Hitler Vs Napoleon Research Paper

Hitler and Napoleon are arguably two of the most influential and powerful leaders in the history of mankind. They both had their times of glory, but both also had a very ugly side. At the end of this essay, I will compare and contrast the two, but before I can do that, we need to have a little background on them. In late 1793, Napoleon drove British forces out of the French port of Toulon, and went on to win many dazzling victories, defeating the Austrians. With each military victory, he became more ambitious. In 1799, he moved from successful general to political leader; he overthrew the weak Directory and set up a three man governing body, the Consulate . In 1802, he had himself named consul for life. Two years later he had accumulated
enough power into his hands to earn the title Emperor of the French. Napoleon restored prosperity by modernizing finances. He regulated the economy and set up a school system. He made peace with the Catholic Church in the Concordat of 1801, which kept the Church under the state's control but recognized religious freedom for Catholics. Napoleon, unlike most rulers, won support across class lines. The Napoleonic Code was one of his most lasting reforms. It embodied Enlightenment principles such as the equality of all citizens before the law, religious tolerance, and advancement based on merit . This new code did, however, undermine the power and rights of women. By 1810, his Grand Empire reached its greatest extent. Napoleon annexed the Netherlands and Belgium and parts of Italy and Germany under French power. Napoleon once said "A man such as I cares little for the life of a million men" , sharing his opinion about military casualties. Napoleon's presence on the battlefield was "worth 40,000 troops" said an anonymous person. Britain alone withstood the onslaught of Napoleon's troops, so Napoleon waged an economic war with them through the Continental System. He closed European ports to British goods, but Britain responded with its own blockade of European ports. The Continental System, however, failed to defeat Britain, because its powerful navy kept vital trade routes to the Americas and India open. The restrictions on trade in Europe sent prices soaring because of a scarcity of goods. Many Europeans who welcomed Napoleon's ideas nevertheless saw Napoleon's armies as foreign oppressors, opposing Napoleon's effort to impose French culture and the Continental System.
In 1812, Alexander I of Russia backed out of the Continental System. Napoleon responded with the deployment of 600,000 troops into Russia. To avoid battles with Napoleon's forces, the Russians retreated eastward, burning villages and crops as they went. This left the French hungry and cold as winter came. Napoleon entered Moscow in September and realized that he couldn't feed and supply his troops through the long and harsh Russian winter. In October, he decided for them to turn homeward; the 1,000 mile retreat from Moscow turned into a desperate fight for survival. Only 1/6th of the troops deployed survived. Napoleon rushed back to Paris to raise a new force to defend France, but his reputation was ruined. The disaster in Russia brought together Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Britain. In 1813, their forces defeated Napoleon's at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig, and a year later, with his enemies closing in on France, Napoleon abdicated. The victors then exiled him to the island of Elba. Napoleon died in 1821, but his legacy live on in France and around the
world. When Hitler was 18, he went to Vienna, hoping to enter art school, but he was rejected.
During his stay in Vienna he adopted his fanatical anti-Semitism that would later play a major role in his rise to power. Hitler later moved to Germany , and in 1919, joined a small group o fright-wing extremist; within a year he was undisputed leader of the Nazi party. He organized his supporters into fighting squads into "storm troopers" who fought battles in the streets against communists and other enemies. In 1923, Hitler made a failed attempt to take control of Munich, and was arrested. While in prison, he wrote Mein Kampf. In his campaign for power, he told Germans to unite into one great nation, and to have other inferior races bow to Aryan needs. After leaving prison, Hitler found followers among veterans and lower-middle-class people who were frustrated with the future; as unemployment from the Great Depression grew, the Nazi party swelled to almost a million members. He promised to end reparations, create jobs, and rearm Germany. With the government paralyzed by divisions, Nazis won more seats in the Reichstag. In 1933, other conservative politicians decided Hitler must become chancellor. They planned to use him for their own ends, even though they despised him. Therefore, Hitler became head of state through legal means. By July 1932, Hitler had enough support to run for president of Germany, though he lost the election to Paul von Hindenburg. However, on January 30, 1933,
Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor of Germany. Within a year and a half, Hitler was able to take over both the position of president (Hindenburg died) and chancellor and combine them into one position of supreme leader, the Führer.
After legally gaining power in Germany, Hitler quickly began solidifying his position by putting those that disagreed with him into concentration camps. He created massive amounts of propaganda that strengthened German pride by blaming all their problems on Communists and Jews. The concept of Pan-Germanism inspired Hitler to combine German peoples in various countries in Europe as well as look east for lebensraum . Because the world was extremely sensitive about the possibility of starting another world war, Hitler was able to annex Austria in 1938 without a single battle. But when he had his forces enter Poland in August 1939, the world could no longer stand aside and just watch-World War II began. From the Nuremberg Laws in 1935 to Kristallnacht in 1938, Hitler slowly removed Jews from German society. However, with the cover of World War II, the Nazis created an elaborate and intensive system to work Jews as slaves and kill them. Hitler is considered one of the most evil people in history because of the Holocaust.
During the beginning of World War II, the German war machine seemed unstoppable. However, the tide turned at the Battle of Stalingrad in the beginning of 1943. As the Allied Army got closer to Berlin, Hitler continued to control his regime from the safety of an underground bunker. On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide.