Napoleon in his time
In the history of the world there have been great empires that have risen only to fall. Human history is the history of the great empires that have ruled throughout the centuries. It has always been that throughout the history of civilization, man has tried to gain land and in his endless search for land, they have suffered humiliating defeats and annihilations or have built the greatest empires of his time. In ancient times, Alexander the Great’s Macedonian Empire, Asoka’s Nauryan Empire, and the Roman Empire were created by the cruelty of man in his quest for power, control, and wealth. In the late 1700s, Napoleon Bonaparte arrived on the world stage.
“Power is my lover” the man whose ego collided with destiny. An ego that grew to the size of Mount Everest with every military victory, much like that of Alexander the Great before he ruled all of Europe for over a decade. Throughout history there have always been people who were born destined to reshape the world and leave a lasting legacy. Alexander the Great, Caesar, Charlemagne, and Washington top the list of people who changed the course of history. Napoleon Bonaparte was one of those individuals. Like Alexander the Great, he was one of the greatest military generals in history. He was a risk taker, a workaholic genius, but too often a short-term planner that sometimes led to disastrous results. A temperamental tyrant some have called him, but no one can doubt his military breadth and his ability to seize the moment when opportunity presents itself.
A mathematical prodigy, whose intellect catapulted him to fame and glory for his remarkable military skills at the height of the French Revolution. A renowned reformer but also a ruthless military commander who used the best tactics from not only studying other campaigns in history, but utilizing his own innovations such as placing artillery in key locations that proved decisive in winning battles. Even today, his military tactics are studied in all military schools around the world. Apart from all his military achievements, like Charlemagne, he is remembered for his reforms. The establishment of the Napoleonic Code is the basis that French law is still used today was one of the many reforms that Napoleon implemented.
Some historians considered him one of history’s most enlightened despots, but others now view his achievements in a much better light. But nonetheless, his vision of a unified Europe where France ruled would never become a reality in his own time. The constant rivalries between the competing powers of Europe, such as Great Britain, France, Germany and Russia, which would erupt into two world wars a hundred years later, always prevented Napoleon’s dream. Eventually, after years of conflict, the quest for the European Union would emerge. There are some today who attribute this to Napoleon’s vision, which included a common infrastructure and a common legal code. Unlike Hitler in World War II, Napoleon and Charlemagne had a vision of a unified Europe where the reforms put in place would benefit everyone.
It was the French Revolution that alienated the government from the Catholic Church. One of Napoleon’s remarkable diplomatic skills occurred when he negotiated the 1801 Concordat with the Pope to bring religious and social peace to France. Napoleon appointed various members of the Bonaparte family and close friends of his as monarchs of the countries he conquered and as important government figures (his brother Lucien became French Minister of Finance). He demanded total loyalty and expected nothing less from those around him. Although his reigns did not survive his fall, a nephew, Napoleon III, ruled France in the late 19th century.
Napoleon was one of the greatest military commanders in history. He has also been portrayed as a power-hungry conqueror. Napoleon denied those charges. He argued that he was building a federation of free peoples in a united Europe under a liberal government. But if that was his goal, he intended to achieve it by taking power into his own hands. However, in the states he created, Napoleon gave constitutions, introduced legal codes, abolished feudalism, created efficient governments, and encouraged education, science, literature, and the arts.
When Napoleon became emperor, he again proved to be an excellent civil administrator. One of his greatest achievements was his supervision of the revision and compilation of French laws into codes. The new legal codes, seven in all, incorporated some of the freedoms won by the people of France during the French Revolution. These included religious toleration and the abolition of serfdom. Napoleon also centralized the government of France by appointing prefects to administer regions called departments, into which France was divided.
While Napoleon believed in government “for” the people, he rejected government “by” the people. His France was a police state with a vast network of secret policemen and spies. The police shut down plays that contained any hint of disagreement or criticism of the government. The press was controlled by the state. It was impossible to express an opinion without Napoleon’s approval.
Napoleon’s own opinion of his career is best expressed in the following quote:
“I closed the abyss of anarchy and brought order out of chaos. I rewarded merit regardless of birth or wealth, wherever found. I abolished feudalism and restored equality to all regardless of religion and before the law. I fought against the decrepit monarchies of the Old Regime because the alternative was the destruction of all this. I purified the Revolution”.
Between 1799 and 1815, the fate of France and Europe rested in the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte, the man described by Chateaubriand as the “most powerful breath of life that ever animated human clay.” Napoleon’s final downfall was due to the forces that the Revolution had unleashed. and Napoleon accelerated.
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica and first became an artillery officer, an old-fashioned branch of the army at the time. However, he was able to make the right connections. During the Terror his friendship with Robespierre’s brother and his skillful use of artillery at Toulon in September 1793 helped him rise to the rank of brigadier. His cool head during the Vend miaire revolt and his friendship with Barras took him even further. His marriage to Barras’s former mistress, Josephine de Beauharnais, in October 1796 placed him at the center of fashionable circles. This made it more accessible to literally network with the French nobility who gave him command of the 30,000-man Army of Italy.
Napoleon was very image conscious and had a great flair for publicity just like General Douglas McAuthur during World War II. His published battle reports and his daily orders attracted popular attention. He once said that “moral strength wins more victories than the number of mothers.” He was also an excellent actor who could appeal at strategic moments to the deepest loyalties of his soldiers: “The military is a free masonry and I am the great teacher of it.”
After the failed Russian invasion, Napoleon’s fortunes soured. Mainly due to his reluctance to understand the dimensions of the high casualty rates they were having on the morale of his army and the war-weary French population that continued to drain the economy. This, while other nations became more fearful of military threats from him. Sure, Napoleon was very lucky, but by 1812 his luck was running out. Due to the insufficiencies of his planning in the Russian campaign where more than 3/4 of his army perished and the collapse of the treaties that were previously signed allowed his enemies to recover a counteroffensive to prevent Napoleon once and for all from achieving dominance complete throughout Europe.
In 1814, after regaining power, the forces that would finally crush Napoleon were already gathering. On the battlefields of Waterloo fell the great fate. Everything Napoleon gained was lost in the heat of the Battle of Waterloo. Nowhere in the annals of history has an empire built by a single man collapsed so quickly and so decisively. Who knows what the world would be like today if Napoleon had won one of the most influential battles in history.
Even if you think that the French leader is more of a despot in the long line of kings in Paris who ruled France, who established his family on the seats of European thrones, he was actually different. Even if Bonaparte did not defend all the ideals of the French revolution. He was still a man of honor. Napoleon was a warrior, but also a man of ideals and laws. He believed in the ideals of the French revolution, at least to some extent.
When Napoleon landed on the shores of France after his first exile, the soldiers sent to arrest him openly wept. When Napoleon opened his shirt and said either shoot me now or accept me as your general exemplifies the mystique that Napoleon had not only with the military but with the majority of the French population. This is the reason why many people quietly go for it. If Napoleon had defeated Wellington, there would have been no world wars in the 20th century. Many historians conclude that fact today. Although the story is what it is. Napoleon will be forever linked to one of the greatest military commanders and empire builders in history.