Wednesday, October 17, 2012
For this assignment you are urged to compare life in France during the French Revolution with life during the Napoleonic era.
Please write a report (300 words minimum) on how Napoleon filfilled the ideals of the French Revolution and on how he betrayed the ideals of the French Revolution.
You might mention the Reign of Terror in France and how that event destabilized and terrified urban French residents and how this might in turn might have influenced the Napoleonic code.
Students might consider comparing two documents: A Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789) with the Napoleonic Code(1804) to help with this assignment.
This assignment needs to be posted by 8:00am Tuesday 23 October.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Napoleon Bonaparte, soon after seizing power over all of France, quickly set up a series of rules known as the Napoleonic Code. They would decide the rights and regulations of the People of France. Although the people had recently undergone a violent revolution in which they had shown their true colors and stood against oppression, they had also just recently undergone The Reign of Terror. The events of The Reign of Terror were full of countless brutal murders of many innocent men and women. If anything, it taught the people of France that they could be controlled and kept in place. Their fear made it easy for Napoleon to do away with parts of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, and enforce the Napoleonic Code. Although he could have done away with them completely, simply using force and his brilliant military tactics as his allies, he cleverly left some aspects of the hard won rights in place in order to gain support. Of course Napoleon chose to leave Frenchmen with their most basic civil rights and established them as the rulers of their home. However, he also took away most of the few rights women had won as a result of the revolution. They had become slightly more independent, not just a possession, and could divorce freely. Now, divorce laws were made tighter, and women were expected to be obedient and the property of their husbands. Even more important for public image, Napoleon denied the Declaration of the Rights of Man’s law that property is sacred, and allowed the people to keep the land they had stolen from the upper classes during the revolution. Although it directly opposed the right given to every man, it shed a positive light on his image in the majority of the population’s eyes. Despite his desire for popular support though, Napoleon also did away with laws made by the Declaration of the Rights of Man completely. For example, although the Declaration of the Rights of Man gave every citizen the ability to speak, write and publish freely, Napoleon soon censored many newspapers and even stopped some entirely.
ReplyDeleteYasmeen Ketcherside
ReplyDeleteOct. 21, 2012
Napoleon Bonaparte “was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century”. Once he became the supreme executive of a French empire, Napoleon declared, "The Revolution is made fast on the principles on which it began; the Revolution is finished." Soon after he crowned himself emperor. He quickly sets out to establish peace with the Catholic Church, a long time enemy of the French Revolution. Also those who gained land, third estate from the first and second estate, loved Napoleon because he let them keep the land, except to the Catholic Church. Because of France’s fear at this time, with the Reign of Terror, it was a little easier for Napoleon to get to the top and be to most famous man in France during this time period. As Napoleon looked over three hundred of Frances different legal systems and decided to make his own to end confusion. He made his own Napoleonic codes, which included 6 different codes. The Napoleonic Code was based heavily on the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Napoleonic Code addressed concerns over religion, moving in a strong secular position. Crimes of religion such as heresy, sacrilege and witchcraft were not allowed and divorce was deemed a civil manner. The Napoleonic Code is the largest legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte. He also made equality for all, besides women. Divorce and inheritance became more difficult. Women were not allowed to divorce, and if they did, it would be very hard for them to divorce from their husbands. They were supposed to be obedient and nice to their husbands. Women were basically treated like children. But in the end, at this time period, (the Napoleonic Period) the people really enjoyed Napoleon vs. Louis 16th.
Sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon
My Notes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bonaparte_napoleon.shtml
.
Soon after his code is destroyed. Napoleon shut down 60 of the 73 newspapers in France because he didn't want them "gossiping" about him. Also woman thought they were going to get more rights when Napoleon came but no.
DeleteTo start, the French Revolution occurred for many reasons, and provided many things for the citizens of France. Not long after the government was overthrown a great tyrant arose and paranoia caused a great deal of chaos among the people. This tyrant was known as Robespierre. Though he led the 3rd estate out of the rule of King Louis by beheading him, he installed an even greater fear in them by killing all that spoke a word of the old King. Robespierre was eventually killed and the ruler’s title was, more or less, up for grabs. Napoleon Bonaparte truly rose to power in 1799 when he became a member of the council. He soon starting bending the rules for personal gain and, in 1802, he made himself council for life. A short 2 years later he crowned himself the emperor of France. The French Revolution provided freedom and equality for all, but Napoleon came to power and took away that democracy. A Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was written in 1789 and was meant to preserve the rights of all citizens of France. Napoleon, cleverly, named himself and emperor rather than a king to give the impression of a different style of rule upon the people. This may have been a different title, but he was still betraying many of the ideals of the French Revolution. After Bonaparte rose to power, women lost all their rights. The Napoleonic Code of 1804 included many of the rights gained by the Revolution, including equality for all. Though the men came out of this with their new freedom, this was a step backward for women and children. Inheritance and divorce were made more difficult. Women were treated like children and had all rights taken away. They were treated like belonging to their husbands. In some ways Napoleon upheld the ideals of the Revolution, but in many other ways he betrayed it the same way that King Louis XVI did.
ReplyDeleteIn order to maintain the support of the French people, Napoleon carefully incorporated some principles of the French Revolution within his own law. At the same time, he was able to reduce rights to keep in complete control of France. The main set of principles that came out of the French Revolution, The Declaration of the Rights of Man, was put aside while Napoleon drafted his own rules. However, because of the reign of terror and the hard times France faced after the revolution, Napoleon was able to force his set of rules on the desperate people. The people’s desperation and want for stability was the mere fact why the French people adopted Napoleon’s Code: they needed somewhere else to turn in the depths of political upheaval. Napoleon’s code provided law set in stone as under the monarchy, punishments were largely based on tradition of a certain area or the wants and beliefs of more powerful individuals. The Napoleonic code introduced a consistent and standard judicial system in which the views and position of the judge could not influence the outcome of the case. Laws and rules could not simply be fabricated to reach a certain ruling. In addition, the Napoleonic Code gave women the rights of minors, which went against the wants of the revolutionaries. Women played a large part in the French Revolution whether in the form of support or fighting. The Declaration of the Rights of Man prompted women to declare the rights of women. Women wanted equality and the ability to legally to more. The Napoleonic code was a step backwards in which women had virtually not rights. The divorce laws were changed. In 1804, divorce by mutual consent was actually abolished, leaving the women to be controlled by her husband completely. Article 5 of the Deceleration of Rights of Man states that, “Every citizen has the right to participate personally or through his representative in [Law’s] foundation.” In contrast, under the Napoleonic era, only a select few people drafted the laws, which then had to be approved by Napoleon. The people that Napoleon appointed, such as Jacques Régis de Cambacérès, were the ones who drafted the laws. The citizens did not need to approve them before they were put into affect. Instead, the citizens had no power in creating the laws. In this case, the ideals of the revolutionaries were completely thrown aside. In conclusion, the rights of the people of France did not correspond with their wishes stated in the Decleration of the Rights of Man. Instead, Napoleon was able to use the violent times to force the people to adopt a new set of his rules. By doing this, he was able to maintain power, and keep the citizens who had the potential to rise up, men, content by being superior to all others.
