The Rise of Napoleon

• Napoleon, a popular general, overthrew the Directory, set up a new government called the Consulate, and eventually took complete power.

When he completed his studies at a well-regarded military school, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the French army.

He read the French philosophes and studied military campaigns.

Military Successes
In 1792, Napoleon became a captain.
Two years later, at age 24 and during the Reign of Terror, the Committee of Public Safety made him a brigadier general.

In 1796, Napoleon became commander of the French forces in Italy.

In 1797, he returned to France as a hero.

Consul and Emperor
In Paris, Napoleon took part in the Coup d'Etat of 1799 that overthrew the Directory and set up a new government, the Consulate.

In theory, the Consulate was a republic, but, in fact, Napoleon held absolute power.  Napoleon was called First Consul, a title borrowed from ancient Rome.  He appointed officials, controlled the army, conducted foreign affairs, and influenced the legislature.  In 1802, Napoleon was made Consul for Life.  Two years later, he crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I.
 
 

REVIEW & DO NOW Answer the following questions in your spiral notebooks:
When and where was Napoleon Bonaparte born? What was his education? When did he become a captain? What rank was he promoted to in two years? How old was he?	What was the Coup d'Etat of 1799? What was the Consulate? Who was First Consul? What happened in 1802? What new title did Napoleon give himself in 1804? How old was he?
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Napoleon’s Domestic Policies

• Napoleon brought stability to France and established a single law code that recognized the equality of all citizens before the law.

In 1801, Napoleon came to an agreement with the pope, which recognized Catholicism as the religion of a majority of the French people.  In return, the pope would not ask for the return of the Church lands seized in the revolution.

The people who had acquired Church lands became avid supporters of Napoleon.
 

Codification of the Laws
Napoleon’s most famous domestic achievement was to codify the laws.  Before the legal system, France had 300 different legal systems.  During Napoleon’s reign, seven law codes were created.  The most important was the Civil Code, Napoleon’s unified law system.

The Civil Code, or Napoleonic Code, introduced in 1804, preserved many principles fought for by the revolutionaries fought for, including equality of all citizens before the law, the right of the individual to choose a profession, and the abolition of serfdom and the end of all feudal obligations.
Unfortunately, the Civil Code stated that women were “less equal under the law.”

A New Bureaucracy
Promotion within Napoleon’s government and military was based on ability.

Napoleon created over three thousand new nobles between 1808 and 1814 with sixty percent of them coming from the middle class.

Preserver of the Revolution?
Napoleon shut down 60 of France's 73 newspapers and banned books.  He insisted at all manuscripts be subjected to government review before publication.
 
 

REVIEW & DO NOW Answer the following questions in your spiral notebooks:
Was Napoleon a man of the Enlightenment? What were two terms of the peace Napoleon made with the Catholic Church? Had the Church supported the Revolution? What was the reaction of the people who acquired Church lands? What was Napoleon's most famous domestic achievement?	What as the legal system like in France before Napoleon? How many law codes did he create? What was the Civil Code? How many new nobles did Napoleon create? How many of them were from the middle class? Did Napoleon support freedom of speech?
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 Napoleon’s Empire

• As Napoleon conquered Europe, he spread nationalist ideas.  Inspired by those ideas, conquered peoples resisted Napoleon’s armies and helped bring about the collapse of his empire.

His Grand Empire was composed of three major parts:

First, there was the French Empire, ruled by Napoleon himself.

Second were the dependent states, ruled by Napoleon’s relatives, including Spain, Holland, the kingdom of Italy (the western half of Italy north of Rome), the Swiss Republic, Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and the Confederation of the Rhine—a union of all German states except for Austria and Prussia.

Third were the allied states defeated by Napoleon and forced to join his struggle against Britain, including Prussia, Austria, Russia, and Sweden.  They were nominally, at least, self-ruled.

Spreading the Principles of the Revolution
Within his empire, Napoleon sought to spread the principles of the French Revolution, including legal equality, religious toleration, and economic freedom.  Napoleon hoped his Grand Empire would last for centuries, but his empire collapsed almost as rapidly as it was formed.  There were two major reasons for its collapse:  British resistance and the rise of nationalism.

British Resistance
Napoleon was never able to conquer Great Britain because of its sea power, which made it nearly invulnerable.  After his defeat in the sea battle of Trafalgar in 1805, Napoleon’s plans for invasion were ended.

Instead of invasion, Napoleon turned to his Continental System to defeat Britain.  The goal of the Continental System was to cut off trade between Britain and Europe.  By weakening Britain economically, Napoleon hoped to destroy its ability to make war.

Nationalism
A second important factor in the defeat of Napoleon was nationalism—the sense of unique identity of a people based on common language, religion, and national symbols.  When Napoleon marched his armies through the dependent and allied states, they were united against the invaders by their nationalist feelings.
 
 

REVIEW & DO NOW Answer the following questions in your spiral notebooks:
What were the three parts of Napoleon's Grand Empire? Describe and give the rulers of each part. What principles of the French Revolution did Napoleon want to spread? What were the two major reason's for the collapse of the Grand Empire?	Why was Napoleon never able to conquer Great Britain? What ended his hopes of invating England? What was the Continetal System? What is Nationalism?
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The Fall of Napoleon

• After major losses in Russia and Austria, Napoleon w defeated at Waterloo.

In June, 1812 Napoleon's Grand Army of 600,000 men entered Russia.

The Russians burned their villages and fields, leaving no food or provisions for his army to live on.  Lacking food and supplies, his army finally abandoning Russia in October.

When winter set in, thousands of soldiers died and starved to death.  Only 40,000 soldiers survived when the army reached Poland in January of 1813.

The Final Defeat
At Waterloo in Belgium on June 18, 1815, Napoleon suffered a final, bloody defeat from a combined British and Prussian army under the Duke of Wellington.

Napoleon was captured alive.

He was exiled to St. Helena, a small island in the south Atlantic.
He remained there until his death in 1821, but his memory haunted French politics for decades.
 
 

REVIEW & DO NOW Answer the following questions in your spiral notebooks:
Why did Napoleon invade Russia? When did Napoleon invade?  How many men were in his Grand Army? How did the Russians respond? How did this affect the Grand Army?	How many of Napoleon's soldiers died after winter set in? When and where was Napoleon's final defeat? Was he killed? What was his fate?
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