Out true talent showed and realized that

Out of the Flames of the RevolutionBrennan SykesCHC4U1Mr. KingNovember 27th, 2017Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the most important world leaders in the history of mankind who brought France out of the flames of the revolution and drove France into dominating most of Europe in the 1800s, showing that France was still on top. Many saw Napoleon as a villain, while others saw him as a true hero of France with his decisive military techniques, he was able to strike fear in the heart of his enemies and bring hope and succession to his country and people. The development of the platoon system aided in Napoleon’s victories, as it was a new way of fighting and winning battles. Napoleon brought something new to the battlefield as he killed first, then conquered the land (after). These new military techniques are part of the many reasons why he was so good at dominating the battlefield. Napoleon Bonaparte was a revolutionary military genius and leader of France who conquered much of Europe through his innovative techniques and ambition which was aided by his extensive military career.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769 and died on May 5, 1821 in Ajaccio, Corsica, which was an island off the coast of Italy and France. At the age of nine, he first traveled to France on Christmas day in 1778 where he would learn how to speak French, from originally speaking Italian at Autun. Afterwards, Napoleon struck an interest in military preparatory school at the prestigious Military College of Brienne, graduating with high honors in only one year. Napoleon was commissioned into an artillery regiment which was because of his inherent inclination for mathematics and the sciences and took interest in the theories of French military reformists. This enabled him to succeed, especially in the artillery branch of service.

While Napoleon was attending the academy, his father Louis Bonaparte died of stomach cancer, causing him to take the reins as the head of his family. Napoleon’s first campaign did not succeed versus Sardinia, but it is there where his true talent showed and realized that the sword was his weapon – a weapon that was destined for politics. Napoleon then participated in the Siege of Toulon in 1793. The Siege of Toulon was the southern French city of Toulon, occupied by the Anglo-Spanish fleet who were forced to withdraw their forces who were worried of losing more soldiers to Napoleon’s destructive army, granting the young artillery officer Napoleon Bonaparte, his first victory. The new general, Napoleon Bonaparte, began a campaign in Italy in 1796 until 1799, where he would be met with an army that considered him as a “bedroom general”. His army found it difficult to show respect and condescension towards a man that would soon lead them into battle. This quickly changed as they realized that Napoleon knew how to talk to his men and lead them, “As soon as he arrived, Bonaparte’s attitude was one of a man born to rule.

” said Marmont a Duke of Ragusa, Marshal of the Empire and Peer of France. The Italian army was well-equipped as the administration was lacking with the soldiers being dressed in rags and have gone without any pay. As for Napoleon, he wanted to go on the offensive, making the battle only last less than a month. Italy called an armistice as there was no hope for a victory, and a treaty was discovered, and at the expense of the Italians. Napoleon was not interested in diplomacy, “I might lose battles, but you will never see me waste time out of confidence or laziness!” said Napoleon.

The campaign was a success with many more battles won. Napoleon felt confident in launching new conquests, without taking into account the loss of the French army who have been fighting for years. Then came Napoleon’s Egypt campaign which lasted three years, wiping out the Egyptian army with ease. Admiral Horatio Nelson – Napoleon’s natural enemy – destroyed the French in the battle of the Nile. Without much of an army, he returned on October 9th, 1799, where he was welcomed by all, from his alleged great success even though he had abandoned his army.

The regime, The Directory was a committee of 5 that had been formed in 1795 after the fall of Robespierre from the devastating French revolution and Napoleon was looking to take down. The French government isn’t doing well, they were going bankrupt and inflation and unemployment rates were only getting worse. Flames started when Sieyès announced the Directory stating that it was a Jacobin plot putting Moulin and Gohier under house arrest and Sieyès and Ducos were allowed back in. This marked the fall of the Directory and on December 13th the new constitution was formed naming Napoleon as First Consul with full executive powers, later becoming the Emperor of the French.

In 1804, Napoleon was named “Emperor of the French. ” making himself head of state under the title First Consul. He wrote a new constitution and soon started putting in new policies in place that would change much of France and even modern day through these new ideals. Napoleon knew that the people of France would not stand for the old monachal government so he pushed the main ideals from the revolution. Early in his political career, Napoleon enforced a law that all french citizens had to pay taxes. With this, he created the National Bank of France, where money was deposited, bringing in paper money which was not seen before and we obviously heavily see that being in use today.