ReplyDeleteDuring the French Revolution, the three prominent ideals were liberty, equality, and fraternity. The people fought and died for these ideals, and they wanted nothing more than to maintain them. One way of maintaining them was to write the Declaration of the Rights of Man. It included concepts such as, “all men are free and equal before the law” and “appointment to public office should be on merit.” The French people hoped freedom and equality would be embodied in their new government. However, the Reign of Terror scared the people, and they didn’t know where they were headed. The lack of stability and fear set up a perfect stage for Napoleon Bonaparte to seize power. The people were looking for something secure and stable after the horrible terror they had experienced. Napoleon was ready to provide that, but since the people were in such a weak state, he could alter the rules without major uproar because the people were afraid of what the consequences would be. He still had to gain support, though, and he did this by incorporating some of the main ideas from the Revolution. These ideas were somewhat encompassed in the Napoleonic Code, which was a condensed and edited version of the hundreds of legal codes at the time. The goal was to make a more unified France, and that started with having a single legal system that could be applied everywhere. While this did provide rights for men, similar to the rights brought up in the Declaration of the Rights of Man, it did not provide equality. Men were given all the power, and women were treated like dirt. They were basically owned by their husbands. Moreover, this Napoleonic Code was developed after he crowned himself “emperor” of France, which means nothing really changed. France went from having a King to an Emperor. The different title only means that the government went from a monarchy to a dictatorship, which the people were trying to avoid. They wanted democracy, but were not granted it. Napoleon still held all the power. While the Napoleonic Code did give rights to people, Napoleon was able to overturn or adjust his laws in any particular situation, meaning that their rights were not set in stone. In conclusion, it can be argued that Napoleon provided stability for France and embodied the ideas from the Revolution in his new government. However, it can also be argued that he took advantage of the people and betrayed the ideas from the Revolution by making the French government a dictatorship, by not giving complete rights to people in his Napoleonic Code, and by giving women virtually no rights.
ReplyDeleteMore information to add:
DeleteNapoleon's new code did mean that all citizens were equal before the law, jobs were open to all French people, and the government officials had to be competent and right for the job, which in the end helped the economy. However, unlike life during the French Revolution,
the press did not have freedom of speech (only 13 out of 73), and the few rights that women had were taken away.
Napoleon was a man of order. He was disgusted by the rampant killing ordered by Robespierre during the Terror, but supported Robespierre to maintain stability. He didn't want to give the post-Revolution French people all their rights, but he gave them some to win support. He wanted to take over the French government after subduing the Italians, but he waited for the He understood that careful diplomacy and maneuvering was the key to his eventual success.
ReplyDeleteNapoleon made the French people believe he was their destined savior. They loved him for his successes and his failures, for they believed he was going to do great things. In his mind, he became the Revolution. He stabilized and strengthened France, step-by-step, never taking too much at a time.
Bonaparte began to reform France in 1789, starting with the rewriting of the Constitution. He established consuls as the main form of government and made himself First Consul. He built parks, bridges, and roads for the people and founded the Bank of France for the business people.
He made Catholicism the official religion in 1801, realizing its political benefits. He won the respect of the church and quieted the Roman Catholic Church. He abolished the Declaration on the Rights of Man and wrote his own rules: the Napoleonic Code.
This Code put Napoleon's thoughts on the rights and duties of the citizen in a central text. He tightened the controls on women, allowing their husbands to control their decisions. Women could not own or trade property without their husband's permission. Men were also allowed to imprison their children.
Napoleon helped to improve the education system, and supported the opening of private schools. He rejected the idea that property was sacred and allowed the people to keep the land they had stolen from the church.
Napoleon felt that his way was best and condemned those who dared demand more freedom. He believed that government should be for the people, not by the people. This aversion to criticism and free press resulted in censorship and closing of newspapers.
Napoleon so beautifully convinced the people that he was going to protect their hard-fought rights, yet he deliberately cut down on them. He wanted power, like all those emperors of Europe, and crowned himself Emperor of France in 1804.
The French people were initially satisfied with his military conquests and reform of French government. His greediness and megalomania eventually escalated to the point where the French began form assassination and kidnapping plans. He was exiled in 1814 and exiled again in 1815, never to hold power again.
During the course of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, the French people were confused with the overwhelming amount of legal systems/codes that were in place, including the Declaration of the Rights of Man and The Citizen and more. There were about three hundred legal systems by the time the Reign of Terror ended. Therefore, when brilliant military strategist Napoleon Bonaparte self proclaims himself as the head of the government, he simplified the amount of legal codes to just seven. This was an attempt for Bonaparte to create his ideal society, which was modeled after the great Roman Empire. The code that he created was included in this, as the great emperor Justinian created his own code that Bonaparte attempted to recreate. Through the laws in the Napoleonic Code, he attempted to make people happy by including some rights that were a part of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and The Citizen, but making sure that he was still able to have control over them. However, although he allowed some freedom for the French citizen to be happy, the female population was not a fan. The Napoleonic Code was a step backwards for women. Specifically, Bonaparte completely abolished the law that required both parties to agree to divorce. The man could now decide this for himself, and didn’t need permission from his wife. As a result of these harsh laws from Napoleon, the women who were once storming Versailles was silenced again. Also, through Napoleonic Code, Bonaparte was able to regain the support of the Catholic Church, after the violent clash during the reign of terror. The calendar was changed back, and the church was finally satisfied again when Napoleon declared the Catholicism was the official religion of France. The common person of France was happy with obeying Napoleon’s laws though because it was better than the Reign of Terror, so although the situation was not ideal, they were satisfied with a leader who actually did something instead of one sat on his throne (Louis XVI). Although a French Citizen during this time period appeared to have more freedom, the majority of the power rested in Napoleon’s hands.
