The Children of Adam and Eve

He consolidated and institutionalized many reforms of the French
Revolution. One of the greatest military commanders of all time, he
conquered the larger part of Europe and did much to modernize the nations
he ruled.

No Buonaparte had ever been a professional soldier. Carlo was a lawyer who
had fought for Corsican independence, but after the French occupied the
island in 1768, he served as a pRosecutor and judge and entered the French
aristocracy as a count. Through his father's influence, Napoleon was
educated at the expense of King Louis XVI, at Brienne and the ?ole
Militaire, in Paris. Napoleon graduated in 1785, at the age of 16, and
joined the artillery as a second lieutenant.

After the Revolution began, he became a lieutenant colonel (1791) in the
Corsican National Guard. In 1793, However, Corsica declared independence,
and Bonaparte, a French patriot and a Republican, fled to France with his
family. He was assigned, as a captain, to an army besieging Toulon, a
naval base that, aided by a British fleet, was in revolt against the
republic. Replacing a wounded artillery general, he seized ground where
his guns could drive the British fleet from the harbor, and Toulon fell.
As a result Bonaparte was promoted to brigadier general at the age of 24.
In 1795 he saved the revolutionary government by dispersing an insurgent
mob in Paris. In 1796 he married Jos?ine de Beauharnais, the widow of an
aristocrat guillotined in the Revolution and the mother of two Children.

Early Campaigns

Also in 1796, Bonaparte was made commander of the French army in Italy. He
defeated four Austrian generals in succession, each with superior numbers,
and forced Austria and its allies to make peace. The Treaty of Campo
Formio provided that France keep most of its conquests. In northern Italy
he founded the Cisalpine (Italian) Republic (later known as the kingdom of
Italy) and strengthened his position in France by sending millions of
francs worth of treasure to the government. In 1798, to strike at British
trade with the East, he led an expedition to Turkish-ruled Egypt, which he
conquered. His fleet, However, was destroyed by the British admiral
Horatio Nelson, leaving him Stranded. Undaunted, he reformed the Egyptian
government and law, abolishing serfdom and feudalism and guaranteeing
basic rights. The French scholars he had Brought with him began the
scientific study of ancient Egyptian history. In 1799 he failed to capture
Syria, but he won a smashing victory over the Turks at Abu Qir (Abukir).
France, meanwhile, faced a new coalition; Austria, Russia, and lesser
powers had allied with Britain.

Napoleonic Rule in France

Bonaparte, no modest soul, decided to leave his army and return to save
France. In Paris, he joined a conspiracy against the government. In the
coup d'etat of November 9-10, 1799 (18-19 Brumaire), he and his colleagues
seized power and established a new regime?the Consulate. Under its
constitution, Bonaparte, as first consul, had almost dictatorial powers.
The constitution was revised in 1802 to make Bonaparte consul for life and
in 1804 to create him emperor. Each change received the overwhelming
assent of the electorate. In 1800, he assured his power by Crossing the
Alps and defeating the Austrians at Marengo. He then negotiated a general
European peace that established the Rhine River as the eastern border of
France. He also concluded an agreement with the Pope (the Concordat of
1801), which contributed to French domestic tranquillity by ending the
quarrel with the Roman Catholic Church that had arisen during the
Revolution. In France the administration was reorganized, the court system
was simplified, and all schools were put under centralized control. French
law was standardized in the Code Napoleon, or civil code, and six other
codes. They guaranteed the rights and liberties won in the Revolution,
including equality before the law and fReedom of religion.

Wars of Conquest

In April 1803 Britain, provoked by Napoleon's aggressive behavior, resumed
war with France on the seas; two years later Russia and Austria joined the
British in a new coalition. Napoleon then abandoned plans to invade
England and turned his armies against the Austro-Russian forces, defeating
them at the Battle of Austerlitz on December 2, 1805. In 1806 he seized
the kingdom of Naples and made his elder Brother Joseph king, converted
the Dutch Republic into the kingdom of Holland for his Brother Louis, and
established the Confederation of the Rhine (most of the German states) of
which he was protector. Prussia then allied itself with Russia and
attacked the confederation. Napoleon destroyed the Prussian army at Jena
and Auerst? (1806) and the Russian army at Friedland. At Tilsit (July
1807), Napoleon made an ally of Czar Alexander I and greatly reduced the
size of Prussia (see Tilsit, Treaty of). He also added new states to the
empire: the kingdom of Westphalia, under his Brother Jerome, the duchy of
Warsaw, and others.

Napoleon had meanwhile established the Continental System, a
French-imposed blockade of Europe against British goods, designed to
bankrupt what he called the ?nation of shopkeepers.? In 1807 Napoleon
seized Portugal. In 1808, he made his Brother Joseph king of Spain,
aWarding Naples to his Brother-in-law, Joachim Murat. Joseph's arrival in
Spain touched off a rebellion there, which became known as the Peninsular
War. Napoleon appeared briefly and scored victories, but after his
departure the fighting continued for five years, with the British backing
Spanish armies and guerrillas. The Peninsular War cost France 300,000
casualties and untold sums of money and contributed to the eventual
weakening of the Napoleonic empire.

