Why Did Napoleon Support The French Revolution

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After the French Revolution, a Corsican artillery officer, named Napoleon Bonaparte, became the emperor of France in 1804. After playing a significant role in trying retake the French port of Toulon, occupied by the British, he was appointed general at the age of 26 in 1793. This marked the beginning of the Napoleonic Era, which would change the course of European history for centuries. However, despite claiming to be a strong supporter of the French Revolution, Napoleon mostly undermined the goals of the Revolution by violating the Declaration of the Rights of Man, insisting on returning to principles of the Old Regime in regards to women, the imposition of taxes and the re-establishment of the social elite. Nonetheless, Napoleon still supported the main goals of the Revolution by establishing the Civil Code and supporting the peasantry by lowering bread prices. Firstly, Napoleon believed that a declaration of rights would weaken his authority. As a result, he violated the Declaration of the Rights of Man by making a secret police force to spy on those who opposed him. This violates the freedoms of speech and thought, of which the Declaration of the Rights of Man guaranteed and thus violates one of the main goals of the French Revolution. In addition, all newspapers, artistic works, plays, and operas that were considered “offensive” were banned by government censors under Napoleon. This also shows how he violated not only freedom of speech and thought, but the freedom