Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
French Revolution and Napoleon
Napoleon and the French Revolution:
How the Leader both Continued and Broke from the Aims of his Revolutionary Predecessors
The French Revolution was a singular event in human history. Its importance to humankind is undeniable. The Revolution was both remarkable and horrific, in its scopes and its realities. As Charles Dickens wisely stated,
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us […]. [1: Dickens, Charles. "The Period." A Tale of Two Cities. Ann Arbor: Borders Group, 2006. Print. ]
Thus, one can see there are many contradictions concerning the unfolding of events in the French Revolution, for it is a complex chain of historical events. There are also many opinions when discussing events that followed, especially when referring to the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte. Some historians state that the leader broke from the aims of the Revolution, while others state that he continued the goals of his revolutionary predecessors. The period that this paper will attempt to analyze focuses on Napoleon's reign, and discusses how the leader both continued and broke from the aims of the French Revolution in...
The interest from the loans France took halved the national budget and led the king to attempt to modernize the taxation system. When the Assembly of Notables and the parliament refused his requests, Louis XVI called on the Estates General to resolve the problem. However, the Estates General was unable to agree on how to vote, as any vote would have been unfair to the Third Estate, due to outdated voting policies.
The public was disappointed at this stalemate, and to make matters worse, in 1788, a poor harvest led to food shortages and an increase in the price of bread. Eventually, the Third Estate withdrew from the Estates General and became the National Assembly, and soon met to try to establish a constitution. By August 26, 1789, it passed the Declaration on the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which guaranteed freedom of religion and press, and equality before taxation and the law. These freedoms are traditionally known as the main facets or accomplishments of the French Revolution. [2: Hunt, Lynn. The Making of the West Peoples and Cultures: A Concise History. New York: St. Martin's, 2008. Print.]
If one believes that reforms are the most important aims of the Revolution, then one can argue that Napoleon did try, in…
Thus, Napoleon himself stated that he wanted to continue with past aims and at the same time, establish new goals. As his actions show, the Emperor did provide France with a better foundation on which to "institutionalize revolutionary achievements," by providing it with administrative frameworks and thus ensuring that the goals of the Revolution would be carried out fully. It is clear that Napoleon stabilized an unstable society and provided it with a strong authoritarian leader and a republican monarchy. [4: Holmberg, Tom. Napoleon and the French Revolution. 1998. Website. < http://www.napoleonbonaparte.nl/html/body_nap_and_revolution.html>]
However, it was in this authoritarian way of ruling that the Emperor also broke from the aims of the Revolution, and especially from the aim of "liberty." Due to his practicality, Napoleon failed to see that liberty suffered most under his reign. The French desired to safeguard individual rights and property, so they felt that this guarantee could only come with stability, which Napoleon provided, and were thus willing to overlook a curtailment of liberty. In return, Napoleon sanctified "equality" in the Napoleonic Code, a Frenchman's most prized possession. Napoleon felt that, although the Revolution had ended and had achieved important reforms on its own, it was his duty to continue them and institute a way of government that would enable him to always ensure these reforms, and thus other facets had to be sacrificed. [5: Holmberg, P1.]
Napoleon is believed to have loved philosophy, but as a leader, he had to be pragmatic, and in order to do so, he had to both continue the revolutionaries' work, and begin anew, as he states in the aforementioned ambiguous quotation, goals which he actually achieved. Napoleon began as a meager military officer, and rose to be one of the best-known political figures in history. He took a country torn apart, put it back together, and led it to conquer Europe. Though he did not fulfill all his goals, Napoleon did lead France in a period in which a return of the monarchy without democracy would have erased all revolutionary progress. With regards to the French people, Napoleon led, and though he both continued and broke from revolutionary aims, this, to him meant leading well, to which historians agree. And in Napoleon's own words, "To [have] pursue[d] a different course […] would [have been] to philosophize, not to govern." [6: Holmberg, P1. ]
Napoleon Although there are some elements of Napoleon's domestic and foreign policies that would suggest he was extending Enlightenment idealism through his autocratic regime, his coming to power is more accurately framed as marking an end to the French Revolution. Some of the French Revolution's core principles did emerge during Napoleon's rule. For example, Napoleon's legal and judicial reforms offered a more egalitarian model than the ancien regime had due to
Romantic and Neoclassical Paintings Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Eugene Delacroix were contemporaries -- but they practiced two very different styles: the former was a Neoclassical painter and the latter a Romantic painter. Neoclassicalism emphasized symmetry and simplicity and found its inspiration in the ancient art of Greece and Rome: its practitioners celebrated the artistic styles of the Greco-Roman world, rejecting the drama of the Baroque and adopting a more intellectualized approached to
Kant, Immanuel. "What Is the Enlightenment?" (1784): Web. . These are excerpts from journal entries and speeches by Immanuel Kant. He was a renowned German Philosopher, and he was commonly known as being the first to make use of the word enlightenment. During the enlightenment period, he was among the many innovational thinkers. These excerpts will assist in providing brief descriptions of the enlightenment period, as it was a formidable historical
French Revolution For many people, the French Revolution was the single most important event in modern world history. In a manner of speaking, it's a unique turning point for the ailing French society of the time and Europe. But, the events transpiring in Bastille Fortress in July 1789 are still discussed. The storming is discussed often. Peter Mcphee is an Australian born academic author specializing in modern French history and French
One of the relevant executions, part of Napoleon's terror, that is worth examining is the execution of the Duc d'Enghien. The execution of the member of the Bourbon family was motivated by the need to consolidate the newly established Napoleonic hereditary monarchy. As any act of terror, it was also meant to frighten away any potential individuals willing to contest the act itself, notably members of the Bourbon family who
French Revolution Citizens known as sans-culottes or peasants in the countryside, their role in fueling the French Revolution is inestimable. However, it is quite important to emphasize throughout the paper the areas and periods of the Revolution where they helped trigger events and differentiate these periods from those where they were used as a manipulative mass by the political factions that were leading the country. Less evident for peasants, the manipulation