The hero of France – or not so much
Napoleon Bonaparte, a man that everyone’s heard of. The man who quickly brought France among the leading countries in the world – but also made that position crumble down.
Napoleon’s military career started at the age 16, when he graduated from military school and became an artillery lieutenant. By the age 26 he commanded the entire French army. Napoleon was a man who wanted power and dominance. This showed in his actions: his army was involved in victorious battles in all of Europe. This all build up the image of Napoleon as an admirable, triumphant military leader who couldn’t be defeated.
When Napoleon returned to France, his mind was set on taking the power to himself. He overthrew the Directory by a
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One of his main aims was to build France to be a great, desirable democracy, full of national pride and greatness. He wanted to continue France’s winning streak and get as much land for France as he possible could, and that is what he went on and did. He conquered almost all of Europe, losing only two battles in his lifetime.
Other one of Napoleon’s main aims was to weaken Britain. He tried to do this for example by establishing the Continental system in 1806 to cut Britain off Europe’s trade market. He also made preparations for the invasion of Britain. Though, Napoleon’s plan didn’t quite work out, because he eventually lost the war against the Sixth Coalition which Britain was a part of.
Napoleon wasn’t all bad, even though that’s the picture you might get of him: his goals also included stabilizing the government and economy of France, defending the country and restoring order in France. The French saw him as a savior: he freed the people from the monarchy and turned France into a democracy. One of his biggest accomplishments was a legal code called the Napoleon code that is still used today. He also put effort into education and provided it to not just the rich, but also the poor. When it comes to economy, Napoleon wanted to make people more free from the power of government and church and help the economy grow. Although, this again links to his main goal, power. Napoleon wanted to make sure that a lot of the economy growth