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Le Monde
1/11/2012
First edition
Napoleon: Hero or Tyrant: You be the Judge!
By: Alexander Cuartas Cano
A man who was lucky, who was at the right place and at the right time came to be
France’s only “hope “to regain stability from all the chaos that was happening within its borders.
That lucky man happened to be Napoleon Bonaparte. The French people were looking for
someone who could bring them out of the chaotic mess that they were in caused by the
government. Napoleon was that guy. But, as time caught up in his glorified moments and being
praised by everyone in France. Caused a shift in everyone’s opinion on who was Napoleon
whether he was a Hero that everyone wanted him to be or to be a Tyrant to whom he really was.
Napoleon was a very ambitious man who did positive things for the country of France.
Napoleon had the ability to win battles. By using his strategic strategies and ways of winning
those battles caused Napoleon to be a hero of France, someone whom they have been waiting for.
Napoleon was a great public speaker who made sure that everything that the French Revolution
wanted was to stay intact with his decisions and change.
Napoleon had many accomplishments of gaining new territory in France, and gaining
trust to all the people of France. Napoleon didn’t just conquer countries and nations; he
conquered the eyes of the people by showing them that France was strong and a great country.
One of Napoleon’s greatest accomplishments was the Napoleonic Code, which was a set of
French laws that was ordered to be published for the governing of French-controlled countries in
Europe. After Napoleon came to power in France in 1800, he ordered a group of legal experts to
assemble all of French civil laws and turn them into one code, or set of laws. Four years later, the
Code Civil was published and went into effect throughout France, and other areas of Europe
who were being occupied by France. In December 1804, Napoleon crowned himself emperor of
France, and the code became known as the Code Napoleon.
Napoleon was a hero for many reasons. He reformed the French government, became the
major-general, became First Consul of France through a unanimous referendum, used the
excuse of strengthening France during hard times to make the title of First Consul hereditary
and therefore becoming Napoleon I, emperor of France and conquered half of Europe bringing
fame, fortune and glory to France.
Not all that Napoleon did was good and what the people of France actually wanted.
Napoleon brought France into many wars with other great nations like Russia, and Great
Britain. But the most known wars that Napoleon brought all the people of France into was called
the Napoleonic Wars. The Napoleonic wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon’s
French Empire by opposing coalitions. The Napoleonic Wars was not what the people have
wanted because it was costing France a lot of money and supplies from other nations who were
allies with them. But soon the end of the Napoleonic Wars came because of the Battle of
Waterloo.
In Line with text – The Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was a battle that was very painful
for Napoleon but, good for the French people because it
was the end of the Napoleonic Wars and it was significant
because the people wanted to get out of the wars because
Napoleon was spending a lot of money.
Napoleons had not so many failures in wars but one major one was the Invasion of
Russia. During that time Russia had tensions with France. So Napoleon decided to plan an
invasion to Russia. He succeeded in winning the battles in Russia. But, he underestimated the
treacherous conditions and whether in Russia. Entering Russia with hundreds of thousands
soldiers. He only came back with 10,000 or so soldiers.
In Conclusion, Napoleon in his life he was a very ambitious man who wanted power and
just could not stop wanting more. His ambition got to him towards the end even for what he
believed” Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform
very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them”. And he was then
exiled to St Helena where he died of an unknown illness. Due to all the positives and negatives
that were listed what do you think Napoleon was he a “hero he wanted to become or was he a
“tyrant” what he became.
Sources: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/n/napoleon_bonaparte.html
http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b2napoleonb_nbv.htm
http://www.pbs.org/empires/napoleon/n_myth/youth/page_1.html