Napoleon Bonaparte
Rise and Fall
RISE: Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 in the Mediterranean island of Corsica and was well known as Emperor of the French and is best remembered for his role in the wars led against France called the Nepoleanic Wars. He sought to spread the ideas of the French Revolution along with maintaining an imperial monarchy. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest military commanders of all time. At the age of 9 he was sent to military school and at the age of 16 was the lutienent in artillery. In 1795 when rebels marched on the National Convention he was told to defend the delegates and in minutes the rebels fled making him hero of the hour. In 1796 the Directory appointed him leader of French army against Austria and Sardinia which ended in many victories which led the people to accept him more and more throughout the years. Naloleon led expeditions to egypt for trade but wasn't as successful in war due to Britain's outstanding naval force with the leader of Horatio Nelson. When he returned he was urged to seize political power by the Directory. Troops under Napoleon's command surrounded the National Legistlature and drove out most of the members. The law makers that remained voted to abolish the Directory. They were replaced with three consuls which is when Napoleon quickly took title of first consul and assumed power as Dictator. His goal was to restore order and restoration to France.
RESTORATION: Napoleon assumed to be the constitutional leader of a free Republic. In 1800 a Plebiscite, vote of the people, was to approve new constitution. During Napoleon's reign he kept most of the ideas of the revolution. He improved the economy by setting up an efficient tax collection and a banking system. He also wanted to fix improper government officials and replaced them with lycees which are government run public schools which were open to all male students of all background. Those students werer then appointed to government officials based on merit instead of family status. He never payed much attention to religion but comprimised that he would recognize the Catholic church but wanted a seperation of state and religion by signing the Concordat. Napoleon also set of a system of laws known as the Napoleonic Code which limited liberty and promoted authority. In 1804, Napoleon finally crowns HIMSELF emporer with the support of French voters. But soon his want for more control of land soon became the downfall to his fantastic reign in France. After trying to take over the Saint Domingue for their productive sugar industry, they lost due to disease which then he decided to cut his losses in America and sold the Louisiana territory to the US for 15 million. His two goals in conquering land was to finance money for operations in Europe, and second, to defeat the British. Over time he signed peace treaties with Austria, Prussia, and Russia which enabled him to build the largest empire ever since the Romans. He only lost one major battle and the Battle of Trafalgar against the British naval which encouraged him to work even more to defeat the British. By 1812 the only areas free from him reign were Britian, Portugal, Sweden, and the Ottoman Empire. His empire was Huge but very unstable and soon he was to find out he could only maintain it for 5 years until his empire collapses.
DOWNFALL:In 1806 Napoleon set up a blockade between Great Britian and all European nations. He called it the Continental System which soon caused the great war of 1812 between the US and Great Britain. In 1808 Napoleon made a 2nd mistake in trying to get Portugal to accept the Continental Sytem by invading Spain. For six years Spanish fighters known as guerrillas aided by the British which became known as the Peninsular War that ultimatly weakened France. Soon other European countries became offended due to nationalistic pride that led to rivals of France. In 1812 Napoleon made his third biggest mistake in going to war with Russia because they refused to stop selling grain to Britain. The Russians retreated and used the scorched-earth policy which was to burn grain fields and kill livestock which led the French to have nothing to eat. They soon would finally fight against one another in the Battle of Borodino in 1812. Napoleon moved his army into Moscow to find they had burned their capital city.