Napoleon – a Hero to the French Revoltuion
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Napoleon Bonapartes approach towards the French Revolution is one that left many people open for debate. Frances political, social, and economical upheaval in the mist of the 18th century caused much of the nation to be disillusioned with reality. Distorted political factions greatly endangered the ideals of the French Revolution without any means of justification. The dramatic end of Napoleons reign was beneficial to most of Europe but most importantly he brought France out of ceaseless turmoil. As the opportunity presented itself he created a dominant empire under the premise of upholding the principles of the revolution. It is clearly evident that many of his policies and institutions directly acknowledged the same founding values of the revolution.
To prove my point, one must define the meaning of the revolution. As the revolution did not transpire from one event but rather a sequence of revolutions; based on liberal ideals. They believed that that these ideals could be used to contest tyranny and ignorance to build a perfect world. The three main ideals were liberty, equality, and fraternity. These principles would continue as a driving force in all three stages of the revolution.
Upon analyzing the failures of the revolution, Napoleon realized he needed to unite his authority in order to gain faith from the public. “It is time to end these storms; it is time to ensure civic liberty, popular sovereignty, the independence of constitutional power(53)” This proclamation served as a justification for the diluted population; to ensure that the List of grievances produced by the Third Estate was not forgotten and that his reign was not illogical but a restoration of the revolution. The lack of institutions to preserve civil order caused Napoleon to develop his own administrative ideals. His most famous work was the Civil Code. “Has not the Civil Code, the most complete and methodical system of legislation ever, emerged majestically from the learned and laborious discussions of legal scholars and statesmen, and spread knowledge of civil rights to the people?(105)” This code presumed to be a building block of society which unified the people under a set of established laws. The spread of family values were symbolic as Napoleon was seen as a father and his empire was viewed as his children. The premise of equality became a common theme in enforcing this universal code. This method in which Napoleon efficiently used The Civil Code to centralize power in France is evidence that he was following the ideologies of those behind the revolution.
Napoleon was not a contradiction of the revolution, but a great supporter of it. He realized the need to utilize and sacrifice some of the main values in order to reach his goal. How he reached that goal was done by necessary aristocratic actions for the sake of other permanent ideals. Napoleon created a hereditary aristocratic government. He justified his seizure of power by issuing proclamations. “…to honor and serve our Emperor is to honor and serve God himself….(96)” The Divine Right of Kings doctrine played a pivotal role on his quest to win over the French population. He was instilling the idea of absolute power by maintaining and changing ideologies through the use of propaganda. This shows that the use of propaganda early in his career was going to serve an influential tool throughout his reign. The concept of democracy which had been the founding principle of all the revolutionary forms of government had been disregarded completely.
His frequent military endeavors demanded a high recruitment of soldiers. Napoleon honored the system of conscription. There was no equality between the poor and the rich