La Contribution du Napoléon

Before starting the next unit in my History class on Atlantic Revolutions, we learned about the man who planted the idea in the people’s minds to revolt, the great Napoleon Bonaparte. What this man did with his power, conquering and conquering, had large impacts on the economic, political and social systems all throughout Europe. Economically, the new French emperor was an overall blessing. Napoleon, using his armies, controlled market prices and allowed for new industry to flourish. He removed trade barriers by building roads and canals. However it is not all pretty, one country that was hurt economically by Bonaparte was Italy. When Napoleon conquered Italy, he stripped it of generous sums of money and beautiful works of art.

19th century Portrait of Bonaparte, Wikimedia Commons

Politically, Bonaparte shook Europe, erasing boundary lines until just Great Britain was outside his control. The French armies managed to abolish the titles of nobility and serfdom. Under Napoleon, Europe became a meritocracy. Napoleon never sat still politically, so he sold the Louisiana Territory which began the American Expansion and doubled the size of America. After reading an online article entitled The Lost Voices of Napoleonic Historians by Thomas J. Vance, it was made clear to me in a quoted passage from William Milligan Sloane that Napoleon taught the European countries his ways. Europe, after playing the victim, managed to learn the tactics Napoleon had used for twenty years against them, and after they started seeing his patterns they were able to hold their own ground again. “…the teacher [Napoleon] began to diminish in success and splendor,” Sloane, 1894. That, in Sloane's mind was the downfall of Napoleon. 

The social structure under Napoleon was beneficial for some and annoying for others. There was a larger majority of rights for a larger majority of people. He made education more accessible. Bonaparte also sent out his armies a third time to end Church privilege. With those two actions, the wider education and the end to privileges of the Church, it seems Napoleon has finally managed to put the Middle Ages to rest. Some Europeans were in awe of Napoleon Bonaparte like Marshal Michel Ney, who served close to him and was greatly benefited whenever Napoleon succeeded. He said about Napoleon’s reign, “the times are gone when the people were governed by suppressing their rights.” Another perspective, less overjoyed with Napoleon was Madame de Staël. She said Napoleon was “to encroach daily upon France’s liberty and Europe’s independence…” As a member of nobility who had most of her power and authority stripped from her, this opinion is easy to understand.