Age of Napoleon

Early Life Napoleon Bonaparte dominated French and European history from 1799-1815. Brought the French Revolution to an end in 1799 Born in Corsica 1769 Son of a lawyer who came from Florentine nobility Studied at a military school in France 1785 became lieutenant in the French army Studied philosophes and military campaigns of great military leaders

Early Life 1792 captain of French army 1794(25 yrs old) brigadier of Committee of Public Safety 1796 commander of French army in Italy Won confidence from his men ability to make quick decisions intelligence ease with words confidence in himself

Early Life 1797 returned to France as a hero Given job to command and train an army to invade Britain He proposed to invade Egypt and threatening India Major sources of British wealth 1799 took part in Coup d'état and set up the consulate New government Napoleon controlled entire government as first consul Made himself consul for life Crowned himself Emperor

Domestic Policies Created peace with the catholic church Took the role of a different religion depending on where he was Created seven codes of law Civil Code (Napoleonic code) - recognized equality of all citizens Choose their profession Religious toleration Abolition of serfdom and feudalism Made it more difficult to get divorce if you were a woman

Bureaucracy Hired officials Created new aristocracy Didn’t matter if they were royal or revolutionary officials Based on ability Created new aristocracy Only 22% were from old regime 60% were middle class

Bureaucracy Napoleon preserved ideas of the revolution Civil code Government careers to people on ability Changed ideas as well Shut down 60 of 73 newspapers in France All manuscripts were subject to government scrutiny Mail was opened by government police