Appraising Napoleon

The French Revolution ended on December 2, 1804. After this long struggle for democracy, 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? Was Napoleon just another European monarch, a tyrant who thought he ruled because God wanted him to? Or was he the man who would spread the ideals of democracy from France throughout Europe, bringing an enlightened age?

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, so Napoleon grew up under French rule. He moved to France at the age of nine to study at a religious school and later a military school. 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 quickly came under an attack by many of the most powerful states in Europe. Napoleon found himself commanding the artillery facing a British invasion force at the southern French city of Toulon. His brilliant plan to bombard the British forced their retreat. Because many of France’s generals had been killed or had left, Napoleon was rapidly promoted. He became a general at the age of twenty-four.

When royalists (supporters of the king) declared a counter-revolution on October 3, 1795, Napoleon used artillery to repel the attackers. His victory over the royalists made him an immediate hero. He was sent to lead French forces in Italy, fighting the Austrian (Habsburg) Empire. There, he won several huge victories and by 1797 had invaded Austria itself. His troops looted huge amounts of 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 the campaign was successful, his troops were soon cut off by a British fleet 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—one that wanted dramatic and often violent change. Calling themselves “Consuls” of France, they took a more moderate path. Napoleon was the most powerful of them. As the new leader of France in all but name, he wrote a constitution that called for elections and voting but gave himself enormous power. With this new power, he turned to battle again. In early 1800, his forces defeated a large Austrian army at the Battle of Marengo, in a very risky campaign. In 1801, the Austrians gave up, and peace descended on Europe.

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

Emperor Napoleon

As Emperor, Napoleon fought a series of wars. However, he also suffered two great military defeats. The first was his inability to conquer and hold Spain, where guerilla fighters supported by British forces continually bled his troops and his money. The second was his decision to invade Russia in 1812 with an army of over 400,000. Despite not losing any battles, Napoleon could not win a decisive victory. He eventually faced a lack of food and a terrible, freezing winter. He retreated having lost as many as 90 percent of his troops.

Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba. The royal family of France was restored to the throne—but not for long. The new (old) monarchy proved unpopular, and in 1815 Napoleon escaped Elba and returned to power. He put together an army and immediately marched to war. His first big battle was at Waterloo, against the British Duke of Wellington and the Prussian Prince Blücher. He was defeated, and returned to exile, this time on 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 and set up allied states in central Europe. Britain was his constant opponent, while Russia and the Austrian Empire went back and forth between them, and the Ottoman Empire mostly stayed out of the conflict.

For many, Napoleon was a hero. Many Poles celebrated him for expelling their Russian rulers and helping them to create their own country. Many in Italy believed he had freed them from Austrian rule. Everywhere he went, he brought some of the ideals of the French Revolution, especially 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, and that the same laws applied to everyone.

Indeed, Napoleon believed that equality was an important right. He introduced education reforms that would provide a quality education to any French citizen and created a system of taxation that taxed everyone in the same way. He also supported freedom of religion. By contrast, earlier revolutionaries had gone so far as to attack the Catholic Church. Napoleon actually healed that division, offering religious freedom for all.

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

Additionally, Napoleon undid many of the freedoms that had been won. He restored the status of slavery, which had been abolished prior to his rule. His Napoleonic Code also undid the few advances women had gained through the Revolution. It recognized the father as head of the household with total control over family property and authority over his wife and children. He established censorship, undoing any freedom of the press.

In the end, 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 standards of living and also restricted their rights. What do you think?