This brought something new to the table as now everybody (except Napoleon) were being taxed, bringing order and stability, exactly what the French people were craving after the terrific revolution. Lycées were put into place which were government-run school where extreme patriotism was heavy taught. Wealthy families would send their kids to these schools and due to the high tuition, families with a low income couldn’t easily give their kid a good education, but scholarships were obtainable paving a new way of public education among the French people.

The Concordat of 1801 was another great political accomplishment as it was used to gain more support from the French people. The Concordat was an agreement that defined the status of the Roman Catholic Church in France between Napoleon Bonaparte and papal and clerical representatives from both Rome and Paris. This agreement brought back some power to the church and gave the bishops and curés suitable salaries, church lands were returned and, once again the main religion of France was deemed as Catholicism.

In May 1802, the questions were asked. “Shall Napoleon Bonaparte be consul for life?” with an overwhelming vote it was decided that prolongation of his consulate was granted. Now 30 years old, Napoleon was the most powerful person in France. With the end of the old broken government, Napoleon spent the year reassembling his army for a solo attack on Austria in 1799  while Russia withdrew from the anti-French coalition. As always, Napoleon struck quick and unexpectedly by going through Italy before the snow melted, completely surprising Austria. This resulted in The Battle of Marengo in June of 1799, defeating Austria in Germany. This lasted until February 1801, where the Treaty of Lunéville was signed. As history has proven France and Great Britain have been enemies for many years.

But in March 27, 1802, peace was made at Amiens putting an end to all of the hostility resulting in a rare peace for Europe. From 1800 to 1805, Napoleon focused on training a new innovative army that included the infantry, cavalry and artillery enabling his army to perform in a whole new way. Another new way of fighting he brought to the table was the platoon system in which a principal subdivision of a military company, battery, or troop consisting of 25 to 50 men which was then organized into two or more sections for battle. For example in 1806, Napoleon defeated the Prussians at the supposably “impassable” Franconian Forest  a Jena.

New weapons were also developed and struck fear in the heart of his enemies, winning multiple wars and bringing something new to the battlefield. During Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt, a French soldier named Pierre Francois Bouchard had discovered the “Rosetta Stone” which provided the key to cracking the code of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, an old written language that had been dead and forgotten for almost 2,000 years. One of the reasons Napoleon armies were so successful was because he could talk to his soldiers and provided all the necessary resources to keep them healthy. He also brought another thing new to the table which was instead of winning a battle then taking over that land, he would win the battle and continue on forward to take out the whole army before actually putting his name on land. Connections can be from his political and military career as with his new laws, was gaining the support of the French people which in turn aided his campaigns and military takeovers. His early military career surely did sow the seeds of his takeover of Europe and took down everybody that defied him or got in his way.France would have not been the same without Napoleon’s greatest political achievement, the Napoleonic Code. In general, it was a civil code which was put into place on March 21, 1804 and is considered the most influential civil codes in the 19th century across Europe and Latin America.

The demand for a new codification was high due to the destructive outcomes of the revolution. The first book focused on civil rights mainly and the protection of personality, domicile, guardianship, tutorship, relations of parents and children, marriage, personal relations of spouses, and the dissolution of marriage by annulment or divorce. The second book focused more on ownership, usufruct, (right to the use and enjoyment of the property of another, without changing the character of the property.)  and servitudes.

(ties rights and obligations to ownership or possession of land so that they run with the land to successive owners and occupiers.) In the third book, it focused on the methods of acquiring rights by succession, donation, marriage settlement, and obligations. It also enabled all men to be equal before the law, freedom of religion, the right to work wherever and to own land. This was a huge step for equality as the poor would be granted more rights just as the same of a middle or upper class man, keyword is man here, we still see inequality in woman occuring in France. Many of these codes put into place in 1804 still influence French law today.

We shift our view to America where Napoleon, not happy in his ability to maintain Saint Domingue in the Caribbean, sees the French holdings in America a waste of his time. So when America came to Napoleon with an offer he proposed the state of Louisiana for $15 million US dollars which indoubly leads to the modernization of America.Napoleon was most known for his military career and campaigns, the Napoleonic Wars proved that the French empire were a dominating presence in Europe. The Napoleonic Wars  comprised of a 23-year period of recurrent conflict that started with the defeat of Austria and ended with the Battle of Waterloo. In 1805, Great Britain had won an important naval victory versus the French at the Battle of Trafalgar where Napoleon would scrap his plans and invade Britain.

