Discussion 7

Lecture 15

Europe and the Superior Being: Napoleon

Frenchmen, you will no doubt recognize

in my conduct the zeal of a soldier of

liberty and of a devoted citizen of the

Republic. Liberal, beneficent, and

traditional ideas have returned to their

rightful place through the dispersal of

the odious and despicable factions

which sought to overawe the Councils.

Napoleon Bonaparte, "Proclamation to

the French Nation" (November 10, 1799)

There is no denying the fact that the French Revolution

created NAPOLEON BONAPARTE (1769-1821). It was this man

who, in 1799, combined a passion for power with his genius

for leadership. Although much of what Napoleon

accomplished over fifteen years seemed to undermine the

principles of 1789, the end result was that many of the

achievements of the Revolution were made French realities.

Indeed, these realities were also made manifest across

Europe.

Napoleon was born August 15, 1769, on the island of Corsica,

the son of a petty or low noble. He trained at a military school

and so the wars of the French Revolution gave him the

opportunity to test his skills. In 1793, when he was only 24

years old, Napoleon's artillery pushed the British out of

Toulon. In 1795, he saved the Convention from a Royalist

insurrection. In 1796, he was given command of the French

Army of Italy. It was during his ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS against

the Austrians that Napoleon's talent for military strategy was

first demonstrated. He tasted glory -- he could never do

without it. He knew he was headed for greatness. He was

aware, that he was a "world-historical figure," a "great man,"

"a hero in history." He later confided that

In Italy I realized I was a superior being and

conceived the ambition of performing great things,

which hitherto had filled my thoughts only as a

fantastic dream.

In November 1797, Napoleon was ordered to plan an invasion

of England. Aware that France had a weak navy compared to

that of England, Napoleon decided to strike the British by

attacking British commerce in Egypt and India (which

supplied cotton for British mills). He left France with 35,000

men and took Cairo. Napoleon's meager fleet, however, was

destroyed at the Battle of the Nile by Nelson's navy.

Meanwhile, Napoleon sent glowing reports back to France.

While all this was going on, things were not that peaceful

back in France. Political unrest, financial disaster, and war

with Europe compelled Napoleon to return. France needed a

savior and Napoleon recognized himself as that savior. In

October 1799, and without informing his troops in Egypt,

Napoleon landed in France. A conspiracy was already

underway against the lame five-man Directory. Some

politicians realized the need to seize power and establish a

strong executive. Perhaps a tyrant was needed.

On November 10, 1799 -- the 18th BRUMAIRE of the Year VIII -

- the Directory was overthrown by a coup d'etat and

Napoleon became a military dictator. The French Revolution

had entered yet another stage of its history. The French

people welcomed Napoleon -- the bourgeoisie, in particular,

expected Napoleon to protect the wealth and influence they

had gained as a result of 1789.

A new constitution was drawn up which specified that three

Consuls would share power as a sort of triumvirate.

Napoleon, of course, was one of these Consuls. His ambition,

however, forced him to aspire to much more. In 1802,

Napoleon was made first Consul for life with the right to

choose his successor. On December 2, 1804, Napoleon

crowned himself Emperor of the French. So, by 1804, the fate

of both France and Europe depended upon this one man.

Well, what sort of a man was he?

Like most men of stature and power, Napoleon's was a

complex personality. We naturally think of Alexander,

Augustus, Charlemagne, Peter the Great, Hitler and Stalin.

His intellectual ability was clearly impressive. He had

grandiose ideas. He had a philosophic mind. He could work

18 to 20 hours at a stretch without so much as a break in

concentration. He was, as one French historian put it, "a

typical man of the 18th century, a rationalist, a philosophe

who placed his trust in reason, in knowledge and in

methodical effort." But Napoleon was no disembodied brain --

his personality was not pure intellect. He also had a love of

action and a boundless ambition. "I live only for posterity," he

said, "death is nothing . . . but to live defeated and without

glory is to die every day." He was an artist, a poet of action,

for whom France, Europe and a mankind were but

instruments. He had charisma, he could move men to

obedience, to loyalty and to heroic acts. He was also quite

arrogant -- he manipulated people at will. "A man like me," he

once said, "troubles himself little about the lives of a million

men."

Living in a revolutionary age, Napoleon observed firsthand

the precariousness of power. He knew what happened to

Louis XVI. He knew that the Girondins had been executed and

that Robespierre had fallen victim to the Reign of Terror (see

Lecture 13). Napoleon assumed that he would not make the

same mistakes. He knew that he must become both a

statesman and a tyrant. He had to consolidate the Revolution

and bind together the different social classes of the French

nation.

His domestic policy then, is crucial to our overall

understanding of Napoleonic France. Here, he was clearly

influenced by the Revolution. He was also affected by the

ideas of the philosophes. He considered himself

"enlightened." There are five areas of domestic policy worth

our attention: government, religion, law, education and the

economy.

