Destiny Crowned Napoleon

Napoleon once declared, “I did not usurp the crown; I found it in the gutter and the French people put it on my head.” The French people had indeed led him towards his coronation. Over a decade of the revolution had passed and the government that had ruled France proved to be unstable and incompetent. Napoleon, who was a natural leader and a beloved Frenchman, was welcomed into power. The people saw in him a promise of efficiency supported by his experience rather than the theoretical changes the revolutionaries provided. Naturally, Napoleon brought great reforms to France, altering both domestic and foreign policies. Napoleon’s rise to power and doctrine changed the course of history forever, in positive and negative ways, both domestically and internationally. Fate took Napoleon to the highest position of power in France, and due to his political and military ambition, the world was changed.

Part of destiny’s role in Napoleon’s rise to power was the weaknesses of the revolutionary government. In fact, the key to Napoleon’s rise was the failure of the French Revolution. The revolutionary governments that controlled France during a decade proved themselves to be unworthy of the power they held. Historian Micheal Rapport agrees that “Bonaparte’s ambition, his skill and his popularity cannot be dismissed as factors in his own rise, but more important were the failings of the Directory.” The French Revolution was characterized by terror, economic strife, crime, and political instability. Tens of thousands of French lives were unnecessarily taken during this time; if the guillotine didn’t decapitate someone, the person might have died of starvation. When Abbe Sieyes, a chief theorist of the revolution, was asked what he did during the revolution he answered, “I survived.” Even he, who was an advocate of reform, recognized the unending nightmare that the French Revolution had dreadfully become. Even though the revolutionary spirit still roamed in the hearts of the French, the people longed for some stability in the nation, for some good within the midst of chaos. And destiny drew Napoleon to lift the spirits of the French’s torn hearts. The hero the French longed for was born within the cannonades used to suppress the attempt of a royalist revolt at the National Convention in 1795. Napoleon’s actions inspired the French to love him; a love that would later escort him to his fate of becoming an emperor.

Basically, Napoleon was the right person in the right place at the right time. As the savior of the French Republic, the Directory granted him the command of the Army of Italy. During his military campaigns in Italy he commenced his experience as a ruler. His glorious triumphs in Italy attested his keen leadership and military skills. Napoleon’s command flummoxed the Directory; he had surpassed their expectations in Italy. He took over the whole region, scaring the Austrian forces into their own land. When he threatened to enter Vienna, the Austrians surrendered their war efforts and decided to succumb to French power through a peace treaty they had agreed upon. Due to the many occupations of the struggling Directory, generals such as Napoleon had the privilege of gaining power within their region. Napoleon thus controlled Italy for some period of time and “he had begun to govern, removing many features of Italy's archaic feudal system with modern laws that changed education, taxation and religion.” Napoleon reported his successes through a newspaper he had organized for his troops. Although his intention was not for them to be read in France, they were. The stories of his successes would come to be celebrated in Paris, fomenting the affection the French had for him. Subsequent to his period in Italy, he led his armies into Egypt. Despite the fact thst the Egyptian campaign was ultimately a failure, Napoleon still demonstrated his dexterity in ruling by finding the Rosetta Stone in his excursions around the nation, setting up Egypt’s first Postal Service and Health Department along other modernizations. Before he returned to France he had learned valuable lessons concerning how to rule a nation. To respect religion, create departments within the government, and to support modernization are among some of the virtues he came to value.

He finally rose to power when he returned to France and was invited to join a coup that was being organized by Abbe Sieyes and Roger Ducos. Again, fate made him the right person to be in Paris at the right time. The military coup was successful and he had become one of the three consuls in power. In 1800, when he held a plebiscite for the new constitution and the votes for the new constitution overwhelmed those against it, was when he actually rose to supreme power. This happened because the people of France had grown to love him and most importantly trust him. People came to love him so much that they prayed for his success: “We also owe him [Napoleon] fervent prayers for his safety and for the spiritual and temporal prosperity of the state.” His military and ruling experiences in Egypt and Italy made him the right person to lead the nation, and his return to France at the verge of a coup was the right time to be that person. Napoleon then knew he was destined to rule France, both because of the people’s desire for it and because he knew he had to take advantage of the opportunities life had handed him.

