THE NAPOLEONIC ERA

The only thing you cannot do with a bayonet is sit on it. Charles Talleyrand

If there are in fact over 200 000 books written about Napoleon Bonaparte, as noted historian William Durant claims, they are undoubtedly split on their conclusions regarding l'petit corporal. is true natureremains to this the day a !classic enigma' - a mystery wrapped up in a riddle" Was he, as #oreign $inister %alleyrand once observed, &the most e'traordinary man that has lived in our age, or in many ages&( )r, as *oethe asserted, was he a &moral monster, against whom every hand should be raised to slay&( +egardless of the perspective, one truth remains, the man was born on an island, died on an island, and in between con-uered a continent"""" )k, that hyped.up preamble not good enough for you( /till unimpressed0unconvinced with the magnitude of the 1mperor!s legacy( 2ust in case you were . he left behind a few monuments of marble and granite for history!s skeptics" 3nd as we retrace the victory march that his *rande 3rmee repeatedly took up the 4hamps d 1lysees to parade through his 3rc d! triomph, keep one thing in mind, he knew, someday, you were coming"

Morning Notes
I" II" III" Do you believe that history is only significantly influenced by great singular minds, or by collective movements( Does everyone have a Napoleon in them( Do you( What are the characteristics of a great leader, and what are some traits that might lead to corruption and tyranny( 3re they e'clusive(

Preparation I. II. III.

I7" +eading, %he $yth of Napoleon 5an e'cerpt from War and Peace6 +eading, Peuple Je Meurs Innocent +eading, Five things to Know about Napoleon $ap, Napoleon!s 1mpire

Key Terms I" II" III" I7" 7" 7I" 7II" 7III" Lecture Whiff of *rapeshot 1gyptian 4ampaigns 4orsican 4rocodile 8lebiscite 9ord Nelson 4oncordat Napoleonic 4ode 2osephine uide

Rising Through the Ran!s i" :;<= . /iege of %oulon > the city rebelled against the +epublican *overnment with
the aid of British troops" Napoleon, a young artillery officer from 4orsica, took charge of the siege and defeated the British" e was appointed Brigadier *eneral for this victory" ii" :;<? > Whiff of *rapeshot > Napoleon arrives in 8aris in the midst of food riots" e suppressed the rioters using cannons, for this he was given command of the army" iii" :;<@ > marries for the first time to the love of his life 2osephine de Beauharnais, a widow eight years older than him who had lost her first husband to e'ecution during the revolution" Commander o" the Army i" %he most pressing issue at the time was dealing foreign invasions" %he war with 3ustria was on going" Napoleon felt the best way to defeat the 3ustrians was in Italy" Napoleon would defeat the 3ustrian on five separate occasions in the Northern Italian states" Italy would be forced to recogniAe #rench territorial claims in the north and the 8ope signed a humiliating peace that, 5B, remember that the borders of Italy were not set, northern states where influenced by both #rench and Italian, Napoleon himself was from 4orsica6 :" 4losed all Italian ports to the British 2" 8revent any aid be given to the 3ustrians =" 8ay =0 million #rancs to the +epublican government

ii" 3pril :;<; > the 3ustrians are forced to accept peace terms with Napoleon iii" )ctober :;<; > Napoleon con-uered the independent Italian states of *enoa and 7enice and turned both into +epublics" Egyptian Campaigns #$%& ' #$%% i" Napoleon would take =? 000 troops and scholars to 1gypt got research and con-uest" e defeats the British at the Battle of the 8yramids but his fleet is sunk at 3le'andria" e would fight several battles against the British 0 %urks but would eventually have to flee 1gypt" ii" 8lague breaks out among the #rench soldiersC with morale at an all Napoleon leaves his second in command in charge 5he tells him with a secret note6 and returns to #rance with a small group of scholars and many impressive 1gyptian artifacts" iii" While Napoleon is fighting in 1gypt all of his gains in 1urope are lost" 5B, Note the volumes of information that were created by Napoleon on 1gypt > gave a comprehensive history of the country as well as detailed account on wildlife6 The Corsican Crocodile i" %he Directory 5the government6 had become incredibly unpopular over the time Napoleon was in 1gypt" 1mmanuel 2oseph /ieyes would approach Napoleon with a plan to over.through the government" /ieyes hoped to us NapoleonsD popularity and military strength to back the coup and then have Napoleon removed from power" ii" Napoleon would his troops to seiAe control of the Directory, claiming that it had been taken over by a 2acobin minority" e then proceeded to reorganiAe key government bodies to report to him" e gave /ieyes a seat in the new /enate as well as a cottage in the country that he Estrongly encouraged him to use"F iii" In early :G00 Napoleon holds a plebiscite to gain approval for his new +epublic" has overwhelming support from the population for his leadership" e

iv" Determined to re.capture what had been lost while he was in 1gypt Napoleon crosses the 3lps in :G00 and engages the 3ustrians in Italy again" e defeats them in 2une and again in December :G00" 3ustria is forced to seek peace with Napoleon" With 3ustria again defeated the rest of the continental powers withdraw from their alliance with 3ustria and end their immediate conflicts with #rance"