ReplyDeleteNapoleon Bonaparte became the ruler of France before the people of France had even known. He managed to manipulate the people of France without them even knowing a bit of what he was really doing. After he finally became the emperor of France he set up new rules or as he said, “codes”. He rewrote the French constitution. They were named the Napoleonic Code. These were the laws of the people in France; sort of like the amendments. The people did not see the evil things that Napoleon was doing, because he was such a good manipulator unlike Robespierre. Robespierre had already made the peoples life terribly traumatic. The people went through a vicious revolution. They went through so much pain and in the end they found their pride. Right after the revolution was the Reign of Terror. Robespierre at this time was telling everyone to kill one another, so that France can finally become untied and be peaceful. This time was filled with continuous murders of innocent people. The people were so scared that everyone started turning in on each other. This fear gave many important people power over the people of France including Napoleon. Napoleon took this opportunity to make the Napoleonic Code and ignored the Declaration of Rights of Man. He made 7 codes, which were supposed to be a new and improved set of rules for both men and women. These codes only helped the men and made women less equal to men even more after the revolution. Women could do very little and were treated as if they were children. They were not allowed to divorce and the husbands had total control over them. He made this code, because there was suspicion that his wife was cheating on him while he was off fighting for France. He made sure after that women would barely have any equal rights for the punishment of his wife. This is why he did not pay attention to the Declaration of Rights of Man and eventually put it to rest, so that it would never be read again. Although he gave the people of France the land to which belonged to the people and the church that had died from the revolution or the Reign of Terror. Napoleon took peoples rights away and the people were okay with it for some time, but managed to see what was really happening. Napoleon had great ideas and success in most of his plans, but even though he failed sometimes it was okay to the people. It was fine with them, because he made them believe in what he said. He was so confident and intelligent that he could convince any one to believe in him. He changed and twisted so many laws, changed the people’s religion to Catholicism, and became emperor of France, and yet the people still believed in what he was doing. Napoleon was very similar to King Louis the 16th, but unlike Louis he was very smart and knew exactly what he wanted out of France. Both of these men betrayed France, but yet also managed to make revolutions, which helped the people of France.
ReplyDeleteNapoleon Bonaparte took control of France while the country was still in a state of frenzy. The legal system during and before the Revolution had been confusing and therefore wasn’t enough to keep order in the country. In order to reinstate peace during his reign, Bonaparte set about creating a set of laws; the Napoleonic Code. Due to the state that France was in, the new code was easy to press upon the people, especially after the Reign of Terror. Napoleon codified the laws so they were easy to understand and apply to situations. The laws were based on reason, the notion that all men were equal before the law, and Roman Law. In his code, Bonaparte made sure to keep some of the ideals from the Declaration of the Rights of Man in order to maintain support from the citizens while incorporating and changing some of laws as he went. One of the most important codes that Napoleon fulfilled from the Declaration of the Rights of Man was the Code of Criminal Justice which allowed trial by jury, and the right to be innocent before proven guilty. He also kept the Frenchman’s basic civil rights intact. But the few rights that women had received after the Revolution were not kept in Napoleon’s code. Women after their large role in the Revolution and the writing of their own document, The Declaration of the Rights of Women, had moved baby steps forward on the path to equality. They were no longer possessions of their husbands and they were able to divorce freely. The Napoleonic Code took that away from women and put them right back to where they began before the revolution. One of the major betrayals of the revolutionary ideals was Bonapartes disregard for “free communications.” The Napoleonic code didn’t allow for anybody to voice their consciousness. If anyone disagreed with Napoleon they were sent to an asylum or jailed without cause. Napoleon also shut down all newspapers except for four which existed under government influence.
ReplyDeleteThe Napoleonic code was a brand new list of laws after the French Revolution ended. These laws were dictated by Napoleon himself. The French Revolution changed the way the people thought about freedom. People in the Revolution destroyed the regime without knowing what government they should put in place instead. This caused people to believe anyone who was against the last regime. This belief in the majority of the French people ended up causing thousands of people, who were not sure about the revolutionary government, to be executed. After years of bloodshed the people became tired of all the violence and eliminated leaders like Robespierre who continued to encourage the executions of more people.
ReplyDeleteThe massacre made the French people realize that their anger and aggressive manners would not make the revolution successful. They realized that people needed to be protected by laws and a system needed to be made to prove if someone was guilty or not. This is the one of the biggest differences between the Napoleonic code and the Declaration of Right of Man. After the French Revolution Napoleon felt that the people would really appreciate to have a fair judicial system instead of immediately executing people. This made Napoleon put a specific process to prove if the suspect was guilty or not. In addition, the Napoleonic code emphasized that foreigners should be treated equally. He thought this would further encourage peace. Lastly Napoleon made the Catholic Church the main religion in France. He thought that if the people believed in the Catholic Church again, order would be more easily restored as the Catholic Church enforced many rules that encouraged people to do only good deeds. Altogether the Napoleonic code was much more detailed than the Declaration Rights of Man. This code encouraged peace to be spread across France and made people feel like that they were protected and treated equally.
