Napoleon

NAPOLEON

        Napolen Bonaparte was born in 1769 and died in 1821. Napoleon was a military

genius for the loyalty of his troops, and for his spectacular victories. The many change of

the government in France, against the background of war, made possible the rise of a

military dictator. Since childhood, Napoleon was taught stratagies and tactics to help him

succeed through battles. At the age of fifteen, he entered the advance military school, the

Ecole Militaire in Paris. Napoleon was promoted to a general at the age of twenty four,

where he was put in charge of the Italian campaigns. After conquering most of the Italian

Penninsula, Napoleon gained the support of the government and earned the respect of

Sieyes and Tallyrand. They identified Napoleon as their strong man in the Coup of

Brumaire.

        In 1799, Napoleon introduced a dictatorship to bring order to the chaos in France.

He instituted many reforms, for example in the civil service and treasury.

He guaranteed

the Frence people equality and fraternity. In exchange, he took away their liberty.

Another reform was the creation of the national eduction system. This was a pleasant

addition because it adds knowledge to the Empire. Another was a knew constitution, in

this he presented to the public in a plebiscite that required them either to accept fully his

version or to allow him to govern without the restrictions of a constitutions. This was a

lose, lose situation for the people. The support of the army was a major factor in his

successful dictatorship. Napoleon put the three consuls in charge of the new executive

branch in which he was the first consul.

        Napoleon also introduced many foreign policies. One was the continental system,

this forbade the impotation of British goods into Europe. In th first coalition, England

joined with Austria and Prussia. The French was deafeated because of their embarrasing

loss in the Mediterranean. They lost most of their supplies which doomed theur chances

for a victory. Austria alianced with Russia and England to form the second coalition.

This war was concluded by a brief interval of peace, which lasted from 1801 to 1803. A

third coalition was formed by an aliance between England, Austria, and Russia. The

French were conquered at sea, but with perseverence, successfully dominated at land.

After their defeat, the Frence army became invincible. This shortly came to an end after

the French were embarrased in the invasion of Russia. Of the 600,000 troops that entered

Russia, 400,000 died and 100,000 were taken prisoner.

        The biggest factor in the decline of Napoleon was his defeat in Russia. England,

Prussia, Russia, and Austria joined forces to begin the war of liberation. In this battle,

Napoleon was forced to surrender when her was attacked from all sides by his enemies.

By terms of the surrender, Napoleon was forced give up the throne. In his place, Louis

XVIII took over the throne.