Instead of this, Napoleon would go and set his sights on Austria and Russia, and destroy both militaries in the Battle of Austerlitz. The Battle of Austerlitz (also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors) was one of Napoleon’s greatest battles. With Frances 68,000 troops, (losing 9,000) they swiftly defeated almost 90,000 Russian and Austrian soldiers (15,000 dead 11,000 captured), causing Austria to inevitably make a peace treaty with France called the Treaty of Pressburg while simultaneously keeping Prussia out of the anti-French alliance.

More notable battles fought and won by Napoleon during the Napoleonic Wars include, Battle of Aboukir Bay (August of 1798), Battle of Embabeh (July of 1798), Battle of Trafalgar (October of 1805), Battle of Roliça (August of 1808), Sieges of Zaragoza (1808 and 1809) and many more. Since that, other glorious victories followed as Napoleon was taking over Europe by force, allowing his government to be put in place in Holland, Italy, Naples, Sweden, Spain and Westphalia. Connections can be seen here between politics and military as Napoleon was always looking to improve France, revive it from the revolution and make it a great terrifying empire by gaining support from his people. This results in campaigns, political and militaristic take overs to achieve this goal of french greatness, “Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.” and that’s what he did, the impossible. Napoleon took over countries and show that France was on a top and a superpower that everybody should be afraid of but then came the invasion of Russia in 1812. The invasion of Russia would come to be one of Napoleon’s greatest failures which led to his downfall.

For this campaign, Napoleon had gathered together his biggest army yet and pulled his efforts into making sure his army had all the supplies and equipment it needed. Napoleon even thought that the campaign would be ended within 30 days, but was obviously wrong. The army sent out on a long journey which were to bring them to the frontier along the Neman in June 1812. The total invading force was approximately 612,000 soldiers that would enter Russia. These numbers would spit up around Russia to win quickly and decisively. Western Dvina was their target but the Russian Command decided to retreat before Napoleon’s superior forces could obliterate them.

Napoleon, marching on Vilnius to Vitsyebsk, whose goal was to separate the two armies had failed then the engagement at Krasnoe started where Napoleon now 180,000 strong, Won again and the Russian fled while destroyed the bridges and and setting a blaze to the town, destroying its resources which hurt the French army. The French lost nearly 15,000 killed and wounded in the actions of August 16 to the 19th. Now Napoleon’s plan was to take Moscow and then next day was spent in concentrating the army, reconnaissance, and preparations, and the inconclusive Battle of Borodino was fought on September 7 which was one of the most bloodiest battles of the Napoleonic wars. With Napoleon continuing to push forward, he enters Moscow with 95,000 soldiers left on September 14th. After Russia refusing to come to terms with the France military and political dangers, the Russians saw the dangers of the French setting up in Moscow for the winter. On October 19, 1812, after waiting for a month, Napoleon retreated from Moscow realizing nothing can be done. Now, November 12, 1812, Napoleon’s once powerful army had fallen to a mere 55,000 men due to the harsh Russian winter and by the time Napoleon’s army had arrived at the frontier. It is estimated that out of the 612,000 combatants who entered Russia, only 112,000 returned due to the brutal cold and lack of supplies.

Another grand mistake of Napoleon was the Continental System which was a blockade designed to paralyze Great Britain through the destruction of British commerce. In response to this, Great Britain subjected France and all countries in alliance with Napoleon to a counter blockade. This counter blockade inevitably hurt the French economy more. This then sparks the Peninsular War which was caused because Spain ignored the Continental system and ends up losing mass amounts of French troops due to a technique called guerilla warfare. Then came Napoleon’s final defeat, The Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815, which ended recurrent wars over the span of 23 years.

