Napoleon

• What did Napoleon do?

  • Expanded France and claimed a lot of Europe.
  • Lost most of claimed land by his fall.
  • Known for military leadership.
  • Had a concordat with the papacy
  • Napoleonic code.
  • His concordat prepared France for later civil law codes.
  • Revived titles and honours, administrative reform and supported education
• Napoleon was uninvolved in the early revolution and was a member of the Jacobin club in 1791.
• August to December 1793, Napoleon drove British forces from Toulon, he was promoted which allowed him to climb the power ranks.
• Appointed commander in chief of the Army of Italy - March 1796
• What was Napoleon's position by 1797?

  • Confident in foreign policy control
  • Rescued the directory in September 1797
  • Had an undisputed position, only rival (Hoche) had died in 1797.
  • Approached the directory in 1798 to propose the Egyptian campaign.
• 24th December 1800 - attempted assassination of Napoleon.

  • Bomb which killed 52 and destroyed buildings
  • Showed he wasn't universally accepted
  • Napoleon felt he had to take action to consolidate power
• 1802 - Senate offered Napoleon Consul for Life position

  • Napoleon had the right to name his heir
  • Constitution of Year X designed to show national gratitude to him.
  • Accompanied with another plebiscite, showed stronger support than 1800.
• Plebiscite of 1800 - appeal to the people for acceptance of the Year VIII constitution, justification of the coup of Brumaire.

  • Nearly backfired, not many chose to vote (25%)
  • By 1800 Napoleon was behaving like a monarch, had moved into the Tuileries
• 1804 - Napoleon didn't want to be called a King (pre-revolutionary), wanted to found a dynasty.

  • Took title of "Emperor of the French".
• Royalist plots occurred and the House of Bourbon conspiracy in 1804.

  • Changes known as the Constitution of Year XII.
• Napoleon was consecrated as Emperor in Notre Dame, Paris on the 2nd of December 1804. Napoleon crowned himself in 1805.
• THE ISSUE OF THE JACOBINS:

  • Weren't tolerated, police were vigilant against them.
  • Responsible for a failed dagger assassination plot in October, 1800.
  • Wrongly blamed for December, 1800 bomb plot.
  • Over 100 Jacobins arrested and deported in 1801.
• THE ISSUE OF THE ROYALISTS:

  • Hoped that Napoleon would put someone else on the throne (Napoleon dispelled these rumours in 1800).
  • Royalist outbreaks were dealt with firmly.
  • Use of military tribunals against rebel leaders continued.
  • Royalist disturbances in the capital (1800-1804)
• THE ISSUE OF THE LIBERALS:

  • Napoleon was generally accepted by moderates
  • Some saw Napoleon's rule as an emerging dictatorship
  • Criticisms were controlled by curbs on press freedom
• FREEDOM OF PRINT

  • 13 newspapers were allowed to publish
  • Suppressed if you published against the government.
• Napoleon tried to win over potential opponents:

  • Offered support and peace to rebels in the west
  • Won over royalist leaders, promises to protect the Catholic religion
  • Rewards and posts to supporters
• Aim of Napoleon's policies:

  • Propaganda to win bourgeois support
  • Wanted to reassure buyer of Church and emigre land
  • Ending social divisions of the Ancien regime
  • Reconciliation of the old nobility
• Regime security and success through:

  1. Old nobility accepting state positions
  2. Foreign policy success brought reconciliation
  3. 1802 Peace of Amiens offered relief from war