FREE ESSAY ON NAPOLEONIC INFLUENCE

NAPOLEONIC INFLUENCE

Napoleon I was an emperor of the French, who gathered and made official many reforms of
the French Revolution. One of the greatest military commanders of all time, he conquered
the larger part of Europe and did much to improve the nations he ruled. His changes have
forever altered the course of French history.
Napoleon was born on August 15, 1769, in Ajaccio, Corsica, and was given the name
Napoleone. He was the second of eight children of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino
Buonaparte. No Buonaparte had ever been a professional soldier. Through his father's
influence, Napoleon was educated at the expense of King Louis XVI, at Brienne and the
Ecole Militaire, in Paris. Napoleon graduated in 1785, at the age of 16, and joined the
artillery as a second lieutenant.
After the Revolution began, he became a lieutenant colonel in the Corsican National
Guard. In 1793, however, Corsica declared independence, and Bonaparte, a French patriot
and a Republican, left for France with his family. He was assigned, as a captain, to an
army attacking Toulon, a naval base that, aided by a British fleet, was in revolt against
the republic. Replacing a wounded artillery general, he seized ground where his guns
could drive the British fleet from the harbor, and Toulon fell. As a result Bonaparte was
promoted to brigadier general at the age of 24. In 1795 he saved the revolutionary
government by attacking a mob in Paris. In 1796 he married Josephine de Beauharnais, the
widow of an aristocrat guillotined in the Revolution and the mother of two children.
In all the new kingdoms created by the emperor, the Code Napoleon was established as law.
Feudalism and serfdom were abolished, and freedom of religion was established. Each state
was granted a constitution, allowing men to vote and a parliament and containing a bill
of rights. French-style administrative and judicial systems were required. Schools were
put under centralized administration, and free public schools were created. Higher
education was opened to all who qualified, regardless of class or religion. Every state
had an academy or institute for the arts and sciences. Incomes were provided for famous
scholars, especially scientists. Constitutional government remained only a promise, but
progress and increased efficiency were widely realized. Not until after Napoleon's fall
did the common people of Europe, separated from his governments by war taxes and military
draft, fully appreciate the benefits he had given them.
The belief by many that Napoleon was a man of destiny began during his lifetime. In fact,
he had begun to plan it during his first Italian campaign by smoothly publicizing his
victories. As first consul and emperor, he had engaged the best writers and artists of
France and Europe to glorify his deeds and had contributed to the belief himself by the
elaborate ceremonies with which he celebrated his rule, calling himself the provider of
France's greatest glory. He maintained that he had preserved the achievements of the
Revolution in France and offered their benefits to Europe. His goal, he said, was to
found a European state a federation of free peoples. Through this, he became the hero of
the French and a martyr to the world. In 1840 his remains were returned to Paris at the
request of King Louis-Philippe and enclosed with great pomp and ceremony in the
Invalides, where they still lie.
Napoleon's influence is still in France even today. Reminders of him dot Paris, the most
obvious being the Arc de Triomphe, the centerpiece of the city, which was built to
memorialize his victories. His spirit fills the constitution of the Fifth Republic; the
country's basic law is still the Code Napoleon, and the administrative and judicial
systems are still Napoleonic. A uniform state-regulated system of education persists.
Today, the impact of the Code Napoleon is apparent in the law of all European countries.
Napoleon was a driven man, never secure, never satisfied. Power is my mistress, he said.
His life was work-centered; even his social activities had a purpose. He could bear
amusements or vacations only briefly. His tastes were for coarse food, bad wine, cheap
snuff. He could be charming, but only for a purpose. He had intense loyalties to his
family. Nothing and no one, however, were allowed to interfere with his work.
Napoleon was sometimes a tyrant and always an absolute leader, but one who believed in
ruling by mandate of the people, expressed in votes. He was similar to the enlightened
monarch. Few deny that he was a military genius. At Saint Helena, he said, Waterloo will
erase the memory of all my victories. He was wrong. He is best remembered as a general
and leader, and is justly called Napoleon the Great.