Appraising Napoleon

The French Revolution ended on December 2, 1804. Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of the French. All the dreams of “liberty, equality, and brotherhood” that had begun the Revolution in 1789 had come to an end. Or had they?

General Napoleon

Napoleon Bonaparte was born into a mostly Italian family on the island of Corsica in 1769. In that year, France took over Corsica. Napoleon grew up under French rule. He moved to France at the age of nine for his education. At sixteen, he became a lieutenant in a French artillery regiment. He was still serving when the Revolution broke out in 1789.

After the Revolution, France was attacked by many powerful European countries. Napoleon commanded the artillery facing a British invasion force at the city of Toulon. He forced the British to retreat. Many of France’s generals had been killed or had left the country. Because of this, Napoleon was quickly promoted and became a general at the age of twenty-four.

When supporters of the king declared a counter-revolution on October 3, 1795, Napoleon repelled the attackers. His victory over the royalists made him an immediate hero. He was sent to lead French forces in Italy, fighting the Austrian Empire. He won several huge victories. By 1797 he had invaded Austria itself. His troops took wealth wherever they went and sent much of it back to France. This made him even more popular. In 1798, he led an attack on Egypt. Although he ruled Egypt for some time, his troops were soon cut off by British ships and he returned to France.

Consul Napoleon

In 1799, Napoleon used his popularity to take power in France along with a few other leaders. They replaced a radical government. Calling themselves “Consuls” of France, they took a more moderate path. Napoleon was the most powerful of them. He wrote a constitution that called for elections and voting but gave himself enormous power. Then he turned to battle again. In early 1800, his forces defeated a large Austrian army. In 1801, the Austrians gave up, and Europe was peaceful for a while.

Napoleon returned to France. He began to reorganize the government and laws. One of these changes was to re-legalize slavery, undoing one of the biggest acts of the Revolution. Napoleon felt secure in his popularity, so in 1804 he asked the people to vote to elect him Emperor of the French. He easily won.

Emperor Napoleon

As Emperor, Napoleon fought a series of wars. He had important victories. He also suffered major defeats. The first was in Spain. The second was his decision to invade Russia. Despite not losing any battles in Russia, Napoleon could not win a definite victory. His army did not have enough food and faced a freezing winter. He went back to France after losing as many as 90 percent of his troops.

Napoleon was sent to the island of Elba. The royal family of France was restored to the throne—but not for long. The monarchy proved unpopular. In 1815 Napoleon escaped Elba and returned to power. He put together an army and marched to war. His first big battle was at Waterloo, against the British and Prussians. He was defeated and sent to the distant island of St. Helena, where he died.

Liberator or Tyrant?

At one point, Napoleon controlled most of Europe. He was Emperor of France. He put his friends and relatives on the thrones of the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain. He set up allied states in central Europe. Britain was his constant opponent. Russia and the Austrian Empire went back and forth between them, and the Ottoman Empire mostly stayed out of the conflict.

For many in Europe, Napoleon was a hero. Many Polish people celebrated him for helping expel their Russian rulers. He helped them create their own country. Many Italians thought Napoleon had freed them from Austrian rule. Everywhere he went, he brought ideals of the French Revolution. He did this through the legal system known as the Napoleonic Code.

The Napoleonic Code was a set of laws that brought into effect many ideas of the French Revolution. It introduced the assumption that suspects were innocent until proven guilty. It said that there could be no secret laws. The same laws applied to everyone.

Napoleon believed that equality was an important right. He introduced education reforms that would provide a quality education to any French citizen. He created a system of taxation that taxed everyone in the same way. He supported freedom of religion.

Yet Napoleon undid many of the political rights of the French Revolution. Although he was elected, he crowned himself Emperor. This symbolically stated that nobody had any right to limit his power. He ruled as an autocrat, an individual making decisions without limits. He put down any dissent.

Additionally, Napoleon undid many of the freedoms that had been won. He restored the status of slavery. His Napoleonic Code also undid the few advances women had gained through the Revolution. He established censorship.

There is no real agreement about how we should view Napoleon. But most scholars recognize both the ways that he advanced people’s equality and also restricted their rights. What do you think?