Napoleon Bonaparte was an important French political and military leader in the early 1800s and was one of the most important leaders in history. Napoleon became the first French consul after conducting a successful coup d’etat in 1799. Napoleon was very important during the French Revolution, and also went on to rule France and most of Europe from 1799-1805 due to his obsession of power and control. Even though Napoleon had some accomplishments, Napoleon treated his people like a tyrant would and thought of only himself. Because of Napoleon’s selfishness when conquering other countries he is considered a tyrant.
I personally think that Henry failed in his foreign policy because he didn’t end up gaining a full grasp on France, this was the main precedence. The initial aim was to capture more land, gaining more land meaning capturing France and knowing Henry’s ambitious mindset, he most probably had his whole mind set on creating an empire and France was a good place to start. Had Henry been what he said he was ‘a warrior king’ he wouldn’t have been used as a toy twice throughout this unsuccessful foreign policy. Charles took advantage of Henry. At the Battle of Pavia, the French were defeated and Francis along with his strongest supporters were held captive.
The failure of foreign policy in the years 1514-1525 can be attributed to many things. The combination of Henry's isolation from European affairs and the fact that his attempts to raise tax were ultimately unpopular failures, meant that he had no way to impose himself upon Europe. Even when he did manage to scrape together the finances needed for a strong foreign policy his reliance on his allies led to disaster. As soon as Henry took the throne in 1509, it was obvious that he was a king that wanted to fight a war. However, wars generally led to very expensive costs to the country.
Assess the reasons that led to Napoleon's downfall in 1814 During the campaign of 1814 Napoleon had won five battles in three weeks, displaying all his outstanding powers of leadership – these victories were seen as too late, and the 6th of April 1814 he was abdicated. Prior to these battle Napoleon and his army had been rather unsuccessful. This occurred for a number of reasons; Napoleon was faced with a numerically superior opposition, the French state was quickly beginning to crumble and there was no real mood in France to continue the war- the French army felt as if they had nothing to fight for. Due to this on the 31st of Marsh the Bourbon King, Louis XVIII was restored. Napoleon’s obstinacy had lost him everything – he had fallen.
In 1789 France abolished all privileges and came up with the Declaration of Rights of Man 1789. These events led to the debate “Was the French Revolution Worth its Human?” which is being argued by Peter Kropotkin and Simon Schama. In this debate Peter Kropotkin argues yes and Simon Schama argues no. Reviewing the debate from Kropotkins point of view the author of the article “The Great French Revolution 1789-1793”, the French Revolution was indeed worth its human cost. Although many deaths occurred, France did change tremendously.
Napoleon as an imperialistic Dictator The priorities and process of coming to rule an empire in ancient history was handled differently than the leaders of today. Historical leaders focused on overpowering others to expand and conquest, whereas those of today have more to consider. In the 1800’s a ruler by the name of Napoleon expanded his empire through manipulation, deception, and superiority. Napoleon proved to be an imperialistic dictator who used power unfairly. Although his tactics were pessimistic, he was influential through the expansion of his empire, association with other leading nations, and irrational war crimes.
Through his knowledge and experience Napoleon rose from the shadows of France; with the fall of Robespierre and the “Reign of Terror” and became its new emperor. However throughout his ruling, he had several successes and failures, which was proven when he tried to invade Russia and failed, thus leading to his down fall in 1812. Napoleon’s success Foreign: - "Courage isn't having the strength to go on it is going on when you don't have strength”. Which is what Napoleon thought about when the time for battle came. One of the many things that made Napoleon a good and smart leader was his battle strategies and tactics.
The Embargo Act of 1807 is perhaps the most contradictory decision Jefferson has made in his presidency. Due to impressments of America sailors into the British Army, as well as Great Britain and France both trying to hinder American trade with the other side, Jefferson passed the act which prohibited all foreign trade, to and from the United States. This obliterated any views he was believed to have of a weak central government. The
While the sale of the territory by Spain back to France in 1800 went largely unnoticed, fear of an eventual French invasion spread nationwide when, in 1801, Napoleon sent a military force to secure New Orleans. Southerners feared that Napoleon would free all the slaves in Louisiana, which could trigger slave uprisings elsewhere. [8] Though Jefferson urged moderation, Federalists sought to use this against Jefferson and called for hostilities against France. Undercutting them, Jefferson took up the banner and threatened an alliance with Britain, although relations were uneasy in that direction. [8] In 1801 Jefferson supported France in its plan to take back Saint-Domingue, then under control of Toussaint Louverture after a slave rebellion.
First, the War of Austrian Succession 1740 to 1748, then Seven Years War which lasted from 1756 to 1763 and caused France to lose huge amounts of overseas territory due to its defeat. It also intervened in the American War of Independence from 1778 to 1783 which cost approximately 1066 million livres. Most of the cost for War was supported through the loans Necker raised, which gave the lenders lack of confidence due to lack of elected parliament to guarantee the loans. Another reason for France’s financial problems was the tax system in France. The tax farming system was ineffective and chaotic - Farmers-General paid the State an agreed sum and kept for themselves any extra amount.