The main ideal during the French revolution were the Enlightenment ideas of freedom, equality, anti-religion, anti-monarchy and rights for the citizens. These ideas were expressed in the Declaration of The Rights of Man. When Napoleon came into power, he replaced this with his own Napoleonic code where he preserved some of the Revolutionary ideals but destroyed others in order to bring stability back to France. In his Napoleonic Code, Napoleon fulfilled Revolutionary ideas of equality, rights for the citizens and freedom. Like the Declaration of the Rights of Man the Napoleonic Code preserves the idea of equality by holding all citizens (excluding women) equal before the law. This means people of all classes had to follow the same laws and had most of the same rights. He also gave the male citizens freedom of religion the rights to see all of his codes and ensured that there were no ‘secret laws’. Though he preserved many of the ideals of the French Revolution, Napoleon also made some changes that would help him better rule France. First and foremost, the Napoleon ruled as monarch despite the fact the Revolutionaries did not want France to be in the hands of one leader. Napoleon also changed his title from ‘king’ to ‘emperor’ to ensure he was different from King Louis XVI. However, citizens were not displeased with this change due to the chaos during the Reign of Terror when there was not one leader. Napoleon also brought back Catholicism. During the Revolution, France was at war with Catholicism, but when Napoleon came into power he was quick to establish peace with the Catholic Church and to declare Catholicism the official religion of France. The Napoleonic Code also hurt rights for women, in his system women were treated with the same amounts of rights as minors. He also made it difficult for women to divorce their husbands and he set up duties that women must follow. The Napoleonic code also set up a system for crime that was much different that the Revolutionary system during the Reign of Terror. Napoleon made sure to keep the idea of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ but he also set up a trial and jury system to protect innocent citizens from imprisonment. When it came to laws opposite of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the common citizens didn’t have a say in the laws passed and the laws drafted had to be approved by Napoleon. Napoleon was very good at keeping certain aspects of the Revolutionary ideals to please the people (men) and changing other aspects to keep stability in France and help hold his power.
ReplyDeleteThe ideals of the French Revolution were liberte, egatlite, fraternite (liberty, equality and brotherhood.) These ideals were later incorporated into the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizens. Napoleon himself however, established many of these ideals. Some say that without Napoleon, the benefits of the French Revolution may have disappeared. He turned France into a prospering country during a time of turmoil and economic hardship. He extended the French empire and established a bureaucracy that honored people for their hard work and dedication instead of opportunities being given to a person simply because that was where they were born. Napoleon’s ideas were greatly accepted by those who practiced the philosophies of enlightenment. Enlightenment was also a great part of the French revolution. The third estate followed the laws of enlightenment and was also something that Napoleon him self embraced. Also, before the revolution, France had over 300 different legal systems. Napoleon set out to simplify this by creating his own set of codes called that Napoleonic Codes that only had 7 laws. He made sure to include the new rights that the people of France gained during the revolution. Women unfortunately had to take a back seat yet again and were denied rights previously given to them. Such rights included the ability to divorce. This process was made harder because of the Napoleonic codes and the women were treated like children yet again and denied lots of responsibility. However, an ideal from the French revolution was liberte (liberty) and Napoleon was a dictator. Yes, he was a dictator that overall made France a more stable place, produced benefits of the French revolution, won wars and brought France to peace in 1802 for the first time in 10 years but, he went against this law. He established himself as council for life as well, making it impossible until his death to have a new ruler. According to dictionary.com, liberty means: “The state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life.” Although I’m sure Napoleon’s intentions were good, he was being oppressive by not allowing people to vote him into a leadership position. Overall, life during the French revolution was a struggle and most people lived in constant fear. Napoleon came into France and returned the people and the economy to a state of well being and stability. Although he denied some of the ideals of the French revolution, he upheld others and France returned out of its state of turmoil.
ReplyDeleteAfter the Reign of Terror came to an end, with the people of France beheading Robespierre, a new rule came into power named Napoleon. Napoleon put a set of laws into play called the Napoleonic Code. In this code, Napoleon fulfilled some aspects of the ideals from the Revolution, from the declaration of the rights of man, including equal rights for all citizens, equality and freedom. However, Napoleon also betrayed some ideals from the French Revolution in order to move the country forward. One of the big ideals that he betrayed was the rights of woman that they had fought for and finally gained in the Revolution. Unfortunately, Napoleon took away these rights from woman, so woman were again not allowed to divorce and had to act as property to their husbands. Another thing is that in the French Revolution, one thing that they fought so hard for was getting rid of one main ruler. Napoleon went against this and became the dictator of France. Probably the reason that the people went along with it was because Napoleon knew how to appeal to the people of France. He was genuinely concerned about the well being of the country and the well being of the people. When he came in, instead of just forcing his own laws on the people, he was smart to keep a lot of the ideals that they French had just fought so long for in his code, as well as adding or modifying a few laws. This made the people feel like they did have freedom, and that their ruler wasn’t just a horrible tyrant. Another thing is that just coming off of the reign of terror, the people of France were probably scared out of their minds that if they tried to do anything against an authority figure then they would be killed. So they just went along with Napoleon and didn’t complain. Napoleon also was great with the military, and he was able to really help France out, which I think is another big reason that they people didn’t mind that they had a “divine” ruler.
ReplyDeleteNapoleon was an embraced dictator, and the majority of the people in France were all for having him as their leader; in fact, many of the laws that he put in place as leader are still in place today. This is a strange fact given that he went directly against the ideals of the Revolutionary Government by declaring himself a dictator, the sole thing the previous government had strived and driven the country to the brink of extinction to avoid. Napoleon became leader at a key time in the history of France: during the French Revolution, or even more specifically, during the Reign of Terror. During this crucial period in French History, most of the citizens were upset and afraid of the constant public executions that occurred all day, which destabilized the country considerably. It was chaos, and the previous French Revolutionary leaders were beginning to abuse their power to control their paranoia of a new monarchy arising. The previously created “Declaration to the Rights of Man,” similar to the American “Declaration of Independence” was not being upheld, and the new revolutionary government was becoming more and more barbaric and paranoid. It was at this point that Napoleon Bonaparte, a fairly short man with a strong temper and extreme self confidence who saw problems in the current system and knew he could do better appointed himself the Emperor of France. Napoleon knew how to get things done, unlike the previous Revolutionary Government. He created a new set of laws, called the “Code Napoleon” which sought to mostly keep the strengths of the “Declaration of the Rights of Man,” such as keeping all citizens equal under the law and allowing french men equal rights to careers, while removing the (what he thought were) weaknesses, such as freedom of press. Also, the rights of women were even more restricted, perhaps as a vendetta against Napoleon’s wife, Josephine. This new code was very effective, and was enforced accordingly, providing stability to the previously unstable country. At this point, Napoleon Bonaparte was a savior of the French People, and he remained a popular leader throughout his entire career, given that he was effectively able to stabilize the country and restore a prosperous economy to the region. His country was significantly more enjoyable than that of his previous revolutionary counterparts.