Government

Napoleon provided France with a strong centralized

government -- a government he would himself dominate, as

an emperor, a Caesar. Previous French monarchs could not

overcome political barriers (the remnants of feudalism, an

obstinate nobility, local traditions and legal problems). But,

when the Revolution basically swept away these remnants,

administrative unity could become a reality. This left an

opening for a man like Napoleon. So Napoleon created an

army of officials -- civil servants and bureaucrats -- an army

which reached into every village, town and city. The entire

nation was linked together under rational administration. The

result was that Napoleon concentrated power and this

provided him with taxes and soldiers.

Napoleon also had to shape public opinion -- this was

accomplished by crude forms of propaganda, but more

importantly by the use of secret agents, arbitrary arrests, and

executions. Like all dictators -- we think of Mussolini, Hitler

and Stalin -- Napoleon relied on public opinion to prevent

hostile criticism. In other words, dissent was nearly

impossible. Printers and booksellers swore oaths of allegiance

and all newspapers fell under state control. So, by repressing

liberty, subverting republicanism and restoring absolutism,

Napoleon reversed some of the liberal gains of the

Revolution. He favored equality before the law and careers

open to talent BUT he believed that political liberty

threatened the efficiency of the state with anarchy. He would

govern in the interests of the people as an enlightened but

absolute ruler. He was Plato's philosopher-king made reality.

Religion

In terms of religion, Napoleon bordered between deism and

atheism. I suppose you could say that Catholicism as a

religion of salvation had little meaning to him. But, like

Machiavelli, Rousseau, and Marx, Napoleon believed that

religion was little more than the cement which held society

together. Again, we are reminded of Marx when he remarked

that "religion is the opiate of the people." According to

Napoleon, religion promoted national unity and prevented

class war -- it kept the people meek and mild instead of

strong and independent. He made every effort to close the

divide between the State and the Church, a divide created by

the Revolution. The Temples of Reason (i.e., the churches)

and the Cult of the Supreme Being, erected in the early

1790s, were too abstract for Napoleon. How could he expect

the French common people to have understood them? So, his

desire was to reconcile Church and State. Such a

reconciliation would gain for Napoleon even greater approval

of his people.

Shrewd, calculating and intelligent, Napoleon knew exactly

what he was doing. It was for these reasons that he

negotiated an agreement with the Pope. The Concordat of

1801 recognized Catholicism as the favored religion of France

-- not the state religion. The clergy would be selected and

paid by the State, but consecrated by the Church. So, in

terms of religion, Napoleon basically guaranteed one of the

rights mentioned in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and

the Citizen -- religious freedom (see Lecture 12). However,

the Church did not regain land confiscated during the

Revolution, nor did they have the right to collect the tithe and

the French clergy, though consecrated at Rome, remained

under state control. Napoleon had achieved another of his

aims -- Jews, Protestants and Catholics could freely practice

their religion. But the Church was under state control.

Although the people seemed to get what they wanted, so too

did Napoleon.

Law

We mentioned that one of the causes of the Revolution was

that 18th century France was plagued with numerous and

sometimes conflicting codes of law. These codes obstructed

national unity and administrative efficiency. Although the

National Assembly had made the attempt to rectify the

situation, they always had other things on their mind.

Napoleon pressed for the completion of the project. So, he

instituted the CODE NAPOLEON which incorporated the great

principles of 1789: equality before the law, careers open to

talent, freedom of religion, protection of private property,

abolition of serfdom, and the secularization of the state. The

Code, however, also had its less-liberal side. Workers were

denied collective bargaining, trade unions were outlawed,

and a system of labor passports was instituted. Women were

declared to be inferior to men by law, and children had no

rights at all. Of women, Napoleon once remarked,

the husband must possess the absolute power and right

to say to his wife: Madame, you shall not go out, you shall

not go to the theater, you shall not visit such and such a

person: for the children you bear, they shall be mine.

Education

Like some of the philosophes and the majority of active

revolutionaries, Napoleon favored a state system of public

education. The curriculum would be secular and schools

would be managed under the direction of the state and not

the Church. For Napoleon, education would serve a dual role.

State funded education would provide him with capable

officials necessary to administer his laws and trained officers

to man his army. The young would also be indoctrinated to

obedience and authority. Napoleon established the University

of France -- a giant board of education that placed education

under state control. To this day, little has changed --

education is strictly centralized with curriculum and academic

standards set for the entire nation. Women, of course, were

excluded. "Marriage is their whole destination," Napoleon

once wrote. Women did not need education, all they needed

was religion.

Economics

Napoleon's economic policies were designed to strengthen

France and increase his popularity. To stimulate the economy

and serve the interests of the bourgeoisie, Napoleon aided

industry through tariffs and loans. He built or repaired roads,

bridges and canals. He established the Bank of France. He

kept careers open to men of talent and provided bread at low

prices. He stimulated the employment of artisans and did not

restore ancient feudal rights.