Regardless of his short time in power, Napoleon changed the course of history drastically. In the short-term, the results of his reign in France were excellent for domestic life. Napoleon helped restore peace in political, economic and social aspects of his nation’s society. He improved politics by dismissing corrupt officials and creating a system of laws known as the Napoleonic Code. The Napoleonic Code prevented injustices from occurring but at the same time limited some of the freedoms of the people. He was also great for France because he restored the country’s economy. He reformed the tax system, established a national banking system, and appointed tax collectors to avoid evasion of taxes. Another essential decision he made while ruling France concerned two important social aspects: religion and education. Napoleon settled on a concordat with Pope Pius VII in order to restore Catholicism in France, this contented thousands of devout Catholics who weren’t allowed to worship at churches. Napoleon also founded lycees , these were government run public schools intended for male citizens to be educated properly despite their social class. Napoleon Bonaparte refurbished and improved French society substantially in the short term. Durant, author of The Age of Napoleon, concurs that "Napoleon was a progressive force, establishing political stability, restoring morality... modernizing... codifying law... ending or mitigating feudalism... establishing schools, beautifying cities... encouraging science... Helped by his prodding, Europe advanced half a century during the fifteen years of his rule." Unfortunately, in the long term, France was hurt by his rule. Napoleon’s empire motivated monarchs to form the Congress of Vienna, in which monarchy was returned to France. Charles X, France’s future monarch , was a reactionary; he hurt France a lot by eliminating crucial liberalisms such as the constitution.
Despite some of his success in his nation, outside of France the results of Napoleon’s rule were controversial. The grand emperor committed several mistakes in Europe and in the Americas. In the Americas, Napoleon committed two mistakes for his empire: he sold the Louisiana Territory and he gave up on Saint Domengue when the rebels took control of it. In the long run, these two decisions did not benefit France at all, they lost a lot of land and riches. Instead, this decision of Napoleon’s was splendid for the United States, who gained vast territories, and Saint Domengue which would later become the independent nation of Haiti. Napoleon’s period in power changed Europe completely. In the short term, the Napoleonic Wars cost thousands of European lives. In the long term, it would do just as much harm as this, if not more. As stated before, Napoleon’s empire inspired the Congress of Vienna to be held with the purpose of restoring monarchies in Europe, containing revolutions, and diminishing France’s power. Nonetheless, because monarchies were reinstated and revolutionary ideas were still dominant in the nationalistic peoples of Europe, clashes between the rulers and the people continued to disrupt the peacefulness of domestic lives. Secret societies in Poland and Germany became a threat to government stability and was rigorously fought. The fear of France’s power after Napoleon also caused the Germanic states to join into the German Confederation and the Austrian Netherlands to combine with the Dutch Republic as to increase their powers in case of a threat a France could possibly pose.

As to conclude, there are no better words to describe the reasons why Napoleon rose to power or what the results of his reign were than his own, “Destiny called upon me to change the face of the world”. Napoleon’s destiny was to become the emperor of France. He became a French hero when the people most needed one. Through his successes and a little bit of chance, he happened to be at the right place at the right time, resulting in his rise to power. Once he had this power, Napoleon definitely changed the face of the world, from the expansion of America to the discovery of the Rosetta Stone.









Bibliography
Beck, Roger B., Linda Black, Larry S. Krieger, Phillip C. Naylor, and Dahia Ibo Shabaka. World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, Illionois: McDougal Litell, 2007. Print.
"Europe After Napoleon." Europe (1815-1848). Sparknotes. 4 May 2009 .
Haas, Werner. "The Reforms of Napoleon and Their Impact on Europe." 31 May 2007. Associated Content. 7 May 2009 .
Halsall, Paul. "Napoleon Bonaparte: Farewell to the Old Guard, April 29, 1814." Modern History Sourcebook. Aug 1997. Fordham University. 4 May 2009 .
Halsall, Paul. "From The Imperial Catechism, 1806." Modern History Sourcebook. June 1998. Fordham University. 4 May 2009 .
Halsall, Paul. "Madame de Rémusat: Remembrances of Napoleon." Modern History Sourcebook. June 1997. Fordham University. 4 May 2009 .
Lee, Stephen J.. Aspects of European History 1789-1980. London: Methuen & Co., 1982. Print.
Miller, Tom. "Before Brumaire: Napoleon's Development as a Ruler 1796-98." Napoleon Himself. 2005. Napoleon Series. 4 May 2009 .
Moore, Richard. "Napoleon Bonaparte." Napoleonic Guide. 2006. 4 May 2009 .
Zastrow, Lutz. "From Directory to Napoleon Bonaparte." Fallbrookhs.org. 29 Apr 2009 .