Napoleon Bonaparte Research Paper

Napoleon EssayStefani Shepard November 17, 2012
Napoleon Essay Period 8 Considered one of the world's greatest military leaders, Napoleon Bonaparte was born August 15, 1769, in Ajaccio, Corsica. He was the fourth and second surviving child of Carlo Bonaparte, a lawyer, and his wife, Letizia Ramolino. At the time around Napoleon's birth Corsica's occupation by the French had drawn considerable local resistance. Carlo Bonaparte had at first supported the nationalists siding with
The country was declared a republic in 1792, three years after the Revolution had begun, and the following year King Louis VXI was executed. Ultimately, these acts led to the rise of Maximilien Robespierre. Over time a period known as The Terror began and many as 40,000 people were killed. Napoleon faced many problems that had been faced by the Directory, there was still a threat to power from the Jacobins and the Napoleon wanted to create a centralized republic to avoid the problems that other countries faced. Eventually the Jacobins lost power and Robespierre was executed. In 1795 the Directory took control of the country, a power it would it assume until 1799. All these problems gave a really good military leader like Napoleon to get opportunities to gain power. He saved the government from other forces. For his efforts, Napoleon was named commander of the Army of the Interior. He was also a trusted advisor to the Directory on military
He has also been portrayed as a power hungry conqueror. Napoleon denied being such a conqueror. He argued that he was building a federation of free peoples in a Europe united under a liberal government. But if this was his goal, he intended to achieve it by taking power in his own hands. However, in the states he created, Napoleon granted constitutions, introduced law codes, abolished feudalism, and created efficient governments and fostered education, science, literature and the arts. One of his greatest achievements was his supervision of the revision and collection of French law into codes. The new law codes made some of the freedoms gained by the people of France during the French revolution. In 1793, Napoleon used cannon on a hillside to blast the British navy out of the power cannon can have in battle. Five years later a campaign in Egypt was disastrous, but he became a hero. Napoleon had early victories in Egypt. He started to lose as the battles began to move into the desert. He returned to France before the news of defeat arrived there. In 1800 he established a three-man Consulate. Napoleon understood the French weren’t ready for one-person government, however he was in control. Two years later he held a vote to get the support of the French citizens. Soon after, he was crowned emperor in 1804. During his ruling, he made a lot of reforms. He came up with the Napoleonic Code. It was legal reforms