means and station.
215.
The wife cannot plead in her own name, without the authority of her husband,
even though she should be a public trader, or noncommunicant, or separate in property.
#8
What of liberty? Of the three key principles of the Revolution
--liberty, equality, and fraternity-- it was liberty which suffered
most under Napoleon. Historian Albert Vandal has observed that
"Bonaparte can be reproached for not having established liberty; he
cannot be accused of having destroyed it, for the excellent reason that
on his return from Egypt he did not find it anywhere in France." The
French desiring to safeguard what they had acquired during the
Revolution, be it rights or property, wanted these guaranteed. Many
felt that guarantee could come only with the restoration and
preservation of order. They were willing to sacrifice their liberties
for that guarantee, for that order.
Source: Holmberg, Tom. (1998). Napoleon and the French Revolution. Retrieved on
November 23, 2007 from
http://www.napoleonbonaparte.nl/html/body_nap_and_revolution.html
#9
While Napoleon believed in government "for" the people, he rejected government "by" the
people. His France was a police state with a vast network of secret police and spies. The police
shut down plays containing any hint of disagreement or criticism of the government. The press
was controlled by the state. It was impossible to express an opinion without Napoleon's approval.
Napoleon's own opinion of his career is best stated in the following quotation:
“I closed the gulf of anarchy and brought order out of chaos. I rewarded merit regardless of birth
or wealth, wherever I found it. I abolished feudalism and restored equality to all regardless of
religion and before the law. I fought the decrepit monarchies of the Old Regime because the
alternative was the destruction of all this. I purified the Revolution.”~ Napoleon Bonaparte
Source: Chew, Robin. (1995, August). Napoleon I : Emperor of the French. Retrieved on
November 23, 2007 from http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95aug/napoleon.html
#10
“I am building a family of kings.”~ Napoleon Bonaparte
Source: Ellis, E.G. & Esler, A. (2001). World History: Connections to Today. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
#11
As fires lit up the walled Russian city of Smolensk, Napoleon exclaimed:
“It’s like Vesuvius erupting. Don’t you think this is a beautiful sight?”
“Horrible, Sire,” replied an aide.
“Bah!” snorted Napoleon. “Remember, gentlemen, what a Roman emperor once said: ‘The
corpse of an enemy always smells sweet.”
Source: Ellis, E.G. & Esler, A. (2001). World History: Connections to Today. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
#12
While on St. Helena, Napoleon reviewed his career in conversations with the Marquis Las Cases,
who recorded them in Memorial. Napoleon believed that he had conquered Europe in selfdefense. His conquests benefited those under his rule by bringing them his code of laws and other
revolutionary reforms. If not for the jealousy of Britain and the hatred of the monarchs he had
overthrown, Europe under his guidance would have become a federation of free peoples, allied
with enlightened France in eternal peace. Napoleon characterized Britain as a mischief-maker and
pirate whose petty ambitions had destroyed a noble future for France and Europe.
Source: Ellis, E.G. & Esler, A. (2001). World History: Connections to Today. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
#13
As Napoleon was departing for exile on St. Helena in 1815, the London Times reviewed his
career in these words:
“This wretch has lived in the commission of every crime so long, that he has lost all sight of and
knowledge of the difference that exists between good and evil, and hardly knows when he is
doing wrong, except to be taught by proper chastisement. A creature who ought to be greeted by a
gallows as soon as he lands… It has been the constant trick of this villain, whenever he had got
his companions into a scrape [ in trouble], to leave them in it, and seek his own safety by flight.
In Egypt, in the Moscow expedition, and at Waterloo, such was his conduct.”
Source: Ellis, E.G. & Esler, A. (2001). World History: Connections to Today. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.