Napoleon, only having 72,000 troops versus the combined forces of British, Dutch, Belgian, and German forces totaling around 113,000 soldiers, lost the battle, resulted in Napoleon’s exile on Saint Helena. Here on Saint Helena, October 15, 1815, he lasted six years until his death on May 5, 1821, marking the day of Napoleon’s death, a legendary commander, emperor of France and conqueror of Europe. This may of not happened if Napoleon stopped with the continuous fighting, the Russian campaign was flawed and failed to take into account not only its army but its environment. With the constant battle with Great Britain, you would think he would learn. But he constantly underestimate the British fiance who have proven that they are a hard country to shake. It seemed like he started to get careless and just wanted wars and more land, he failed to think more things through which lead to his great downfall. Napoleon’s military knowledge and innovative tactics was what made France into a superpower that was a force to be reckoned with.

Taking over much of Europe, Napoleon showed that France were still on top even after the horrors of the French Revolution and with that, the terror which he put a stop to. Through his early military campaigns which grabbed France out of the ashes of the revolution and got it back on its two feet again to his political successes which change French laws and removed the monarchy forever. Without the Napoleonic code, France could be a much different country today.

We may have not seen public schools being put into place or even equality for the poor working class might not be as strong. Without Napoleon’s French politics, things would be much different. He showed time and time again that France was on top and even though everybody thought they were going to permanently damaged from the terrific revolution, he proved everybody wrong. Napoleon Bonaparte was a revolutionary military genius and leader of France who conquered much of Europe through his innovative techniques and ambition which was aided by his extensive military career.Works Cited”Napoleon.” Biography.

com. August 30, 2017. Accessed December 14, 2017. https://www.biography.

com/people/napoleon-9420291.”Napoleon.” Biography.com. August 30, 2017. Accessed December 16, 2017. https://www.biography.

com/people/napoleon-9420291.”Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes.” BrainyQuote.

Accessed December 16, 2017. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/napoleon_bonaparte_108865.”Napoleonic Wars.” Britannica School.

Accessed December 16, 2017. https://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/Napoleonic-Wars/628625.”Napoleon takes Power in France.” Napoleon takes Power in France | History Today. Accessed December 14, 2017.

http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/napoleon-takes-power-france.Badertscher, Eric.

2009. “NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.” Napoleon 1-4. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed November 28, 2017).Britannica School, s.

v. “Napoleon I,” accessed November 28, 2017, https://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/Napoleon-I/108752. D’Aguilar, G. C., and David G. Chandler.

The Military Maxims of Napoleon. Edited by William Elliot Cairnes. New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing, 2016.Gilbert, Adrian. “Siege of Toulon.

” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 10 Apr. 2017, www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Toulon. Accessed 13 Dec. 2017.

History.com Staff. “Napoleon Bonaparte.” History.com. 2009.

Accessed December 15, 2017. http://www.history.com/topics/napoleon.Ledru, Eric.

Napoleon: The Visionary Conqueror. Hoo: Grange, 2004.Mwaniki, Andrew. “Major Battles Of The Napoleonic Wars.” WorldAtlas. January 11, 2017. Accessed December 16, 2017.

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/major-battles-of-the-napoleonic-wars.html.PBS. Accessed December 15, 2017. http://www.pbs.

org/empires/napoleon/n_politic/people/page_1.html.Prados, John.

1996. “Napoleon Bonaparte.” Reader’s Companion To Military History 313-323. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed November 28, 2017).

Published in History Today Volume 49 Issue 11 November 1999The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Battle of Waterloo.” Encyclopædia Britannica. July 20, 2016. Accessed December 17, 2017. https://www.

britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Waterloo.The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Concordat of 1801.

” Encyclopædia Britannica. December 04, 2014. Accessed December 14, 2017. https://www.britannica.

com/event/Concordat-of-1801.The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Continental System.” Encyclopædia Britannica.

February 16, 2016. Accessed December 17, 2017. https://www.britannica.

com/event/Continental-System.The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Louisiana Purchase.” Encyclopædia Britannica. February 17, 2017.

Accessed December 15, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/event/Louisiana-Purchase.The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Lycée.

” Encyclopædia Britannica. July 20, 1998. Accessed December 15, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/topic/lycee.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Napoleonic Code.” Encyclopædia Britannica.

July 19, 2016. Accessed December 15, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Napoleonic-Code.The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Peninsular War.” Encyclopædia Britannica.

December 13, 2016. Accessed December 17, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/event/Peninsular-War.The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Platoon.

” Encyclopædia Britannica. July 20, 1998. Accessed December 15, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/topic/platoon-military-unit.