Appraising Napoleon

By Trevor R. Getz
The French Revolution ended on December 2,
1804. After this long struggle for democracy, a single
man—Napoleon Bonaparte—crowned himself Emperor
of the French. All the dreams of “liberty, equality, and
brotherhood” that had begun the Revolution in 1789
had come to an end. Or had they? Was Napoleon just
another European monarch, a tyrant who thought he
ruled because God wanted him to? Or was he the man
who would spread the ideals of democracy from France
throughout Europe, bringing an enlightened age to the
continent? These are the question we will explore in Napoleon’s troops putting down the Royalist counter-
this article. revolution, 1795. Public domain.

General Napoleon Consul Napoleon

Napoleon Bonaparte was born into a mostly In 1799, Napoleon used his popularity to take
Italian family on the island of Corsica in 1769—twenty power in France along with a few other leaders. They
years before the French Revolution began. In that year, replaced a radical government—one that wanted
France took over Corsica, so Napoleon grew up under dramatic and often violent change. Calling themselves
French rule. In fact, Napoleon’s family mainly opposed “Consuls” of France, they took a somewhat more
French rule of the island and as a young person this moderate path. Napoleon was the most powerful of
future French emperor was a Corsican nationalist. them. As the new leader of France in all but name, he
Nevertheless, he moved to France at the age of nine to wrote a constitution that called for elections and voting
study at a religious school and later a military school. but gave himself enormous power to make decisions
There, he discovered that he was very skilled at the almost entirely alone. Then, with this new power, he
combination of mathematics and military sciences that turned to battle again. In early 1800, his forces defeated
a good artillery officer needed. So, at sixteen, he a large Austrian army at the Battle of Marengo, in a very
became a lieutenant in a French artillery regiment. He risky campaign. In 1801, the Austrians gave up, and
was still serving when the Revolution broke out four peace descended on Europe for a while.
years later, in 1789. This peace allowed Napoleon to return to
After the Revolution, France quickly came under France where he began to reorganize the government
an attack by many of the most powerful states in and laws. One of these changes was to re-authorize
Europe, all of which hoped to contain or stop the spread slavery, undoing one of the most dramatic acts of the
of revolutionary ideas. Napoleon found himself Revolution. But Napoleon felt pretty secure in his
commanding the artillery facing a British invasion force popularity, so in 1804 he asked the people to vote
at the southern French city of Toulon. His brilliant plan to elect him Emperor of the French. Almost 4 million
to bombard the British forced their retreat. Because people voted, and he won the election.
many of France’s generals had been killed or had left, Emperor Napoleon
Napoleon was rapidly promoted and became a general
at the age of twenty-four. As Emperor, Napoleon went on to fight a series
When royalists (supporters of the king) declared of wars. His victories over both the Austrian and Russian
a counter-revolution on October 3, 1795, Napoleon armies at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805 were among
used artillery to repel the attackers. His victory over the his most important battles. However, he also suffered
royalists made him an immediate hero. He was sent to two great military defeats. The first was his inability to
lead French forces in Italy, fighting the Austrian conquer and hold Spain, where guerrilla fighters
(Habsburg) Empire. There, he won a number of huge supported by British forces continually bled his troops
victories and by 1797 had invaded Austria itself. His and his money. The second was his decision to invade
troops looted huge amounts of wealth wherever they Russia in 1812 with an army of over 400,000. Despite
went and sent much of it back to France. This made him not losing any battles, Napoleon could not win a
even more popular. decisive victory here. He eventually faced a lack of food
and a terrible, freezing winter. He retreated having lost French Revolution. For example, it introduced the
as many as 90 percent of his troops. assumption that any suspect was innocent until proven
Defeated, Napoleon was exiled to the island of guilty, and limited arrests without reason. It also said
Elba. The royal family of France was restored to the that there could be no secret laws, and that the same
throne—but not for long. The new (old) monarchy laws applied to everyone, no matter what their wealth
proved unpopular, and in 1815 Napoleon escaped Elba or social class.
and returned to power. He put together a huge army Indeed, Napoleon believed that equality was a
and immediately marched to war. His first big battle very important right. He introduced education reforms
was at Waterloo, against the British Duke of Wellington that would provide a quality education to any French
and the Prussian Prince Blücher. He was defeated, citizen and created a system of taxation that taxed
however, and returned to exile, this time on the distant everyone in the same way. He also supported freedom
island of St. Helena, where he died. of religion. In some ways, this last idea was very much a
legacy of a revolution that called for freedom of faith.
Liberator or Tyrant? By contrast, earlier revolutionaries had gone so far as to
attack the Catholic Church for being the only powerful
At its peak, just before the invasion of Russia,
religion in the country. Napoleon actually healed that
Napoleon controlled most of Europe. He was Emperor
division, truly opening religious freedom for all.
of France and had put his friends and relatives on the
Yet at the same time, Napoleon undid many of the
thrones of the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain. He had set
political rights of the French Revolution. Although he
up supportive, allied states in central Europe including
was actually elected—first as Consul and later as
the Helvetic Republic (today Switzerland), the
Emperor—he crowned himself Emperor, symbolically
Confederation of the Rhine (today much of Germany),
stating that nobody had any right to limit his power. He
and the Grand Duchy of Warsaw (today Poland). Britain
ruled very much as an autocrat, an individual making
was his constant opponent throughout this period,
decisions without limits. He ruthlessly put down any
while Russia and the Austrian Empire went back and
dissent and sent spies around to figure out who might
forth between them, and the Ottoman Empire mostly
betray him.
stayed out of the conflict.
Additionally, Napoleon undid many of the
freedoms that had been won through the French
Revolution. You have already seen how he restored the
status of slavery, which had been abolished prior to his
rule. His Napoleonic Code also undid the few advances
women had gained through the Revolution. It
recognized the father as head of the household with
total control over family property and authority over his
wife and children. He established censorship over
writing, undoing any freedom of the press.
In the end, there is no real agreement about
how we should view Napoleon. But most scholars
recognize both the ways that he advanced people’s
equality and standards of living and also restricted their
rights. What do you think? Was Napoleon a liberator?
Europe in 1812, showing the extent of Napoleon’s
Or a tyrant?
empire.

For many in Europe, Napoleon was a hero—

even a liberator. Many Poles celebrated him for
expelling their Russian rulers and helping them to Author bio
create their own country. Similarly, many in Italy Trevor Getz is Professor of African History at San
believed he had freed them from Austrian rule. Francisco State University. He has written eleven books
Everywhere he went, he brought some of the ideals of on African and world history, including Abina and the
the French Revolution, especially through the legal Important Men. He is also the author of A Primer for
system known as the Napoleonic Code. Teaching African History, which explores questions
The Napoleonic Code was a set of laws that about how we should teach the history of Africa in high
brought into effect many of the important ideas of the school and university classes.
ACTIVITIES: Read the text carefully and answer the
following questions:

1. What forces did Napoleon defeat when defending

the French Revolution? Think of both external and
internal enemies of the Revolution.
2. Why did Napoleon become a popular hero? Explain.
3. Why is it possible to say that Napoleon was a
liberator? Why is it also possible to say he was a
tyrant? Explain.
4. Which of these two positions do you agree with?
Why?