Napoleon Bonaparte

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Napoleon Bonaparte was a prolific ruler of France from the 11th November, 1799 to the 6th of April, 1814. He made some dramatic changes to the country of France, and its empire. He made some dramatic changes, yes, but they weren’t all for the best. In the election, those who voted against him were either bashed or sent to prison. In one of the elections, 3 million people voted for Napoleon, and only 1500 against. Napoleon said that this stat suggested that the country was in favour of him. No, people were scared into voting for him, fearing for their health and wellbeing.

Some of the positive things Napoleon did for France were dropping the 10 day week, and allowing people to take Sundays of work.

He also allowed Catholics to worship freely again, under the agreement called the “Concordat.” This meant that they were allowed to worship freely, but all priests had to take an oath of loyalty to Napoleon, and he got to choose all the bishops in France.

Another thing that Napoleon did for France was introduce the guillotine as a form of capitol punishment. His view on this piece of equipment was that it would be quicker and less painful for the criminal. Not everyone agreed with this, as they thought it was too barbaric and graphic.

Once Napoleon had become ruler of France, he intended to defend France from the armies of the second coalition. This meant that he had to eliminate any threat to his country. He started off this campaign by attacking Austria. He hoped to surprise them by sneaking around through the Alps and attack them from behind, but the journey took much longer than he expected, and almost failed. By the time he reached the border, the Austrian troops were ready...