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Napoleon should be remembered because he took nothing and turned it into an empire that spanned across eastern and western Europe. Napoleon won incredible battles with little to none casualties, and Napoleon was out numbered in most battles and still managed to win over 60 battles and only lose 7. Napoleon also changed the social climate of France. He made himself more powerful than the church, which was un heard of in France at the time. Napoleon also changed most of Europe with his influence.
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Napoleon's political and social accomplishments
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Napoleon's success in the economy
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Battles that took place in the Middle East
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After Napoleon captured the fortress of El Arish, Napoleon weakened Egypt by a lot. Napoleon and his French forces then invaded the city of Jaffa against Ottoman forces. The Ottomans were out numbered by a lot. The French finished their siege on March, 7th, 1799, with over 4,000 Ottoman casualties and only 250 French casualties. This siege gave the French a good foot hold in their Middle Eastern campaign.
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After some battles and sieges, Napoleon became a bit more worried about Ottoman forces in his vicinity, since there was a lot of forces. Napoleon received news that Ottoman forces were camping near Mount Tabor. Napoleon saw this as a way to get a good push on the Ottomans, so he used it and attacked Mount Tabor. Napoleon and his men were out numbered, but they managed to pull back with minim casualties.
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After Napoleon's battles in the Middle East, he returned to France in October 1799. The directory fell out of power and it was time for a new leader. Three consuls formed, Napoleon was one of them. Napoleon formed the coup d'état, which is when a person or group quickly seize power and overthrow power. Napoleon took over France and was pronounced the new leader of France.
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Right when Napoleon was made leader of France, his first goal was to improve the broken economy of France after the revolution. Napoleon decided to make the bank of France, with its headquarters located in Paris, to reinforce the economy. This helped French finance and built the French economy after the harsh revolution.
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Battles that took place in Europe
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After Napoleon came back to France in October 1799, it was time to expand France in Europe. The battle of Marengo took place in northern Italy and was fought against the Austrians. Napoleon had 28,000 troops and the Austrians had 31,000. Napoleon was beginning to win the battle and was pushing back the Austrians, and Napoleon being Napoleon, was feeling too confident which almost led to him losing the battle, but it still resulted in a French victory, even though they were out numbered.
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One of Napoleon's law was abolishing feudalism in France. Feudalism is when people would have a set role and would basically do one role for the other person. This changed the hierarchy of France and also changed the economy.
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The French people still believed the church was important and powerful, so Napoleon signed an agreement called the Concordat of 1801 with the Pope. This enforced Napoleon's relation and trust to the church. The Concordat also gave Napoleon more power because it enforced his belief that the church doesn't have power over the state and that Napoleon was more powerful.
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France was at war with most of Europe and lost most of its colonies. Napoleon came up with a solution to fund his empire, sell his colony Louisiana. Napoleon offered and discussed with President Jefferson, and eventually Napoleon sold Louisiana for $15 million in 1803. This helped Napoleon fund his army in Europe and the purchase also punished the British, which were France's biggest enemy.
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France needed new laws after the revolution. Napoleon wrote the Napoleonic code, which is a set of laws that Napoleon thought would make France better and more uniform. It eliminated many injustices that happened in the revolution, but made new injustices. It's injustices include restricting people's freedom of speech, restricting press, slavery in the colonies, it still didn't recognize women's rights, and it had more injustices. The code changed how France operated socially.
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Napoleon noticed that the Church was still more powerful than him, and Napoleon's main goal was to get the most power in French government. The French voters already supported Napoleon by a lot, so in December, 2, 1804 Napoleon met with the Pope in the Norte Dame. Thousands of French people watched, as Napoleon took the crown from the Pope and wore it as a sign of power. This socially changed how people saw Napoleon, as the Church was seen as the most powerful figure in France.
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The Battle of Austerlitz is probably Napoleon's greatest victories in Europe, because Napoleon took out 90,000 Russian and Austrian troops with 68,000. This massive battle also forced Austria to make peace with France and kept Prussia out of the anti-French alliance for a while. The French entered the city of Vienna and pushed Austrian and Russian forces back to Moravia. Then they fought in
the town Austerlitz. The Austrians surrendered and the Russians were forced to send their troops back -
Napoleon needed a way to hurt the British so he can weaken them during the war. Napoleon couldn't invade England directly, because England had a superior navy compared to France's. So Napoleon decided to hurt England economically. Napoleon did this by controlling trade roots with England and blocking them. Napoleon also prevented his puppet countries from trading with England. This worked and slowed down British production and increased unemployment in England.
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The Battle of Borodino was apart of Napoleon's Russian campaign and was a huge and bloody battle. Napoleon's 130,000 troops went up against 120,000 Russian troops in the town of Borodino. The Russians halted their retreat and built fortifications in Borodino to stop the French advance towards Moscow. Napoleon feared that flanking the town would give the Russians a good way to retreat, so he led frontal attacks to the town. The French finally pulled through and eventually captured Moscow.
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Napoleon got exiled to the island of Elba on April 4th 1814 and he actually did a lot on the island. Napoleon remade the legal and law system of the island and he would create schools and improve the infrastructure of the island. Napoleon wasn't satisfied with his exile though, and decided to escape the island and return to France in February 26th 1815.
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After slipping through guards and sneaking onto a British boat, Napoleon returned to France. The French people gathered around Napoleon when he returned, which called the police over to investigate. When the police arrived, the kneeled to Napoleon, since the military and police respected Napoleon as a military leader. Napoleon would then take over France once again, changing their political leader.
