Age of Napoleon

Reforms of Napoleon

Economic, education, religious, and social

Education

He creates the first regulated public school system. The government makes sure the schools are up to their standards. France will now have the best schools in Europe.

Victory over Austrians

He defeats the Austrians in Northern Italy, which was part of Austria's empire back then.

Religious

He made peace with the Catholic Church. It became safe again to be a practicing Catholic.

Napoleonic Code of Law

Might be even more important than his military career. He passed a new code of laws based on the ideas of the Enlightenment. It has a basic principle that says all men are equal in the eyes of the law. The code has religious freedom built into it. France will not have an official religion. This legal is still the foundation of France today. Even countries who used to be a part of the French Empire still abide this code.

Does it work?

No, because the British trade with Amercia, Africa, and Asia. This backfires and makes French Empire weak. The people under Napoleon's rule get angry.

The 3rd of May

a famous painting painted by Goya after he was inspired after the Spanish rebels were executed by Napoleon's firing squads.

Challenges to Napoleon's Empire

continues to grow larger, and his reforms are spread across Europe. He abolishes old titles of nobility, ends Church privileges, frees the serfs, and brings his legal code into the lands he conquers.

Napoleon can't beat England's navy so he tries to hurt the British economy with something called the...

CONTINENTAL SYSTEM

Revolt in Spain

Joseph begins trying to rule as an absolute monarch. He starts taking power away from the Catholic Church. Spain is very passionate about their religion. They begin feeling resentment towards Joseph. They begin to feel a sense of pride of being Spanish. They want to be ruled by a Spanish king. They are willing to fight and die for Spain. Before this, the wars were only fought for government. Now they are fighting for pride for their nation. It inspires the Spanish to revolt.

Victory over British

Makes him famous. The French navy was kept in the city of Toulon. The British had captured Toulon and Napoleon takes it back.

Nationalism

extreme pride in one's nation - both helps and hurts Napoleon. It helps inspire his soldiers because they are proud to fight for France. However, it also inspires many of the peoples he now rules over to revolt. They see Napoleon as a foreign conqueror and want him out - they don't want to be ruled by a French guy when they aren't French!!!

Napoleon's mistake

he doesn't know when to stop! He takes it too far by invading Russia in 1812 with 400,000 soldiers.

Battle of Trafalgar

Happens off the coast of Spain in 1805. Naval battle between Britain and France. It is a decisive decision that the British won. The British commander is very popular and important. His name is Horatio Nelson. Nelson wins the battle but gets hit by cannon fire and dies.

Napoleon Bonaparte

He born in 1769 on the French-controlled island of Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea. When he is nine years old, his noble family sends him to military training school in Paris. He is twenty years old when the Revolution begins and a lieutenant in the army.

Social

He encourages emigrés to return to France. Emigrés were nobles who had left France during the revolution.

Economy

He ensured that the price of bread was low enough for everyone to afford. He set a limit on the price. Another thing he does is create new building projects which creates jobs. He builds roads and monuments.

CONTINENTAL SYSTEM

He tells everyone in his empire to close their ports to British ships. It closes European cities to British ships, which is designed to hurt British economy.

What was the Consulate and how did Napoleon become Emperor?

Napoleon is taking baby steps in becoming absolute monarch. He creates the new government called the Consulate made up of 3 men called Consoles. Napoleon declares himself to become the first Console. After a few years the Console is scrapped and Napoleon declares himself emperor. He is a much more intelligent and capable leader. The people want him to fix France. He has an elaborate coronation ceremony where he and his wife are crowned. However, he puts the crown on his wife's head and his own head. This is symbolic because normally the Pope would crown the leader. He crowned himself to show that he was number one. France was on its way to becoming non-secular (non-religious country) Most of the time he wasout conquering territories. He does this for about 10 years in a row. He also repairs the damage done by the French revolution, called reforms.

1804-1814

Napoleon ruled over the French Empire. He became famous for his skills on the battlefield and history remembers him as one of the greatest generals who ever lived. He effectively used large armies and knew how to move them quickly and effectively. The empire is at its largest in 1810.

Campaign in Egypt

Not very successful, but it was a huge deal back in France and made him a household name. He was fighting the British in Egypt. The most common thing you will hear is that the British soldiers shot the Sphinx's nose off and this is false. The most important thing about this campaign is an archeological find. They dig up an obsidian rock called the Rosetta stone. What they find on the stone is several languages writing the same thing. This matters because one of the languages on the stone was Egyptian hieroglyphics. Another was Modern Greek. Before this finding, we could not translate Egyptian hieroglyphics.

War with Great Britain

The only strong threat to Napoleon's power is Great Britain. He wants to invade and take power there, but the British NAVY is the strongest in the world, which gives him a serious problem. He begins to construct a large powerful navy.