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History Final Project

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History Final Project

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  1. FINAL PROJECT THESIS: NAPOLEON WAS A PRODUCT OF THE NEWLY EMERGING IDEALS OFTHE LATE EIGHTEENTHAND EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURIES.

  2. SOURCE: THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY AND NAPOLEONIC WARS Summary: This is a long article about the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. It details how the Enlightenment was partially responsible for the increased interest in constitutions and individual rights that fueled the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. These Enlightenment ideals relate directly to my thesis. Analysis of Source: The author, Frederik C. Schneid, graduated from Purdue University and has written several well regarded books on these subjects and appears to be an established authority on the topics. I would say that this is a good source, as it is essentially an abridged version of his books.

  3. SOURCE: BONAPARTE, NAPOLEON Summary: This is essentially a short biography of Napoleon Bonaparte. It does go into some detail of how Napoleon was very much a product of the French Revolution and would help strengthen my thesis argument. Analysis of Source: The author, David M. Keithly, is a professor at the American Military Institute and has published several books along with dozens of other articles. He also cites some of his sources in this article. I would say this is a fairly strong source.

  4. SOURCE: PBS-THE FRENCH REVOLUTION Summary: This is another overview of The French Revolution. It goes into some detail as to how the humanitarian views stemming from the Enlightenment influenced the mindset of the French people of the time. It doesn’t explicitly mention Napoleon, but it does help explain the zeitgeist of the time that would lead to revolution and the implementation of Napoleon as a leader. Not a fantastic source for my thesis, but does provide some useful information of the world surrounding Napoleon. Analysis of Source: I was unable to find an author attached to the article, but PBS is a very well known and reputably source of information, funded of course by the public. I wouldn’t expect many errors in the information provided, nor would I expect any spin or commentary from this notoriously impartial,dry source.

  5. SOURCE: THE HISTORY CHANNEL-ENLIGHTENMENT Summary: This is yet another overview of the Enlightenment. It doesn’t explicitly mention Napoleon, but goes into some detail about what the Enlightenment was and, more interestingly, how the Enlightenment wasn’t a completely unified concept and might have meant different things to different people. Most of the information in this article is redundant to my other sources. Analysis of Source:The authors of this article are simply listed as the History.com staff. There were also videos that accompanied the article, which might be helpful in garnering interest in the subject. I wouldn’t expect many errors in information in the article, but I wouldn’t trust this article over many of the other sources. The History Channel, after all,is profit driven and prone to sensationalism for the sake of viewership, and I would expect the website to also operate on that kind of model.

  6. SOURCE: THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE CODE NAPOLEON Summary: This is an essay composed by a student that deals with many of the same questions that my thesis does. While our theses do differ slightly,the bulk of the essay’s argument addresses my thesis perfectly. This would be a very valuable source to mine for concepts, sources, and ideas. Analysis of Source: Obviously, this essay is written for a college course like this one by a student like myself. I wouldn’t say the author has much authority, but the essay is well sourced. If anything, this essay could prove to be a good jumping off point on the subject at hand or serve as inspiration as I found it well written and clear. I wouldn’t, however, use it as a primary source.

  7. SOURCE: TO WHAT EXTENT WAS NAPOLEON AN ENLIGHTENED DESPOT Summary: As the title suggests, this essay argues that Napoleon was an Enlightened Despot. The entire essay is locked behind a paywall, but from what I read it seemed well argued and touches on some similar topics as my thesis. Interestingly, it appears to contend that being a despotic ruler can be rationalized by Enlightenment thinking and ideals. Analysis of Source: I wouldn’t use this particular as a source. Not only is it a student creation, but it is locked behind a paywall. If anything, I would mine this essay for other, more reputable, sources.

  8. SOURCE: NAPOLEON I OR FREDERICK II -WHICH ABSOLUTE MONARCH BETTER IMPLEMENTED ENLIGHTENMENT IDEALS IN THEIR REIGN? Summary: This is a question posed on the social media site Reddit. The poster is asking the opinion of the community that posts on the History focused subreddit. Unfortunately,the question didn’t seem to inspire many relevant comments and it was more about personal interpretations than authoritative sourcing. Analysis of Source: While it is interesting to read a variety of differing opinions given in such a casual setting, there is no way to know the level of expertise of the posters. I wouldn’t use this particular site as a source unless the poster was able to back their opinion up with more credible sources.

  9. SOURCE: HOW DID THE FOUNDING FATHERS LOOK UPON NAPOLEON? Summary: This another Reddit post in which the poster is asking the AskHistorians community a question regarding how the founding fathers in the US viewed Napoleon. One person did answer the question thoroughly, contending that it depended on political party affiliation. This post also mentioned that some admired Napoleon’s reverence for Enlightenment ideals, which addresses my thesis. Analysis of Source: While the title of the community, AskHistorians, implies that historians would be the ones answering the questions, there is no system to verify. I would imagine that many of the posters are amateurs and hobbyists in the realm of history and would, therefore, have little authority. If anything, this post offers a starting point towards researching some of the ideas from more credible sources.

  10. SOURCE: WAS NAPOLEON AN ENLIGHTENED DESPOT? Summary: This was another Reddit post in which the poster was asking the AskHistorians community a question. One person did write a good reply in which they argued that being a despot and Enlightened thinker were two concepts at odds with each other. It did touch on some of the ideas of my thesis, although it seemed to argue against it. I think there is a lot of value in looking at the opinion of someone who seems to disagree with my thesis. Analysis of Source: Again, this is simply a random, semi-anonymous person on the internet giving their opinion on a subject they may or may not know much about. There is no way for me to verify the information provided and no sources were cited. I would not use this post as a source.

  11. CONCLUSION A few of these sources were valuable and credible. One was written by an author who has written books on the subject and another was from a professor. A few of the sources were well-known among history buffs and would most likely provide credible information. There were also a few student essays that could prove to be a good starting point for considering some different ideas and questions, but I would be more likely to look into their bibliographies when searching for sources. The social media posts were interesting and often funny, but didn’t provide any credible information. In the end, I found most of these sources to be a good way to get the creative and academic juices flowing, but would look elsewhere for actual sources to cite in a research paper. Personally,I prefer real books (physical or digital) when researching a subject like this and would only use web sources as a starting point in gathering relevant questions and concepts. My thesis was either too broad or too generic to yield many credible resources in a google search and the vast majority of search results were from sites where one would go to purchase pre-written essays. Obviously, the internet is not always a great source of credible information, and this exercise reinforced that notion. I need to do more research moving forward into where to find credible, peer-reviewed online papers.

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