Napoleon was not a democrat -- nor was he a republican. He

was, he liked to think, an enlightened despot, the sort of man

Voltaire might have found appealing. He preserved numerous

social gains of the Revolution while suppressing political

liberty. He admired efficiency and strength and hated

feudalism, religious intolerance, and civil inequality.

Enlightened despotism meant political stability. He knew his

Roman history well -- after 500 years of republicanism, Rome

became an empire under Augustus Caesar.

Napoleon's domestic policies gained the popular support he

demanded. But it was his military victories that mesmerized

the French people. Napoleon realized the grand dream of

Louis XIV -- the mastery of Europe. Between 1805 and 1807,

Napoleon defeated Austria, Prussia and Russia becoming the

virtual ruler of the Continent. He embraced his own "art of

war" that stressed rapid offensive attack over defensive

positions (similar to the German Blitzkrieg). Surprise and

speed were essential ingredients. So too were efforts to

confuse his opponents: he supplied newspapers with

incorrect information, he launched secondary offenses and he

sent dense screens of cavalry ahead of his marching

columns. He wanted to both surprise and demoralize the

enemy. His troops were amazing. They marched fifty miles in

36 hours during one campaign in Italy in 1796. They

accomplished 275 miles in 23 days during the Austrian

campaign in 1805.

While he made every effort to humiliate and demoralize his

enemy, Napoleon also understood the necessity of

maintaining the morale of his own troops. So, he shared the

dangers of war with his own men. He did not wait on a hill --

rather, he led the charge. An army based on honor, vanity

and personal loyalty is difficult to overcome. Alexander,

Augustus Caesar and Charlemagne were all aware of this. By

1810, Napoleon dominated nearly all of Europe. Belgium, vast

territories of Germany, Holland, Italy, Westphalia and Spain

had all been annexed. Napoleon's "Grand Empire" also

included Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sweden and Denmark.

While Napoleon and his armies were busy securing their

military domination of Europe, Napoleon also set about to

extend his reforms within France to other lands. His officials

instituted the Code Napoleon, organized a corps of civil

servants, opened careers to talent, and equalized taxes.

Serfdom was abolished as were manorial dues and the courts

of nobility. Freedom of religion was permitted, guilds were

abolished, uniform systems of weights and measures were

established, roads and canals were built, and secular

education was promoted.

Why did Napoleon bother? Well, his desire was efficient

administration and the support of the conquered peoples (like

the ancient Romans, Napoleon gave the people offers they

could not refuse). In fact, most people of the conquered

nations considered Napoleon to be their "great liberator." But

there is another side to the story. Those lands which

Napoleon conquered became satellite states which were

exploited for the benefit, not of the Grand Empire, but for

France. So, Napoleon had a difficult task on his hands -- how

to control such a vast territory of land? However, the real

threat came not from the Continent, but from England,

France's perpetual enemy. Between 1803 and 1805, Napoleon

tried to invade the English but it was not to be. Instead, he

instituted the CONTINENTAL SYSTEM which barred all

countries under French control to trade with England.

However, thanks to smuggling, piracy, and trade with the

New World, England was able to thwart Napoleon's plan.

Meanwhile, Napoleon had problems with Spain; Germany

fought her own wars of liberation; and Napoleon's Russian

campaign of 1812 came to be the beginning of the end.

The Napoleonic wars came to an end in March 1814.

Napoleon was removed as Emperor to the island of Elba and

a Bourbon monarch returned to the French throne. Napoleon

made one last ditch effort in 1815 -- his last 100 days, and

then he was exiled to St. Helena, a small island hundreds of

miles off the west coast of Africa. Napoleon died in 1821.

Napoleon was a real man as well as a legend. It was

Napoleon himself who helped to create this legend. He wrote

his memoirs while exiled on St. Helena between 1815 and

1821. He tells us his aim was to defend the Revolution and

consolidate its gains. He emerges as a champion of equality,

a supporter of popular sovereignty, a destroyer of privilege

and a lover of peace. According to Napoleon, his vision was to

create a United States of Europe. He wanted to free Europe

from tyranny, oppression and despotism. As we know full

well, this never happened. However, he did help to

consolidate many gains of the Revolution. But, such a view

ignores the downside of Napoleon -- his repression of liberty,

the general subversion of republicanism, and the oppression

of conquered peoples.

Historians would agree on two things about Napoleon. First,

he was an extraordinary man, a self-made man. His drive,

will, military genius and charisma made him a great man, a

world historical figure, a man who made history. Machiavelli

would have found Napoleon to be his perfect prince. Second,

by spreading revolutionary ideals and institutions, Napoleon

made it impossible for the restoration of the ancien regime.

After Napoleon there was no turning back: feudalism was

dead, society was secularized, the modern nation state

replaced the dynastic state, and the bourgeoisie became the

new class of privilege and status.