Napoleon Bonaparte Dbq Essay

Imagine being alive in a time when more than 40,000 people were beheaded in the name of freedom. That's exactly what happened in the early stages of the French revolution. The French Revolution was a period of drastic social and political change in France and is thought to have been carried forward in the later years by one man, Napoleon Bonaparte. Much controversy surrounds this idea, many say he betrayed the revolution, some say he saved it, and others say the revolution ended before Napoleon's rule even began. The truth is Napoleon Bonaparte was a young man who wished to fulfill the ideals of the revolution at the beginning, with those ideals being equality, liberty, and fraternity in simple terms. However, later on, he became corrupt much

Although Napoleon's military success was what solidified the French Revolution originally it was also the revolutions downfall. Napoleon became obsessed with his image, legacy, and the size of his empire rather than its well-being, he began to attempt to conquer the majority of Europe, while his new revolutionary laws and society began to fall apart in his old French Empire. Document #2 demonstrates this by showing many states/countries under the rule of Napoleon as of 1810. Based on this document it can be inferred that Napoleon wished to rule all of Europe and had turned his focus to conquering as many places as possible while the ideals of the french revolution fell

Document #3 shares Moreau’s piece posted in the 1804 stating, “You swore to establish a government….In my degraded country, I see nothing but cringing slaves and proud tyrants.” It can be inferred that Moreau was mentioning not only the betrayal of Napoleon to his promise but his betrayal of the Ideals of the French Revolution as both slavery and tyrants were enemies of the French Revolution. Not only did Moreau write about his betrayal, but so did Mole a councilor of state Minister and peer of France who remarked “In short, he was much less concerned to leave behind him a “race,” a dynasty, than a name which should have no equal and glory, that could not be surpassed” in document #4. The meaning of this sentence is Napoleon in short only wished to leave a legacy of his own no one could ever defeat than a successful empire that followed the ideals of the French Revolution. From this statement, we can conclude Napoleon was had not only betrayed the Revolution but that he became selfish and self-absorbed in the