From 1799 to 1815, how far did Napoleon maintain the aims of the French Revolution? The main aims of the French revolution before Napoleon came to power was to promote “Liberty, equality and fraternity” by putting an end to feudal privileges and the absolute rule of the monarchy and the king. Napoleon made many reforms in France which mainly supported the ideas of the revolution. However he also made several steps in securing himself as an absolute ruler of France, going against the ideas of the revolution. In October 1799 Napoleon became first consul of the government and in so being became the most powerful man in France.
This lead to assemblies, conventions, and even dictatorships. Robspierre and Napoleon came to power in a somewhat similar way, they accomplished some of their goals like: A Grand Empire and patriotism, but in the end, they were defeated by other countries and their own country. The way Robspierre and Napoleon cam to power was a little different but partially the same. The National Convention elected Robspierre to be the leader of it (second leader to Danton). He had a certain vision for France and instead of doing it the right way by asking others opinions, he took over and became a dictator passing radical laws.
France thought the war would not only help by stopping Germany’s increase in power. It would also help Napoleon III to regain his popularity after some of his failures after the commencement of his dictatorship, such as the Mexican adventure of 1867. I will now go onto the short term reasons. Firstly, Spain needed a king and Bismarck saw his chance to send Prince Leopold to become king there. France protested because they thought that having German influence on both sides would be too much if conflict would have occured.
Napoleon Bonaparte was forced to choose between following the principles of the 1789 revolution, or to part from these principles and revert to a political system similar to that of the old Bourbon monarchy. The task that he faced was considerable and Napoleon was very successful in following the revolution's principles for the first part of his career while also ascending to immense power himself. As Napoleon's power in France and then Europe increased, Napoleon began to depart from revolutionary ideals and created institutions similar to those the revolutionaries had attempted to destroy. As an opportunist, Napoleon changed his ideals from 'revolutionary to reformist to reactionary depending upon what suited him at the time.' The Directory lasted four years, the longest of any post-revolution governments, but by 1799 it was seen as a temporary solution and out of date.
• Even though he was an Emperor, he actually started the demise of kingdoms and royalty. • Napoleon’s legacy is quite complex because he was the embodiment of the Enlightenment on one hand, and on the other, he inspired fear. • He contributed to the resurgence of conservatism, the growth of nationalism, and the rise of a new phenomenon, romanticism. This deadly trio led to two world wars. • It is true that he implemented some revolutionary institutions, but one should not overlook the fact that he also had every one of them only to satisfy his own desire.
This is because Louis’ personal actions that he took betrayed people and led them to disillusionment against him as they wanted to press for a trial for the king. Louis’ decision to dismiss Necker again caused a negative outcome which can be seen when the third estate stormed the Bastille in 1789. This had a huge impact on France and changed the attitudes and ideology of the people involved or who supported it. Prior to 1792 we can see how Louis’ actions showed why there was a republican emergence. One event which is significant to emphasise this was the calling of the Estate general in 1789.
Louis Napoleon claimed that sovereignty of the people was his first priority, but it is obvious that his authoritarian rule actually came first. However, The Bonapartist regime became a little more liberal in the 1860’s as Louis Napoleon became more lenient on press censorship, he allowed for open debates to take place in the parliament. He also began urban renewal and development projects in Paris and constructed railways which encouraged and created economic development. He appeared to be a very reliable and suitable emperor, but his main downfall was his terrible decisions when it came to his foreign policy which ultimately led to his demise. France was in a bad state after the revolutions of 1848 which was sparked, because the King Louis-Philippe and his ministers refused an extension to the franchise.
With the replacement of the Girondins faction in 1793, the Jacobins had complete control of the National Convention, and France as a nation. Both the Jacobins and Robespierre wanted quick change. The ‘quick change’ desired by these individuals was a monumental task that proved nearly impossible considering the highly divided 600-member legislature in France at the time. Still, the driving force behind the Terror would not have been present if not for the Jacobins Club. Even though the Jacobins were completely controlling the government after the arrest of the Girondins, they still feared that the Revolution would fail if they failed making them very unstable.
He attacked the whole notion of social change and reserved his worst venom for the 'swinish multitude'. Thomas Paine's famous The Rights of Man was written in reply to Burke and was enormously influential in the English radical and embryonic working class movements. But reaction then had the upper hand in England, and Paine had to flee to France to avoid arrest. Though the arguments today are conducted in a more subdued and academic manner, they remain as much about the politics of the participants as about the facts of the revolution. For much of this century the idea that the French Revolution was a bourgeois revolution, driven by class conflict, which swept away the political structures of feudalism and cleared the way for the development of capitalism, was generally accepted.
The principals of the declaration were being applied. So we can from at least the fist part of the changes of the national assembly, the power of veto was in the king's hand and he in a way did abuse it just to get his own way and power. Another issue was the active and passive citizens; in 1789 some people were allowed to vote, these allowed to vote were called the active citizens, they had to pay to vote, so many couldn’t vote . So what Louis could have done was maybe lower these taxes, if he would have done this he would at least have the support of the ones who could not pay fot vote. But as he didn't do anything still the higher bourgeoisie and upper classes still controlled the government