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Coup D’état (Becoming Dictator)
France's political leadership and confidence in the people were at an all time low. When Napoleon returned he was pressured to gain political power. Him and his troops drove out all the disagreeing politicians. Britain, Russia, and Austria all tried to get rid of Napoleon. -
Concordat
Napoleon didn't want to change the religious views of France. A majority of the people from all classes wanted him to resonate the church ways. So to do what they wanted Napoleon created a Concordat(agreement). This gave a new way for the church and state to connect. This agreement gained him a lot of respect and support from the people of France. -
Loss of American Territories
The people of Saint Domingue along with Africans had heard about the revolution in France. This caused them to want the same rights and privileges. France did not listen to them so a civil war broke out. France had many casualties to disease and to the war. Napoleon saw all the people they were losing and sold all of his land because it was too much of a risk. -
Napoleonic Code
Napoleon system of laws that he created were known as the Napoleonic Code. This system of laws lowered the rate of many crimes in the country. The downfall to this was the fact that it gave authority so much power that individual rights were very limited. This caused slavery again and about everyone lost their freedom of speech and freedom of press. -
Napoleon Becomes Emperor
Napoleon decided to become Emperor of France, the civilians voted and also agreed with this. There was a ceremony held for him at a cathedral where the pope gave him the crown. This also gave him power over the church -
Conquering of Europe
Napoleon gave up on his old work and now wanted to rule Europe. He set up a puppet government in Switzerland. But othe rcountries didn't want this, so Russia, Britain, and Sweden joined together against him. Napoleon was very successful in the battles against them. -
Continental System
This was a foreign policy of Napoleon for his struggle against Great Britain. France banned British trade but this wasn't very affective and barely worked at all -
Invasion of Russia (Scorched earth policy)
The invasion started with Napoleon's troops crossing over a river to attack Russia. Bonaparte thought that by keeping the Russians away from Britain that they could gain peace with France. While the French invaded the land Russians used the scorched earth tactic and burned the villages, towns, and crops to keep France from living off the land. -
Battle at Waterloo
This battle was fought near Waterloo which is why that's it's name. Napoleon and his French army was defeated by the Russian, Seventh Coalition, and Anglo armies. These different armies worked together to outsmart the French army. -
The Hundred Days
This was the period between Napoleon's return to exile(March 20, 1815) and the second restoration of King Louis XVII (July 8, 1815). There were a lot of campaigns to try to keep Napoleon in rule, but he was declared an outlaw and had been defeated. -
Accomplishments of Napoleon
Bonaparte had many accomplishments in his lifetime. One of the biggest was restoring the balance of the monarch and religious power. Napoleon gave religious freedom to the country. His victory in the army was another large accomplishment of his, he rebuilt the army and won many battles. He helped push France forward eventually to what it is today.