In 1809 Napoleon beat the Austrians again at Wagram, annexed the Illyrian
Provinces (now part of SLovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and
Yugoslavia), and abolished the Papal States. He also divorced Jos?ine,
and in 1810 he married the Habsburg archduchess Marie Louise (1791-1847),
daughter of the Austrian emperor. By thus linking his dynasty with the
oldest ruling house in Europe, he hoped that his son, who was born in
1811, would be More Readily accepted by established monarchs. In 1810
also, the empire reached its widest extension with the annexation of
Bremen, L? and other parts of north Germany, together with the entire
kingdom of Holland, following the forced abdication of Louis Bonaparte.

Napoleonic Rule in Europe

In all the new kingdoms created by the emperor, the Code Napol? was
established as law. Feudalism and serfdom were abolished, and fReedom of
religion established (except in Spain). Each state was granted a
constitution, providing for universal male suffrage and a parliament and
containing a bill of rights. French-style administrative and judicial
systems were required. Schools were put under centralized administration,
and free public schools were envisioned. Higher education was opened to
all who qualified, regardless of class or religion. Every state had an
academy or institute for the promotion of the arts and sciences. Incomes
were provided for eminent scholars, especially scientists. Constitutional
government remained only a promise, but progress and increased efficiency
were widely realized. Not until after Napoleon's fall did the common
people of Europe, alienated from his governments by war taxes and military
conscription, fully appreciate the benefits he had given them.

Napoleon's Downfall

In 1812 Napoleon, whose alliance with Alexander I had disintegrated,
launched an invasion of Russia that ended in a disastrous retreat from
Moscow. Thereafter all Europe united against him, and although he fought
on, and brilliantly, the odds were impossible. In April 1814, his Marshals
refused to continue the struggle. After the allies had rejected his
stepping Down in favor of his son, Napoleon abdicated unconditionally and
was exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba. Marie Louise and his son
were put in the custody of her father, the emperor of Austria. Napoleon
never saw either of them again. Napoleon himself, However, soon made a
dramatic comeback. In March 1815, he escaped from Elba, reached France,
and marched on Paris, Winning over the troops sent to capture him. In
Paris, he promulgated a new and More democratic constitution, and veterans
of his old campaigns flocked to his support. Napoleon asked peace of the
allies, but they outlawed him, and he decided to strike first. The result
was a campaign into Belgium, which ended in defeat at the Battle of
Waterloo on June 18, 1815. In Paris, crowds begged him to fight on, but
the politicians withdrew their support. Napoleon fled to Rochefort, where
he surrendered to the captain of the British Battleship Bellerophon. He
was then exiled to Saint Helena, a remote island in the south Atlantic
Ocean, where he remained until his Death from stomach cancer.

The Napoleonic Legend

The cult of Napoleon as the ?man of destiny? began during his lifetime. In
fact, he had begun to cultivate it during his first Italian campaign by
systematically publicizing his victories. As first consul and emperor, he
had engaged the best writers and artists of France and Europe to glorify
his deeds and had contributed to the cult himself by the elaborate
ceremonies with which he celebrated his rule, picturing himself as the
architect of France's greatest glory. He maintained that he had preserved
the achievements of the Revolution in France and offered their benefits to
Europe. His goal, he said, was to found a European state a federation of
free peoples. Whatever the truth of this, he became the arch-hero of the
French and a martyr to the world. In 1840 his remains were returned to
Paris at the request of King Louis-Philippe and interred with great pomp
and ceremony in the Invalides, where they still lie.

Evaluation

Napoleon's influence is evident in France even today. Reminders of him dot
Paris the most obvious being the Arc de Triomphe, the centerpiece of the
city, which was built to commemorate his victories. His spirit pervades
the constitution of the Fifth Republic; the country's basic law is still
the Code Napol?, and the administrative and judicial systems are
essentially Napoleonic. A uniform state-regulated system of education
persists. Napoleon's radical reforms in all parts of Europe cultivated the
ground for the revolutions of the 19th century. Today, the impact of the
Code Napol? is apparent in the law of all European countries.

Napoleon was a driven man, never secure, never satisfied. "Power is my
mistress," he said. His life was Work-centered; even his social activities
had a purpose. He could bear amusements or vacations only briefly. His
tastes were for coarse Food, bad wine, cheap snuff. He could be charming
hypnotically so for a purpose. He had intense loyalties to his family and
old associates. Nothing and no one, However, were allowed to interfere
with his Work.

Napoleon was sometimes a tyrant and always an authoritarian, but one who
believed in ruling by mandate of the people, expressed in plebiscites. He
was also a great enlightened monarch a civil executive of enormous
capacity who changed French institutions and tried to reform the
institutions of Europe and give the Continent a common law. Few deny that
he was a military genius. At St. Helena, he said, ?Waterloo will erase the
memory of all my victories.? He was wrong; for better or worse, he is best
remembered as a general, not for his enlightened government, but the
latter must be counted if he is justly to be called Napoleon the Great.