ReplyDeleteDuring the early 1790’s, France was in a state of Anarchy known as the reign of terror. During the reign of terror, radical revolutionaries, such as Maximillien Robespierre, called for frequent beheadings of anyone who did not support the revolution. After Maximillien Robespierre was beheaded, and his terror inducing ways died with him, France was in need of a new government. Napoleon Bonaparte, a very intelligent French military scholar, seized this chance and took power over the French Government. The French revolution was all about abolishing a single ruler, and yet Napoleon knew how to appeal the masses. With his charm he was able to make the people of France overlook having a single dictator. The first thing Napoleon did when he obtained power was to organize all 300 different codes that the revolution had produced, into 7 new codes: The Napoleonic Codes. When Napoleon created these codes, he tried to keep the people in mind. One of the things Napoleon created with these codes was a public Criminal trial system. This allowed for fair public court systems. Napoleon also tried to fix affairs with the church. The church did not favor France after the revolution overthrew the clergy’s power. Napoleon decided to mend the relationship with France and the church by reinstating Catholicism. Napoleon hoped this would also unite the people under a single religion. Napoleon was also careful when setting up these new laws by keeping many of the laws the “Declaration of the rights of man” stated. This allowed all men the rights they wanted from the revolution. However, Napoleon decided to only give this new freedom to men. Any rights women gained from the revolution were abolished, and women were treated like possessions again. Napoleon also restricted the press. Unlike the revolution, freedom of press or speech was not allowed. If someone spoke ill of Napoleon, they were jailed or sent to an insane asylum. Napoleon also shut down all newspapers except for four which remained under the control of the French Government.
ReplyDeleteThe ideal of the French revolution is freedom and resistance of the despotism. Napoleon Bonaparte, who was a gifted military commando as well as a successful ruler, had continued the ideal of the revolution in some way. Napoleon’s most famous exploit, the Napoleonic Code, determined the rights of the French citizens which were gained by the people during the revolution. For example it ruled the legality of the private property, reflected that everyone is equal in front of the law. Because of these ideas and the victories of the wars between France and other Europe country, Napoleon gained the support of the most citizens and farmers. In this way Napoleon became the most powerful man in the Europe, even in the world. The power also brought the ambition to Napoleon, who used to be a “rustic” from Corsica. After his great victory, he decided to claim to be a king. The Reign of Terror made French people, especially famers, doubt the correctness of the Committee. They need a powerful leader, so Napoleon became the best choice. After Napoleon became the king, the France began to rise again, because the king stopped the squabbling and fragmenting, which made France stronger. Napoleon almost conquered the whole Europe, but he failed at last. In conclusion, Napoleon was a great man, and he also had a lot of contribution to France, but after he thrones, his main idea about the revolution changed. The revolution overthrew the king, but right after that Napoleon became the king himself. Napoleon became more and more conceit, he wanted to rule the whole Europe, which finally made he failed. He didn’t allow the public speech of freedom, shut down the newspapers which didn’t support him. These are the opposite of the idea of revolution. His bad impact to people’s idea remained until the World War I.
ReplyDeleteThe Napoleonic code was created with the intent of providing France with a clear set of laws that were in accordance with the values of the Revolution. After the Reign of Terror, there wasn’t an official system of laws for the people to live by. While Robespierre was still alive and the Reign of Terror was still gripping France, people were executed based on suspicion of disloyalty to the Revolution. There were now laws to justify these executions and the victim often was sentenced without a trial. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen addressed the lack of law in France by providing the people with a set of codes that regulated what could or could not happen in regards to the law. This document did not provide specific guidelines, which the Napoleonic Code was able to do. The Napoleonic Code related to persons, property, and civil procedure. It goes into much detail about the relationship between a man and his wife and what rights are allotted to whom. All of this specificity could be an outcome of Napoleon’s marriage with his wife, Josephine; their marriage was not a happy one. The aspects of the Napoleonic Code relating to husband and wife may have been a way that Napoleon channeled his discontent. It could be thought that Napoleon betrayed the ideals of the Revolution in this way. The abolition of the monarchy ensured that rulers could not live at the people’s expense. Then, in the Reign of Terror, Robespierre contradicted that ideal by ordering the deaths of thousands of people based on his paranoia. By taking out his personal problems on the entire country, Napoleon disregarded one of the biggest aims of the revolution. Even though his actions did not immediately have the same effect on the population as the monarchy’s and Robespierre’s did, the betrayal was the same.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe revolution was about three things liberty, equality, and fraternity. Napoleon fulfilled each of these in one way and betrayed them in another. He needed to maintain power while pleasing everyone to a degree. It takes a leader that can balance those two things while maintaining a strong economy to make a great nation. The way that he fulfilled liberty was by making sure that the estate system never came back into existence. The way he betrayed this was by cutting the amount of newspapers that could publish down to only thirteen and monitored them heavily so that they would not publish things to tarnish his shiny career. Equality was a concept that became diluted for Bonaparte because of his adulterous wife. He fulfilled this idea by giving every man the same rights as one another, giving them the same opportunity to the same jobs. The job market became more about who could do the job the best and not lineage as it was before the revolution. Making it good for the average man but not woman, this is where he betrayed the idea of equality. He denied women the right to get divorced from their husband and limited their ability to help the community. Lastly, he accomplished fraternity by uniting the people of france against a common good; defeating the british in occupied Egypt. Even though he failed at doing this he made up for it by conquering half of Europe will his men that respected him. Compared to the Reign of Terror life was nice for the french people. Trade expanded with the expansion of the french empire bringing more money and prosperity to france. Without neighbors turning in neighbors from small crimes they would be put to death for, people had calm lives. The way he dealt with the church and the lost land was a really good way of handling it because if he had given the land back it would have made the people angry and my have revolted and caused more problems. Making the national religion of france Catholicism also was a good choice because he would get the people and the church on his good side for that too. Even though women got restricted rights it was still probably a better than living during the reign of terror.
