Legacy Of Napoleon Bonaparte

Introduction
As a man of dominance, eloquence, and mobile socialization, Napoleon Bonaparte holds a distinctive place in world history. Throughout his reign, Napoleon unified and modernized Europe in a way no European leader had before. Unfortunately, Napoleon’s modernization of Europe happened at varying degrees throughout his conquered lands, leaving a more lasting legacy in those receptive to his policies, codes, and structures. Spain served as an unconquerable foe that played host to the highly organized, adept, and patriotic guerillas. It can be seen in primary source documents from the Junta, church, and opposing military leaders that the successful creation of the Spanish guerrillas was a result of the desire to protect a cohort of national

Instead, he suggests that Spanish guerillas were not born of a patriotic call to arms, but rather reluctantly participated in warfare due politically conditioned fear and violence the Spanish people were going to suffer at the hands of the French army. Ronald Fraser sites the importance of the guerrillas being not their strength, but the development of, “….. a nationwide form of resistance and a sanctified right of self-defense.” Historian Alexander Grab offers the easiest summation of the guerrilla’s existence in Spain, arguing that they were responsible for the weakening of the French in to principal way, the need for a larger French army, and the high casualty rate they caused. Finally John Lawrence Tone focuses on the guerilla warfare was not a patriotic movement, for if it was it would have had equally distributed factions throughout Spain instead of a concentration of successful bands in the rural north. He cites not the notions of patriotism propagated by the clergy for the protection of the king, country, or religion, but the infrastructure of the rural society that was impenetrable to outside

o N. Spain had highest concentration of nobility in Spain 8-10%, but were not influenced by Napoleonic power because the conditions of Northern nobility differed from central Spanish noble, and societal structure. Inheritance of a noble title in central Spain was based on the wealth and power of political office such as seigneurial, senorio and mayorazgo. In opposition, the nobility of the North is based on racial superiority due to lack of intermingling of Moors to produce tainted blood. (Tone)
 A strong sense of community was created as a means to preserve racial purity, this created a commonality between nobility and peasants of the North.
 Along with the nobility of the North, the French found marked resistance in the Hidalgos who were among the lowest ranked nobility in northern Spanish communities. Hidalgo were not landed elites, instead constituting of a class of skilled laborers or storeowners. Although they did not have the prosperous land owning capability of other nobles, the hidalgos were nonetheless treated with the same respect and status as landed