v" :G02 . %reaty of 3miens > Britain was supreme on the seas but with no continental army or allies, accepts NapoleonsD peace termsC this treaty recogniAed all his gains in 1urope" %he war that had started so well in 1gypt for Britain ended with concessions on the continent" %he British 8rime minister said it best when he -uipped, &peace for a month, war in a year"& Healing the (ounds ' The Church i" With peace treaty signed with all maHor powers Napoleon turn his attention to internal issues" )nly = years after the 2acobins had banned it . Napoleon brought back the 4atholic 4hurch in a formal agreement with 8ope 8ius 7II in the 4oncordat of :G0:" While he was no 4atholic, he was a realist" e recogniAed that the #rench were -uietly !voting with their feet! by having their children secretly baptiAed, by having private marriage ceremonies etc" In a move that would shock the hard.core revolutionaries in his government, Bonaparte recogniAed yet another opportunity to put down consolidating roots" It was a brilliant gamble" ii" %he 4oncordat > :G0: > was the peace agreement between the 4atholic 4hurch and the #rench +epublic" %he 8ope was delighted to have almost =0 million !believers! back into his flock" %he 4oncordat, however, was self.serving for Napoleon" %he conditions of the agreement included, . Napoleon allowed the 8ope to e'.communicate hundreds of priests who turned their backs on +ome and who had voluntarily !signed on! in allegiance with the revolutionary government of the 2acobins in :;<:" . Bonaparte would nominate all bishops for the 8opeDs approval . %he 4hurch gave up all legal land claims in #ranceC in e'change the #rench state would pay the salaries of the clergy . 4atholicism would be recogniAed as the religion of the maHority in #rance, but it would not be the only religion iii" %he 4oncordat was published on 1aster :G02 along with the peace treaty with Britain" Napoleon was at the peak of his popularity"

Napoleonic Code ' The La)

i" Napoleon recogniAed immediately that the outdated law codes in #rance were far too comple' and inconsistent for an EenlightenedF country like #rance" ii" %he result was his Napoleonic 4odes, which would streamline over =@? +oman and revolutionary laws that he found when he came to power" e would demonstrate an administrative ability for common sense and law making, transforming his civil code into one of the !stones of granite! upon which he would build his 1mpire" iii" %he Napoleonic 4ode would establish some basic principles that would carry forward as fundamentals for modern legal codes" 1specially important was the separation of church and state as well as the creation of e-uality for citiAens under the law"

iv. Before his death on St.Helena, he would claim the Napoleonic Codes as his 'greatest achievement.' His Civil Code, or Code Napoleon, still echoes in places like Japan, ue!ec and New "rleans. It is memoriali#ed in mar!le frie#es around Napoleon's tom! in the Invalides $a former %omes Church&.
Controlling The *tate ' +oreign and ,omestic Policy

i. %omestic ' Napoleon made sure that there was a spy in every cafI, theatre
and salon" is instrument of covert operations was well chosen, 2oseph #ouche" #ouchI 5:;@= > :G206 was NapoleonDs minister of police and controlled the domestic situation" e had been part of the 2acobin government, but turned on them when things were going poorly" e controlled the freedom of the press e'tremely curtailing their rights" 1nemies of the state were imprisoned in mental institutions" 1very week he made reports to Napoleon on topics of !national defense! ranging from suicides, newspaper headlines, subversive talk and !wiretapping! 5opening letters6" While the 1mperor himself would never really trust him 5with good reason . he betrayed every leader before him6, he recogniAed ability in #ouche that he could tap into" ii" 4harles $aurice %alleyrand 5:;?J > :G=G6 . a diplomat and survivor of the +evolution, he played a maHor part in #rench foreign policy" e had been a representative of the #irst 1state that had sided with the revolutionaries" e was a career diplomat that was well respected in many nations" 3lthough he did not get along with Napoleon, he made %alleyrand the *rand 4hamberlain and 7ice. elector of the 1mpire as he was very well respected abroad" e would play a significant role in almost all #rench foreign policy decisions under Napoleon and later during the Bourdon restoration" Constitutional Emperor

i" Napoleon had declared himself !#irst 4onsul! or !#irst 4onsul for 9ife!" %his was no longer good enough for a man of his stature" #urthermore, numerous unsuccessful assassination attempts convinced him that he needed a +oyal pedigree to guard against murder . as 1mperors rarely get assassinated" ii" 1very title that Napoleon granted himself was always propped up by plebiscites 5which were always landslides"""6" e argued that it was necessary to declare himself 1mperor because it meant a formal end to the reign of the Bourbon monarchy" In December of :G0J, with the 8ope!s !blessing!, Napoleon would crown himself 1mperor in front of thousands at an invite only gala in Notre Dame 4athedral" iii" Napoleon married $arie 9ouise of 3ustria in order to Hoin the royal apsburg family"

iv" e con-uered territories and declared his brothers as Kings" e even created a new territory for one brother 5Kingdom of Westphalia6" is behaviour appalled court society across 1urope" It was an incredibly far cry from the obscure island life of 4orsica life" %he moment itself was not lost on Napoleon as he whispered to his brother, &if only our father could see us now"&

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Napoleon -onaparte