ReplyDeleteNapoleon Bonaparte was a French Military and political leader who rose to power during the later stages of the French Revolution. Bonaparte was the leader of France from 1804 to 1815. He is best known for his strategic military ideas and for implementing the Napoleonic code to the French people right after their revolution also known as the French Revolution. Right after the Reign of Terror, which was a time of brutal murders, beheadings, chaos, and harsh times which was lead by Maximilian Robespierre, Napoleon Bonaparte came to power. At this point, he was already well respected for his military skills, so he literally crowned himself as king of France. France was in need of a new government, and this is when the Napoleonic code was implied to the French people. Napoleon tried to keep the people in mind, but he wanted to have control of the people. In order to keep control he had to take away some rights, but it worked because some of his codes (laws) are still implied today. The Napoleonic code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs should go to the most qualified. He kept a lot of the ideas of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, but he fixed on what he thought were weaknesses like freedom of press. The rights of women were also restricted, mostly thought as a vendetta against his wife. The women fought so much more freedom during the French Revolution, but the Napoleonic code took them a step back. One more thing Bonaparte wanted to do is to find peace with the church (Catholicism). Overall the code supplied stability for the French people, which is what they wanted. After a long period of chaos, beheadings, and problems, Napoleon Bonaparte provided stability for the French people, and is still very well known to this day.
ReplyDeleteNapoleon was a large supporter of the revolution while it was going on. He also grew up in a family that was not very wealthy. So when he came into power, it was not surprising that he claimed to support the French Revolution ideas of equality for the people. However, by becoming the emperor of France, he betrayed one of the most important ideals of the French Revolution, which was democracy and not having one all powerful leader who did not take the people’s opinions into account. Napoleon knew that the people felt very strongly about their revolutionary ideas though, and he was very careful to make sure that the new ways of life for his people did not resemble the old regime. He knew that if he did not uphold the new ideas that came from enlightenment, he could be at risk for losing the respect of the people and therefore losing his position. He ruled under a set of rules that he wrote called the Napoleonic Code. Some of the most important points of this were freedom of religion, everyone equal under the law and that jobs should be given to the most qualified person and not to someone because of their birth or class (which was a rule Napoleon himself probably contradicted when he gave the position of king of Spain to his brother). Napoleon also established peace with the Catholic Church but made it so that people who gained land during the French Revolution would not have to give it up, which made many very happy. The people of France were satisfied with life under these rules, and did not feel strongly that they were being treated unfairly or that they were being underrepresented. However besides having an all powerful ruler, there were also some other freedoms that the French people had taken away once Napoleon came into power that were fought for during the French Revolution. One of these was freedom of the press, which Napoleon took away to ensure that people regarded him highly as a ruler and thought that he was truly helping France in every way. Napoleon also had reinstated slavery, which had become outlawed during the revolution. Also, women’s rights were starting to become greater during the French Revolution but Napoleon made it so they had the same rights as children, making it harder for them to divorce and own property.
ReplyDeleteColton Bancroft
ReplyDelete10-22-12
Life during the French Revolution was very rattled. During the start of the revolution the common citizen or third estate were facing extreme problems with the famine and bread shortage. The winter was horrifyingly cold while warm clothing and food was very hard to find. Life for the third estate was hell. There was constant worry of food thieves for those who had little food, and worry of finding food for all of the third estate. These people were treated like animals! While this was going on, king Louis XVI was living the life in his sheltered castle with his abundance of food. It was not until the tennis Court Oath until things began to change. It was at this time when key figures such as Maximilien Robespierre, stepped in to create a new constitution and a National Assembly and thing began to change. The third estate began to have more say, and when the king was overthrown, Robespierre’s new way of living became one of the main priorities of France. In fact, this new way of living lead to the Reign of Terror when Robespierre became obsessed with his new ways. He was killing people right and left for even uttering anything of the Old Regime. There were other key figures during the Terror such as Jean-Paul Marat and Georges Danton, but the key point is that living during the French revolution must have been very stressful and uncomfortable. First the Third estate was dealing with the cold and food shortage, and when the third estate finally had a new constitution that gave them more rights, all citizens lived in fear of the guillotine.
Life during the Napoleon era was very different. With Robespierre dead and the Terror over, the Napoleon era began. In 1796, Napoleon was made commander of French armies in Italy. During this time he proved his devotion to his troops as well as his charisma and self-confidence. During the war with Britain, Napoleon was defeated in Egypt, however this was solely due to the fact that the British had a superior navy. After the defeat Napoleon came back to Paris and created a new government called the consulate, somewhat like a democracy if you will. Napoleon was then made head of military as well as council for life. Two years later he was crowned king placing the crown on his own head, displaying his self-confidence. As king, Napoleon preserved the rights of the revolution and even set out to re-establish peace with the church which was lost during the revolution. He thought that this was necessary for it provided comfort and even a feeling of safety to some citizens. Eventually he made Catholicism the official religion of France and even assured that the church could not ask for land lost during the revolution for this could cause problems. During the Napoleon era, citizens were treated equally, respected, and lived were able to live without most of the stress or fears that the revolution and Reign of Terror provided.
Emma Trees
ReplyDelete10.22.12
The Napoleonic Code is a series of laws that were created after the French Revolution. These laws repeal and modify previous laws. The Napoleonic Code is somewhat similar to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen because they both have laws in favor of men, but against women. They both restrict the amount of freedom that women can have. For example, the law before the Napoleonic Code was that both women or men could divorce, but the Napoleonic Code modified it and changed it so that the decision to divorce one another had to be mutual. This made it a lot more difficult to divorce your spouse because you had to have proof of incompatibility, both spouses had to agree to divorce, and the parents of the married couple had to agree that divorce for their son or daughter was alright. If any of these things could not be achieved, the couple could not divorce.
Not only was it harder for women to divorce with Napoleon’s new laws, they were also made to seem like possessions. He said that wives had to be obedient to their husbands and live wherever the husband told her to live.
