Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Napoleon Forges an Empire
- Napoleon Bonaparte, a military genius, seized power in France and made himself emperor
- Historical Context
- Background of Napoleon
Bonaparte
- Early Career of Napoleon Bonaparte
- The Directory Loses Control
- Coup d’etat
- France at Peace
- Napoleon Rules France
- Napoleon Restores Order in France
- Concordat with Rome
- Napoleonic Code
- Napoleon Crowned as
Emperor
- Haitian Revolution
- Louisiana Purchase
- The Battle of Trafalgar
- Napoleon’s French Empire
- By 1812, Napoleon was the master of Europe
- He controlled a huge continental empire not seen since the
time of Ancient Rome but it was very UNSTABLE
- Horatio Nelson, a British commander was able to
defeat French and Spanish Navy at the Battle of
Trafalgar
- Two Effects
- British Navy would reign supreme for years
- Napoleon had to give up plans for invading Britain
- Napoleon sold Louisiana Purchase to the United
States in 1803 for $15 million, about $0.04 an acre.
- Territory gained is a part of 15 states
- Funded future French military
operations in Europe
- In order to focus on European fighting Napoleon
and the French lost a valuable sugar producing
colony of St. Domingue
- French troops unable to reverse Haitian Revolution
due to disease and effective fighting of former slaves
- Napoleon faced assassination plots but held another
plebiscite to see if the French wanted him as as Emperor
- The results were 99.93% “YES” and .07% “NO”
- He was crowned French Emperor on December 2nd, 1804 at Notre Dame in Paris
- System of laws
- Promoted order and authority over
individual rights
- Example: Freedom of speech limited
- Signed an agreement with Pope Pius VII
- Recognized influence of Church
- But rejected Church control in government
- Majority of people favored this
- Approved changes that both
strengthened government and
achieved goals of Revolution
- Established an effective..
- Tax collection system
- Banking system
- Dismissed corrupt officials
- Set up lycees to train government workers
- 1800 saw a plebiscite or “a ‘yes or no’ vote of
the people” to approve a new constitution
- Napoleon, as first consul, assumed the power of a dictator
- Finally able to conclude peace agreements with Britain,
Austria, and Russia in 1802. First time in ten years France was
not at war
- “Blow to the state”
- Represents a sudden seizure of power
- People wanted stability
- Napoleon set himself up as the first consul (out of
3) in yet another new system of government
- Napoleon led a “coup d’etat”, or
bloodless takeover against the
unpopular government
- Napoleon’s Army seized power and
dissolved the Directory and set up a
Triumvirate
- Appointed by Directory to lead the army
against Austria and Sardinia
- Won a series of victories in Italy
- Ran out of steam in Egypt
- Born on island of Corsica
- Joined French army during Revolution
- Held off royalist army in 1795 with cannons
- Praised as a hero
- From 1795-1799, Napoleon rose from obscurity to become known as one of the
greatest generals of all time