Napoleon Bonaparte Accomplishments

Modern Europe today is largely the product of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Empire. View of his rise to power will be largely dependent on perspective. To the Dutch, Austrians and English he may be seen as a villain. For other parts of Europe he may be seen a revolutionary, tyrant or hero, but regardless of the context in which we view him, his legacy remains. Much of modern Europe exists today as a result of his territorial expansion and the vast number of reforms he implemented within those conquered, annexed and allied nations. It is these social and civil reforms that left a lasting impact on Europe. Napoleons Empire would best be described as a military occupation rather than an attempt to build nations. His empire had various state building characteristics

The concept of military occupation is defined as the physical occupation of another territory with the primary purpose being for that occupation to act on the interests of the occupying power and preclude the occupied territory from becoming an adversary or source of insecurity. The political scientist Amitai Etzioni describes nation building as three different, but related tasks “unification of disparate ethnic groups; democratization; and economic reconstruction .” This concept of nation building carries with it the themes of fostering new identities at the state level, improvements in governance through the implementation of the rule of law and improved functioning economy that supports improved functioning of the state. By contrast a military occupation may implement similar reforms, but with the end goal of further supporting the security of the occupying power. Because a military occupation is primarily self-serving, it must convince the occupied territory to accept control by a foreign power. In the case of nation building there is the need for a strong sense of community, one that supports the state politically and within the context of a national