Video Lesson

Learning Competencies: After learning this lesson, you will be able to:

• explain the major military achievements of Napoleon;
• clarify the reasons that led to the defeat of Napoleon;
• appreciate the reforms introduced by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Brainstorming Questions

• Who was Napoleon Bonaparte, and what did he do?
• How do you evaluate the value of peace against aggressive war?
• What do you think usually happens to dictators in the end?

Key terms and concepts

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), of Italian descent from a prominent Corsican family, emerged as a military genius with expertise in artillery. His rise to power began on December 25, 1799, when he took control under a new constitution that granted him supreme authority. His rule, known as the Consulate period, lasted from 1799 to 1804. During this time, Napoleon acted as an absolute ruler, demanding state loyalty, rewarding merit, and establishing an efficient hierarchical bureaucracy. His governance can be seen as the culmination of Enlightenment ideals embodied by the enlightened despots.

Napoleon’s most enduring legacy is the Napoleonic Code, which provided a comprehensive and unified legal framework for France. This code was the first clear and complete codification of French law, encompassing a civil code, a code of criminal procedure, a commercial code, and a penal code. It emphasized the protection of private property and contributed to the development of a strong central government and administrative unity. The Napoleonic Code enshrined several key achievements of the French Revolution, including the principles of legal equality, freedom of religion, secularism (separation of state and religion), property rights, and the abolition of serfdom, making these reforms permanent and institutionalizing them within French law.

Under Napoleon’s rule, women gained certain rights, such as inheritance rights, but were denied equal status with men. They remained legally dependent on their husbands or fathers, with limited autonomy. Divorce became more difficult compared to the Revolution period. Women required their husbands’ consent to buy or sell property or start a business, and their income legally belonged to their husbands. Additionally, penalties for adultery were harsher for women than for men.

Another major reform was the value placed on talent to improve careers. Citizens were theoretically able to rise in government service purely according to their abilities. However, new imperial nobility was created to reward the most talented generals and officials. Wealth determined status. The middle class benefited significantly. The government rewarded wealthy people who effectively served the state with pensions, property or titles.

The Concordat of 1801 was Napoleon’s agreement with the Catholic Church, aiming to reduce the influence of pro-Bourbon monarchs and use religion to reinforce economic inequality. Key provisions included the church renouncing claims to pre-revolutionary property, replacing disloyal clergy with state-supportive ones, and ensuring freedom of worship.

Napoleon aimed for financial unity by founding the Bank of France in 1800, which stabilized currency and improved public credit. His economic reforms included lowering taxes for farmers, ensuring efficient tax collection, and providing affordable food, which stimulated the economy and reduced unemployment. Educational reforms established state-controlled public education. However, his regime also had significant drawbacks: it enforced severe inequality for women, repressed worker rights, curtailed liberties, restored elements of absolutism through a police state, and practiced nepotism by installing his relatives on the thrones of conquered nations.

During the Consulate era, Napoleon engaged in numerous conflicts with major European powers including Britain, Austria, Sardinia, and Russia. Many of these wars were against Britain, but it wasn’t until 1813 that a coalition of European powers united to challenge France. Initially, after Napoleon’s conquests in Italy, it became clear to these nations that his defeat was necessary for European peace. In 1798, during the Battle of the Nile in North Africa, the British achieved a significant victory over Napoleon. Despite this, Napoleon won battles in Europe and expanded French territories at the expense of Austria and Italy. However, his attempt to suppress a slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue (Haiti) in 1804 failed, leading to Haiti’s independence. In 1805, Napoleon also sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States.

From 1804 to 1814, known as the Empire period, Napoleon’s rule was marked by frequent wars and eventual defeats. To secure his position and prevent a return of the Bourbons, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of France on December 2, 1804. He aimed to champion freedom for subject peoples under European absolute rulers, which led to the expansion of the French Empire. By 1805, Napoleon waged constant warfare and achieved the largest empire since Roman times, with French territories stretching from the Rhine, including Belgium and Holland, to the German coast and down the Italian Peninsula to Rome.