Another new law from the Napoleonic Code was that anyone that stole land from an upperclassman during the Revolution was allowed to keep it. This opposed a point made in the Declaration of the Rights of Men and Citizen which said that land was sacred. This angered a lot of upperclassmen, but the majority of people, the middle class, was pleased. This made Bonaparte gain popularity with the majority of citizens.
These laws made by Bonaparte were unusual because the people of France had just finished with the Revolution, and they went through the brutal Reign of Terror, but a lot of freedom was taken from the people, especially women, because of these new laws. The people had just gotten a lot of freedom from the Revolution, but it was taken away by the Napoleonic Code.
After a revolution and Reign of Terror, which aimed to eliminate a controlling and tyrannical government, Napoleon Bonaparte, being a dictator, would seem to be the last choice the people would favor. However, Napoleon was very much so different than King Louis XI because he at least created the image that he cared for the people. He embraced the revolutionary qualities of liberty, equality, and brotherhood. These ideals were stated in the Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789), which most importantly stated, “All men are free and equal before the law.” A clear example of the way he embraced brotherhood could be seen with the way he treated his army. As a brilliant General, he not only had a close connection with his officers, but his enlisted as well. Napoleon talked, motivated, sympathized, and empowered his troops on the front lines and showed them that he actually “cared” for them and the cause of France. However, despite his support for these qualities, he did not necessary support the Declaration of the Rights of Man as much as he enforced the Napoleonic code and often disregarded many of its laws. The Napoleonic code was a set of laws created to enforce France and many French-controlled countries. With the fear and knowledge that the people could be controlled from unstable states such as the Reign of Terror, it was much easier to drift away from the Declaration and lean towards his own Code. Some examples of these violations and conflictions were his censorship of the press and judicial laws among others. In other words, while Napoleon seemed to stand for the ideals and qualities of the revolution and clearly united France, he in truth used the instability of France and the aftermath of the Reign of Terror to take power for himself with his own manipulative agenda.
ReplyDeleteJust after France had began to recover from the total fear and chaos known as the Reign of terror, a new, even more powerful form of government came along, Napoleon Bonaparte's Empire. The whole purpose of the Reign of Terror in France was to eradicate all supporters of the idea that a monarchy, or single person should rule France. All the beheadings that took place were attempts to keep France from ever turning back to a single ruler, and to bring about a revolution in the way the third estate was treated. As a result, the Declaration of The Rights of Man was made to finally satisfy the needs of the third estate.
ReplyDeleteAfter Maximilien Robespierre, the mastermind behind the Reign of Terror, had his head cut off, The French people had no real form of government anymore. Since they were needing a real government and were still very scared that more beheadings might come their way, it made it almost too easy for the decorated war hero, Napoleon Bonaparte, to take hold of the situation.
Although it is ironic that after going through so much fear and agony that the french would almost immediately go back to having one man in power, Napoleon more that proved himself to be a worthy ruler. While he was in power, he made many reforms to the previous laws and standards in France. He made one code law for all of France to abide by for all people. In 1804, Napoleon instated his own code now known as the Napoleonic code.
The Napoleonic code upheld many aspects of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, but also changed a few things. For instance, Napoleonic code upheld many new rights such as the equality of all men and equal job opportunity. The code however, also went against what was fought for during the Reign of Terror, such as the right of free speech. The amount of newspaper printing companies were reduced to 13 and were not always allowed to say what they wanted if what they had to say would stain Napoleons record. Also, women had gained some rights during the revolution, but quickly lost those rights because Napoleon was jaded by his cheating wife and was hurt by her actions. As a result, Napoleon made the harsh decision to make all women basically their spouses' property.
Although Napoleon may have betrayed some of the things that were stated in the Declaration of the Rights of Man, he mostly upheld the ideals stated in them and made it universal law for all the people in France. He also untied France under Catholicism in an attempt to keep the majority happy. Overall, Napoleon was a good leader and went above and beyond the standard for a single ruler of France.
Napoleon Bonaparte was smart enough to stay emperor of France without being overthrown after the French Revolution. During the French Revolution, all that France wanted was to get rid of the system with one leader and become a country of equality. Napoleon was able to do the exact opposite, but the French didn’t complain. France allowed Napoleon to become the emperor of France because he incorporated enough of the Revolution’s ideals into his rule to satisfy the revolutionaries. The Reign of Terror had put France into complete mayhem, and when it finally ended, the people of France had no one to lead them. Napoleon took this as a chance to gain power, and the French believed him him because he did not come from a wealthy family. This allowed for the majority of France to seem Napoleon as one of them, and supported him in his military career. Although the Napoleonic Code was influenced by the Declaration of the Rights of Man, there some differences. The Napoleonic Code took away all of the rights of women, who wanted to be equal with men. Women in France tried to gain equality during the French Revolution, but when Napoleon rose to power, the Napoleonic Code took away their chances. The Napoleonic Code may have also been influenced by Napoleon’s own life. Napoleon did not have a very good marriage with his wife, and this may have led to the oppression of women in the Napoleonic Code. Napoleon Bonaparte was also able to become emperor of France because of his many accomplishments. From his poor background, Napoleon was able to rise in the military quickly and became very popular among the French. Napoleon Bonaparte took France out of the chaos it was left in after the French Revolution, and made it powerful once again.
ReplyDeleteCharles Dederich
ReplyDelete10-22-12
Napoleon took control of France while the country was in complete turmoil. Napoleon was a very confident leader in France and was respected and honored by the people. Unlike the Louis 16th, he was experienced and wanted to care for the people of France. He became king just after the reign of terror despite the fact that he was a dictator just like Louis. Unlike Louis, Napoleon Bonaparte was a military mastermind. He loved to get involved with the French armed forces and he was liked by the troops. His confident personality and military strategies strengthened France’s military as a whole. He also embraced the three core ideals during the revolutionary era: equality, liberty, and brotherhood. The Napoleonic Code was put in place soon after the French Revolution ended. These series of laws were made in order to modify or repeal already existing regulations. The Napoleonic code is in some ways similar to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Women. Both have laws in favor of men, not women. They also both limit the amount of freedom women have, but don’t put any limitations on how much freedom a man may have.
