Napoleon Bonaparte Research Paper

Napoleon EssayStefani Shepard November 17, 2012
Napoleon Essay Period 8 Considered one of the world's greatest military leaders, Napoleon Bonaparte was born August 15, 1769, in Ajaccio, Corsica. He was the fourth and second surviving child of Carlo Bonaparte, a lawyer, and his wife, Letizia Ramolino. At the time around Napoleon's birth Corsica's occupation by the French had drawn considerable local resistance. Carlo Bonaparte had at first supported the nationalists siding with
their leader, Pasquale Paoli. But after Paoli was forced to flee the island, Carlo switched his allegiance to the French. Graduating early from the military academy, Napoleon returned to Corsica in 1786. Back home Napoleon got behind the Corsican resistance to the French occupation, siding with his father's ally, Pasquale Paoli. When a civil war in Corsica began in April 1793, Napoleon, now an enemy of Paoli, his family relocated to France. When Napoleon returned to France, he had to have his own military or army.
The country was declared a republic in 1792, three years after the Revolution had begun, and the following year King Louis VXI was executed. Ultimately, these acts led to the rise of Maximilien Robespierre. Over time a period known as The Terror began and many as 40,000 people were killed. Napoleon faced many problems that had been faced by the Directory, there was still a threat to power from the Jacobins and the Napoleon wanted to create a centralized republic to avoid the problems that other countries faced. Eventually the Jacobins lost power and Robespierre was executed. In 1795 the Directory took control of the country, a power it would it assume until 1799. All these problems gave a really good military leader like Napoleon to get opportunities to gain power. He saved the government from other forces. For his efforts, Napoleon was named commander of the Army of the Interior. He was also a trusted advisor to the Directory on military
matters. Napoleon was one of the greatest military commanders in history.
He has also been portrayed as a power hungry conqueror. Napoleon denied being such a conqueror. He argued that he was building a federation of free peoples in a Europe united under a liberal government. But if this was his goal, he intended to achieve it by taking power in his own hands. However, in the states he created, Napoleon granted constitutions, introduced law codes, abolished feudalism, and created efficient governments and fostered education, science, literature and the arts. One of his greatest achievements was his supervision of the revision and collection of French law into codes. The new law codes made some of the freedoms gained by the people of France during the French revolution. In 1793, Napoleon used cannon on a hillside to blast the British navy out of the power cannon can have in battle. Five years later a campaign in Egypt was disastrous, but he became a hero. Napoleon had early victories in Egypt. He started to lose as the battles began to move into the desert. He returned to France before the news of defeat arrived there. In 1800 he established a three-man Consulate. Napoleon understood the French weren’t ready for one-person government, however he was in control. Two years later he held a vote to get the support of the French citizens. Soon after, he was crowned emperor in 1804. During his ruling, he made a lot of reforms. He came up with the Napoleonic Code. It was legal reforms
granting several rights including civil, legal, and property rights. Napoleon also valued education. All Frenchmen had the opportunity to attend school and by doing this, it allowed for social advancement and permanently abolished the estates. As a ruler, Napoleon didn’t want any divisions based on religion. Being a ruler comes with achievements and failures. Napoleon had many failures too. His foreign policy killed many people due to wars and mistakes made by Napoleon. As well people would say he is a propaganda machine who manipulated the French public into believing he was great. His foreign policy did not only kill innocent lives, it helped him expand France and allow the people of France to gain nationalism. Napoleon only used propaganda to gain the trust of his people so he can contribute so much for the best of his country. He didn't count on the severity of the Russian winter, and he couldn't believe the Russian people would burn their own towns rather than let him capture them. It was that campaign that really ended his career. The Hundred Days campaign which ended Waterloo was simply an unsuccessful comeback attempt. Napoleon failed to succeed in doing the most important thing, to keep it all. He enjoyed 15 years of glory, but at the end of the day it was all for nothing. By 1815, after his downfall, France was back to where it was before Napoleon came to power, except millions of Frenchmen had died, the government was bankrupt, the overseas colonies were lost, the prestige and status of France was lost, but more significantly the French monarchy was.