As Napoleon’s repressive rule became increasingly criticized by enlightened reformers, his decision to invade Britain in 1805 threatened Europe’s balance of power. This led Austria and Tsarist Russia to ally with Britain, resulting in the British navy’s decisive victory over French and Spanish forces at the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805. Despite such setbacks, Napoleon established a vast European empire. The Treaty of Tilsit in June 1807 saw Prussia and Russia cede significant territories. Napoleon then reorganized Germany by forming the Confederation of the Rhine, consolidating 15 states and indirectly aiding German unification.

After his defeat at the battle of Trafalgar, Napoleon sought to damage the economy of Britain. To this end, he introduced the Continental System, which closed ports on the continent to British commerce. In 1812, The United States of America came to support the causes of Britain. America’s concern for British commerce coupled with incipient infrastructural development made the Continental System a failure.

After 1808, Napoleon faced a series of setbacks. From 1808 to 1812, he fought against Spanish resistance to his brother’s claim to the Spanish throne, suffering defeat. In 1812, his invasion of Russia ended in a major loss. The subsequent years saw a coalition of Russian, Prussian, Austrian, and British forces defeating Napoleon. The decisive Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, known as the Battle of Nations, marked his significant defeat. Napoleon rejected Austrian foreign minister Metternich’s “Frankfurt Proposals,” which offered to reduce France to its pre-revolutionary size in exchange for his continued rule. The Quadruple Alliance was formed in March 1814, with each power contributing 150,000 soldiers to enforce peace terms. Napoleon abdicated on April 4, 1814, after allied armies entered Paris, leading to the restoration of the Bourbons under Louis XVIII. The Treaty of Paris on May 30, 1814, required France to surrender all territory gained since 1792.

The Quadruple Alliance agreed to meet in Vienna to work out a general peace settlement.
Accordingly, the Congress of Vienna was held from September 1814-June 1815 where representatives of the major powers of Europe, including France, met to redraw territorial lines
and to try to restore the social and political order of the old regime.Klemens Von Metternich represented Austria.He epitomized a conservative reaction to the French Revolution
and its aftermath and opposed the ideas of liberals and reformers because of the impact such forces would have on the multinational Hapsburg Empire. England was represented by Lord Castlereagh. He sought a balance of power by surrounding France with larger and stronger states. Prussia sought to recover Prussian territory lost to Napoleon in 1807 and gain additional territory in northern Germany (e.g. Saxony).Tsar Alexander I represented Russia. He demanded a “free” and “independent” Poland, with himself as its king. France later became involved in the deliberations and was represented by Talleyrand, the French Foreign
Minister.

The principles of settlement include legitimacy, compensation and balance of power. Legitimacy meant returning to power the ruling families deposed by more than two decades of
revolutionary warfare. Accordingly, the Bourbons were restored in France, Spain, and Naples.
Dynasties were restored in Holland, Sardinia, Tuscany and Modena.The Papal States were
returned to the pope.

At the Congress of Vienna, compensation involved rewarding states for their sacrifices against Napoleon. England received naval bases (Malta, Ceylon, Cape of Good Hope). Austria gained Lombardy, Venetia, Galicia, and the Illyrian Provinces. Russia acquired most of Poland, Finland, and Bessarabia. Prussia was awarded the Rhineland, three-fifths of Saxony, and part of Poland, while Sweden received Norway. The goal was to prevent any single state from disrupting the European balance of power. During the Congress, Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to France on March 1, 1815. Known as the Hundred Days, his return saw him seize power from Louis XVIII and raise an army. Napoleon defeated a Prussian force on June 16, 1815, but was ultimately defeated at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815, by the Duke of Wellington’s British forces and Prussian troops. Following this defeat, Napoleon was exiled to the island of St. Helena, where he died in 1821.

Napoleon’s rule was marked by both significant achievements and serious drawbacks. Positively, he consolidated revolutionary institutions, established a centralized government, reached a lasting agreement with the Church, and extended the French Revolution’s reforms across Europe. Negatively, his rule was characterized by the repression of individual liberties, the undermining of republicanism, oppression of conquered peoples, and extensive suffering due to his numerous wars.