French Revolution And Napoleon example essay topic

Revolutionary Leaders The effects of the French Revolution were far reaching in terms of both place and time. The political revolution evolved and changed government like a geological palatial shift changes landscape dramatically and violently. Leaders of the revolution rose and fell radically, all influencing this new ideal. Not only one of the greatest military leaders in history, but one of the greatest political and social leaders, Napoleon Bonaparte best personifies the ideals of the entire French Revolution in contrast to Maximilien Robespierre who provided a dramatic extreme in the overall purpose of change. Robespierre was completely polar towards the extreme revolutionaries. Their "Reign of Terror" attempted to stamp out all resistance, and any country who revolted against their rulers were offered help in doing so.

Robespierre, as a leader of the Jacobins, was passionate and he demanded power throughout the Reign of Terror. He defended this by saying a revolutionary government has the right to " summon extraordinary activity". He felt he literally had the right to make up rules as needed, as there were no established rules during that time. This was to rationalize the atrocities he felt necessary and justified.

This was a repressive environment, unbending and too rigid for the French People. Innocent people could be accused of being "outside the sovereign" and executed. Robespierre's position became precarious, and the people of the National Convention began to feel threatened by his so called "emergency measures of terror". On July 27 1794, rightists joined the Plain - the right wing of the National Convention- in a rising of the Convention, and Robespierre was arrested, tried, and executed by the guillotine on July 28. His position, although totally against the royals, did not embody the desires of the French people nor did he lay a political path to follow.

Although Napoleon was defeated at his best game in the end, his ideas and those of the revolution remained. The French people desperately wanted revolutionary change, but with more order and stability than was offered through Robespierre. Napoleon promised to the French people a worthy government: order, liberty, and equality; all things the French held to be important after recently surviving such a harsh and drastic revolution. Napoleon Bonaparte defined the term revolution with his political, economic, and social reforms. The French Revolution and Napoleon became the classical model for revolution. Napoleon brilliantly preserved equality of rights and integrated bourgeoisie and old social regimes.

Napoleon's greatest accomplishments include calming the civil war that was common to the city of Vendee, restoring domestic peace and tranquillity. Napoleon was able to restore the economic prosperity of France, balancing the national debt, expanding trade, and even creating a national bank. Under Napoleon, the government was completely reorganized to maximize its efficiency: this meant making the position of administrative office open to any man able enough to hold it, not just to someone of 'blue', or aristocratic blood. The "Code Napoleon" consolidated the French legal system and turned it into a uniform system. This new code held the same basic principles of the revolution, as well.

Napoleon also granted religious freedom to the catholic church in the Concordat of 1801, and he even allowed Jews their religious freedom, as well. Most importantly, Napoleon's accomplishments embodied the principles and ideals of the French revolution. This is what makes him an outstanding figure in history and a famed representative of the French Revolution and the enlightenment. He stood for the people and their beliefs, while Robespierre simply struggled to create radical reforms too fast and too disorganized. The French people just survived one of the most drastic measures placed on society: a revolution. And when a man with the leadership and courage of Napoleon steps up and assumes power, the people are susceptible to his promises of order to such a chaotic environment, even though Napoleon actually ruled them as a despot.

Such a change seemed hardly radical anymore, and Napoleon gained the support of his country in short order, hastily spreading out the boundaries of France, conquering and reforming each and every country as he went. His power grew rapidly, and his reach spread farther with every battle he won. But the true measure of this man is how he met the French people's needs, not how many battle's he won. A revolution created this enlightened despot, and this enlightened despot upheld the principles of that revolution to create an Empire that will be long-remembered.