A new law that Napoleon established stated that whoever first possessed a piece of land automatically owned it, no matter your social status. Many poor/middle-class citizens loved this law because they couldn’t afford to buy a piece of land. The upperclassmen were infuriated by this regulation put in place but Napoleon only cared about pleasing the majority. As long as the poor and middle class continued to respect him as the leader of France, Napoleon knew that his leadership was secure.
After the reign of terror ended, the citizens of France were given a lot of freedom. Once Napoleon took the throne, a lot of that newfound freedom was lost, especially for women. Napoleon gave women way less rights because his wife was very unfaithful to him throughout his life. She would always cheat on him. When Napoleon heard that she was cheating, he took his anger out on all the rest of the women in France by implementing laws that would give men much more power.
~ The life in France during the French Revolution was poor and a struggle in result of bad leadership. In the Napoleonic era, life in France was improved economically because, for the first time with the new laws, people were put into jobs not based on birthright but based on ability. Napoleon fulfilled the ideals of the French Revolution by keeping all citizens equal before the law, making careers open to all French people, and employing competent government officials. He betrayed the ideals of the French Revolution by cancelling the liberty of the press (60 of the 73 newspapers in France shutdown), promoting only certain knowledge beneficial to his rule. He also gave few rights to women, which went against the ideal that everyone was equal and deserved equal rights. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was focused on the inalienable rights of individuals, liberty, and political equality, put into play during the revolution. But, the newfound Napoleonic Codes excluded rights from a majority: women. They also put a stern limit on freedom of speech when they eliminated 60 newspapers. However, they did create political equality by putting into power people who demonstrated capability to perform the job. Therefore, despite the removal of women’s rights and freedom of speech, the political equality led the people of France to a better lifestyle than in previous times. Because of this, citizens were less likely to rebel or protest against what they had lost. In return, Napoleon was kept high on his horse while King Louis was captured and beheaded. To ensure his rule and prevent what happened to King Louis from happening to himself, Napoleon advocated the people to have high feelings of nationalism, just as himself.
ReplyDeleteNapoleon Bonaparte was smart enough to stay emperor of France without being overthrown after the French Revolution. During the French Revolution, all that France wanted was to get rid of the system with one leader and become a country of equality. Napoleon was able to do the exact opposite, but the French didn’t complain. France allowed Napoleon to become the emperor of France because he incorporated enough of the Revolution’s ideals into his rule to satisfy the revolutionaries. The Reign of Terror had put France into complete mayhem, and when it finally ended, the people of France had no one to lead them. Napoleon took this as a chance to gain power, and the French believed him him because he did not come from a wealthy family. This allowed for the majority of France to seem Napoleon as one of them, and supported him in his military career. Although the Napoleonic Code was influenced by the Declaration of the Rights of Man, there some differences. The Napoleonic Code took away all of the rights of women, who wanted to be equal with men. Women in France tried to gain equality during the French Revolution, but when Napoleon rose to power, the Napoleonic Code took away their chances. The Napoleonic Code may have also been influenced by Napoleon’s own life. Napoleon did not have a very good marriage with his wife, and this may have led to the oppression of women in the Napoleonic Code. Napoleon Bonaparte was also able to become emperor of France because of his many accomplishments. From his poor background, Napoleon was able to rise in the military quickly and became very popular among the French. Napoleon Bonaparte took France out of the chaos it was left in after the French Revolution, and made it powerful once again.
ReplyDeleteJames Lovberg
ReplyDeleteNapoleon fulfilled the ideals of the French Revolution by growing up not wealthy on the island of Corsica. Because he was hardworking, intelligent and won scholarships to a famous military school, he did something that wouldn’t be possible pre-Revolution in France. He went from lower class to upper class. The Napoleonic Code upholds enlightenment ideas, which were a key factor in beginning the revolution like class being determined by birth, freedom of religion, and government jobs went to the most qualified, not the ones born into high class and were wealthy.
He betrayed the ideals of the Revolution by making himself the most powerful man in France. Bonaparte made himself council for life, and then crowned himself emperor by placing the crown on his head himself. He also made himself the head of military. Napoleon establishes peace with the church, which in revolutionary times was an enemy. This is completely against the ideals of the revolution, because the reason France lacked a king was because their last one was beheaded for being part of the old system. If he was not as charismatic as he was, he would have been killed attempting to be a dictator right after Louis.
The reign of terror was a time period in France when anyone who appeared to have any relations to the old regime was immediately put on trial and usually killed by means of the guillotine. This time period was very scary to live in and appears to have influenced the Napoleonic Code. He implemented a penal code brought up by Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau that outlawed only “true crimes” and not “phony offenses created by superstition, feudalism, the tax system, and [royal] despotism”. The Declaration of the Rights of Man said suspects were innocent until declared guilty. To prevent imprisonment before trial, Napoleon declared “courts would have a great strength, they should be prohibited from abusing this situation against weak citizen without connections.”
During the late 1700's, France was close to collapse due to constant chaos brought upon by the reign of terror. France had no particular form of government at the time; the few ideals actually set in stone were included in the Rights of Man. Essentially, there was much to be changed about France's government, and one man in particular would carry out these changes. Napoleon Bonaparte stood up when no one else could and crowned himself emperor. He took initiative, a quality that the french had longed for in a leader. Not only was Napoleon a confident leader, but he also made a heaping amount of progress for France. As a result, the French people adored Napoleon. Napoleon honored what had been accomplished by the French during the revolution. He figured that everything the people fought for could not be taken away, so he implemented parts of the Rights of Man into his own system called the Napoleonic Code. The code was basically a straightforward set of "amendments" or laws; there were only seven of them. The codes included many parts from the Declaration of the Rights of Man. However, the rights of women were altered negatively and so was freedom of the press. He implement fair rights such as religious freedom and equality at birth; a man had to work for what he wanted instead of simply getting a job because his family’s economic status. During the Napoleonic era, the French were wealthier, prideful, and more powerful than before. This was all due to the fact that the French finally had a leader who worked hard for the position and would devote his life to France's well being, unlike Louis XVI who was automatically placed on the throne by his family at a young age with no intent whatsoever to help his nation in a time of economic downfall. To this day, Napoleon Bonaparte remains a godlike figure to the people of France because of the amazing way in which he shaped the country.
ReplyDelete