Napoleon Forges an Empire 23.3 Page 584

Napoleon Bonaparte  5ft, 3 inches tall  Recognized as one of the world’s military geniuses along with Alexander and Julius Caesar  Sent to military school in northern France at age 9  1785, only 16 years old, finished school and became a lieutenant in the army

Hero of the Hour  When the Rev broke out, Napoleon joined the new government’s army  Royalists stormed the National Convention, and Napoleon received orders to greeted protestors with fire  Attackers fled in panic and confusion  NB became the hero of the hour, and was hailed throughout Paris as the savior of the French Republic

 1796, the Directory (France’s new government) appoints Napoleon to lead army against Austria and the kingdom of Sardinia  Napoleon’s army won a series of battles in Italy, crushing the threat of Austrian troops to France  The newspapers praise Napoleon’s victories

 Next, Napoleon’s army moved on to Egypt to disrupt trade between Britain and India  Napoleon’s series of defeats would end, and his luck ran out  His French troops were defeated by British admiral Horatio Nelson  Napoleon was able to keep this defeat from the press  Napoleon vs. Nelson

Directory Loses Control  The French people had lost confidence in the Directory  Control of the army – Kept the Dr in power  Napoleon to seizes political power

Napoleon Takes Control  11/9/1799, Napoleon was put in charge of the military  Napoleon assumes dictatorial powers as 1 of 3 consuls  Sudden seize of power called a coup- french phrase coup d`e tat

Napoleon ’ s Coup d ’ E`tat

 Napoleon could now focus on restoring France  At first, he pretends to be the constitutionally chosen leader, but in 1800, Napoleon holds a plebiscite (vote of the people) to approve a new constitution  This was the 4 th constitution in 8 years  French people are so desperate for strong leadership, voted in favor for power to Napoleon

Napoleon Brings Stability and Order  To get economy stable- sets up tax collection and national bank  Dismissed corrupt officials  Set up lycees, government run public schools to train officials  Signed concordat (agreement) with Pope Pius VII, creating a new relationship between the Church and France  Concordat gains Napoleon support from church and the French

Napoleonic Code  He was most proud of Napoleonic Code, gave France a uniform set of laws -eliminated many injustices -eliminated many injustices -limited and promoted order and authority over individual rights -freedom of speech and press restricted, as well as women’s rights -restored slavery in French colonies in the Caribbean where slavery had been abolished

Napoleon Crowned as Emperor  In 1804, napoleon decided to make himself emperor  In a flashy ceremony, wearing a long robe, he walked slowly down the aisle of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris  He takes the crown out of the pope’s hands, and puts it on his own head  This arrogant gesture showed Napoleon had more power than the church

Napoleon taking the crown from the pope instead of following tradition and allowing the Pope to crown him

Napoleon Creates an Empire  Napoleon wants to create an empire and control all of Europe and reassert French power in the new world (Americas)  He envisions his western empire to include Florida, Louisiana and the French West Indies  To do this, he needs support from the French colony St. Domingue (now Haiti)  There’s a civil war going on in St. Domingue because slaves want their freedom back, along with the same privileges of French citizens

Louisiana Purchase  Napoleon sends over troops to get control over the island  Thousands of soldiers die from yellow fever  Napoleon realizes the long obstacle facing him and doesn’t want the trouble  He offers to sell all of the Louisiana territory to the U.S.

 In 1803, U.S. President, Thomas Jefferson agrees to buy the territory for $15 million.  This benefited Napoleon 2 ways: 1) France gains money to finance operations in Europe 2) punished Britain by giving them another rival (the U.S.)

Napoleon Focuses on Conquering Europe  Napoleon had already annexed the Austrian Netherlands, parts of Italy and set up a puppet government in Switzerland  Fearful of his ambitions, Britain persuaded Russia, Austria and Sweden to join a third coalition against France

 Napoleon has a series of brilliant battles and crushes his opposition  All rulers sign a peace treaty with France except Britain  Napoleon has the biggest empire since the Romans  The only threat is Britain’s Navy Hey… Why do you think Britain needs to have a strong Navy?? Yep- it’s an island and surrounded by water!

 In his war against the third coalition, Napoleon lost just one major battle, the Battle of Trafalgar  This naval defeat was more important than all of Napoleon’s victories on land

 Battle took place in 1804 off coast of Spain  British admiral who defeated Napoleon in 1798 in charge of British fleet  Nelson outmaneuvered the much bigger fleet of French-Spanish fleet  Nelson was wounded by a French sharpshooter, but heard the news of defeating Napoleon once again before he died “Now I am satisfied,” whispered the admiral. “Thank God, I have done my duty”. “Now I am satisfied,” whispered the admiral. “Thank God, I have done my duty”. st=PLC3488E34242AE32C&lf=results_video&playnext=2 st=PLC3488E34242AE32C&lf=results_video&playnext=2 Napoleon vs. Nelson Round 2

 Destruction of French fleets had 2 major results: 1) assured supremacy of British navy for the next hundred years 2) Napoleon had to give up idea of invading Britain eature=related eature=related

Napoleon ’ s Empire  By 1812, the only major European countries free from Napoleon’s control were Britain, Ottoman Empire, Portugal and Sweden  Other countries in Europe had rulers who were puppets of Napoleons, or even related  French Empire is huge, but unstable.  Napoleon was able to maintain the empire for just 5 years ( ), but caused the collapse himself