Napoleon

1. Napoleon By: Nadia S.

2. The rise of Napoleon and the fall of the Directory 1799 • Directory pursued an active foreign policy, partly to satisfy the army and partly to win popular support • Two armies sent against Austria, one in north, and one in south • Southern army led by Napoleon Bonaparte • Napoleon was victorious against Austria and was encouraged to lead expedition in Egypt • He was defeated in Egypt but was still welcomed back to France in triumph

3. Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes • Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes (1748-1836) • Priest and politician during the French Revolution • Criticized the privileges of the church and the nobility • Supported the Third Estate in the 1789 Estates General • Disliked the 1795 constitution and at first refused to serve the Directory • Eventually became the director • He helped Napoleon come to power in 1799 • Made one of the three consuls but resigned in protest when Napoleon declared himself emperor in 1804

4. Napoleon Bonaparte • 1799, the Directory was in disarray • General of the army in Italy in 1795 • Proposed several changes to the 1795 constitution • November 9, 1799 he staged a coup and overthrew the Directory • Established the Consulate and became chief of the three consuls who now controlled France

5. How important was the French Revolution? • Radial and violent revolution in France lasted for ten years • Louis XVI was executed in 1793 • Kings from his family ruled from 1814 to 1848 • France became a republic again and remains so today • Robespierre and the Jacobins laid the foundations of modern France • Influence of the nobility in France ended • Nobles retained their titles but no longer dominated the politics, economy and society of France • The French Revolution launched a wave of democratic forces that eventually brought about change • Absolute rulers survived in some states, in southern Italy only until the 19th century • Exception was Russia where the Romanov family of tsars retained absolute authority until the 1917 Revolution • The revolution benefited the middle class, gained from land transfer and from changes in trade

6. Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise to power • Napoleon was born in Corsica and therefore became a French citizen • Napoleon showed a talent in mathematics • Special interest in artillery • He remained loyal to the revolutionary authorities after 1789 • He was dispatched with his artillery troops to defend the region and his skills contributed to successful defense of Toulon • When Robespierre was executed he was quickly released because of his military talents and sent to northern Italy • The Treaty of Campo Formio (1797) gave France power in Italy and money for its treasury • His Egyptian campaign was a failure – the French fleet was destroyed during the Battle of the Nile • The Egyptian expedition strengthened his popularity

7. The coup of 1799 • 1790, the Directory was accused of inefficiency and corruption and lost popularity due to several foreign campaigns • Napoleon and his army seized power which became known as the coup of 18 Brumaire • Sieyes began to limit power of the Council of Five Hundred • Napoleon encouraged members of the council to back Sieyes reforms but this failed • Napoleon and his brother Lucien rounded up military support and dispersed members of the Council by force • Napoleon was appointed the first consul, Sieyès was also a consul but with far less influence • This was Napoleon’s first decisive step towards complete power in France

8. Napoleon’s domestic aims (1799-1804) • Napoleon was leader of the Consulate, giving him right to appoint ministers as well as national and local officials • Within five years he transformed politics in France and imposed his will on the entire nation • Napoleon did not have a single ideology, he adopted any ideas he felt would ensure order and efficiency including contradictions • Napoleon claimed to rule by the will of the people but justified his government through the will of God

9. The Napoleonic Code • Napoleon decided to issue a unified code of law to replace the complex system • Civil code of 1804 (Napoleonic Code) gave the country a common set of laws that were imposed by Napoleon • Included some of the reforms, equality under the law, privileges and feudal practice were abolished, land formerly owned by the church was confirmed as belonging to those who had been granted it during the era of rebellion

10. Social and economic changes • Many of the rights that women had been granted since 1789 had been reversed • Authority of husband over wife and children was restored • Married women were ordered to obey their husbands and were prevented from making legal contracts • Women were allowed to seek divorce, but non much more restricted terms than men • After 1789, the corrupt system of using tax farmers had been replaced by local authorities responsible for collecting taxes • Napoleon decided to use his own officials, the prefects, to collect taxes • Confirmed the Le Chapelier law, introduced in 1791 which banned trade unions and made strikes illegal

11. Religion under Napoleon • In 1801 Napoleon made a concordat (official agreement) with Pope Pius VII by which Napoleon recognized Roman Catholicism in France • He was allowed to nominate them who would serve as bishops in France • Some revised without reference to the pope • Papal bulls could only be published in France by first consul

12. Napoleonic Propaganda • Napoleon employed propaganda techniques to emphasize leadership qualities and to spread his message to the French people and to the world at large • He claimed his aim to break down the national barriers in Europe • Made claim that he was a liberator in his early campaign in Italy in 1796 • Made a series of medals to celebrate his accomplishments • One medal created in 1797 after signing the Treaty of Campo Formio showed him on a horse holding an olive branch, depicting the figure of Victory and carrying a statue and several manuscripts • In 1804 Napoleon abandoned the consulate and crowned emperor • Pope Pius VII was in attendance to represent the approval of God and the Church • Establishment of the empire was confirmed by popular approval through plebiscites giving the impression that France was a democracy

13. Debate about Napoleon as Emperor in 1804 • The title emperor simply implied more grandeur than that of consul • Having an emperor might reconcile royalists to the new regime • It would have been too controversial to declare himself king, but emperor was a title know throughout Europe and would ensure succession would be hereditary

14. Who gained form Napoleon’s policies? • Sometimes Napoleon acted illegally and the police under minister Joseph Fouche could be heavy handed • State prisons were re-established for political crimes • Napoleon also won support from middle-class professionals including doctors and teachers who reaped the benefits • Introduced a system in which appointments and promotions were based on talents rather than status

15. Napoleon’s foreign policy and empire • He wished to liberate Europe form the control of tyrant rulers and spread the high ideals of the French Revolution • Others think he was driven ay an increasing desire for power seeking only to enhance his own prestige • The claim that Napoleon went to Italy as a liberator is also not wholly convincing • France’s political interests were a more significant reason for French interference • He became involved in a long series of campaigns against Spain and Portugal and make a serious mistake by invading Russia • His defeat in the Battle of Waterloo was followed by a permanent exile on the remote island of St. Helena • He returned from exile in 1814: “The Hundred Days” drove out the restored Louis XVIII

16. Napoleon’s foreign policy and empire • He drove out the restored monarch Louis XVIII and once more assumed power himself. • He was defeated by foreign enemies and died in 1821 • Napoleonic Legends (his laws and methods of administration) continued even under the restored monarchies from 1815 to 1848. • Successive kings, including Louis XVIII, Charles X and Louis Philippe believed them too useful to replace some of them even survive to this day. • He was buried in Paris in an elaborate ceremony in 1840 (Louis Philippe allowed the ceremony to boost his own popularity)

17. The Napoleonic Legend • Had the support of most of the French • Ruled as a Dictator • Made little attempt to fulfil the Revolutionary ideal of Democracy • Encouraged people to forget the past • Ultimately, it was not a French uprising, but Foreign Armies that defeated him • Many of his laws and methods of administration continued • Even under the restored monarchies from 1815 to 1848 • Louis XVIII, Charles X, & Louis Philippe felt them to useful to replace