Domestic and foreign policies of Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon’s Domestic and Foreign Policies

Prior to the 1700s, King Louis XVI got in power. He married Maria Antoinette. She is the daughter of Katherine the Great from Russia. While the king and the queen were enjoying their life in the palace of Versailles, people outside the palace had difficulties finding bread. The French Revolution took place with the lead of Robespierre. During the French Revolution, the French got fed up with outrageous taxes the monarchy made.

It was so bad that the peasant could barely pay for a loaf of bread, so they started to break into stores and steal, burning places down and going against the king's orders. They ended up killing the king and queen, and that is when Napoleon Bonaparte eventually came into the picture as a new leader after assassinating Maximilien Robespierre. In 1797, by the help of Pope Pius VII, Napoleon Bonaparte became first consul after overthrowing the Directory and establishing the Consulate.

During his time as a leader of France, Napoleon appeared in some respects to be an enlightened ruler like his Civil Code, him ending feudalism, centralizing the government, his religious policies, improving schools, and creating nationalism, but some of his actions contradicted that appearance, just like many other enlightened rulers like Catherine the Great of Russia. For example shutting down newspapers, controlled prices, his secret police, and the national education system were not enlightened actions.

The same action were made outside France, he made some actions that were enlightened, like conquering the Austrian Empire, the Treaty of Amiens, and expansion of the colonial empire, but he also had unenlightened thinking as well like the continental system, invading Egypt, and many wars, but the most destructive was the Peninsular war. Napoleon created the Napoleonic code in France in 1804. It is also known as The Civil Code. It was a unified legal code. It is Napoleon’s single most significant accomplishment, which abolished feudalism and allowed religious tolerance.

This confirmed the rights of individual property. This reassured the bourgeois who had gained land during the revolution, which used to belong to the nobles. It gave Napoleon greater support and paved the way for him to allow the emigres back into the country. This Civil Code also gave equal inheritance to all offspring should a parent die. Marriage became a civil rather than a religious act. Napoleon stopped a proposal for girls to marry at thirteen and for boys to marry at fifteen. Instead, he increased the marital age to eighteen for girls and twenty for boys.

The civil code also permitted divorce. It was effective in reducing internal conflict. He also improved school system as well, which was in line with the thinking of Voltaire. Voltaire believed people were born basically good but needed to be educated, and Napoleon may have shared that belief. Napoleon believed in many ideas and policies that were for the good of the country and made many people happy with the reforms that he carried out, but he was also a dictator who undertook actions detrimental to the well-being of the state and the people.

Voltaire battled corruption, injustice and inequality and strongly defended freedom of speech, but Napoleon shut down 60 of the 75 domestic newspapers because he did not agree with what they were saying about him. He also helped relations achieve positions of power in Europe, ignoring the principles of the meritocracy which he had earlier supported. He disagreed with Adam smith and the policy of Laissez Faire. He controlled prices which contradicted many principles of economics that came out of the Enlightenment.

Despite seeking popular approval, he ultimately agreed with Hobbes' endorsement of absolute sovereignty as against the more democratic and enlightened principles advanced by John Locke. Early in Napoleons’ campaign he stated that he supported the equality of citizens in France, but in 1802 he created the Legion of Honor. It was a new status in society which granted members special privileges. The legion was a "superior" group, similar to nobility, but Napoleon of course never called it that because he wanted to convince the general public that the idea of equality was still relevant.

Bonaparte thought he could not gain power by only changing France, but he looked outside Europe. He wanted to gain territories and expand his lands. He created new diplomatic system that he started conquering many countries, and created republics in Italy, the Low Countries, and in Switzerland. Napoleon created the 35 state Confederation of the Rhine after defeating Austria, and abolishing the Holy Roman Empire. Bonaparte’s first great mistake to be seen as an unenlightened despot was the Continental System.

The continental system was a foreign policy. It was basically a strict restriction against British trade. Napoleon’s reason to such bizarreness was to attempt an invasion on the UK, and to defeat the Royal Navy at sea. He did not accomplish these attempts. Napoleon then had the European nation under his full control; this only led to a very large debt. His effect of this was very bad. Food imports in Britain dropped, and mainly the price of foods increased. This forced the Britain’s to begin smuggling with Continental Europe.

But, even so, the continental system was not only affecting Europe and Britain, it was affecting many other nations, and France was on the list. Many industries that relied oversea markets began to decline, as well as buildings, and rope making. Profits were lost and no good was being done anywhere around. Napoleon caused much damaged to many, giving him the bad reputation that he began to gain, and mainly, his way on toward his downfall. Napoleon had many wars during his time. One war that had big consequences on France was the Peninsular War.

The Penisular War (1808-1819) was a major turning point in the fortunes of the Napoleonic Empire. After a series of successful campaigns, it would have been, to Napoleon, a foregone conclusion that Spain would fall at his feet. However, the Spanish war did not quite go according to plan, and marked a reversal in fortunes for Napoleon, followed by the defeat by Russia. Napoleon had conquered much of Europe by 1808. He had failed, however, to conquer Britain. Portugal was allied with Britain; it was almost a colony, for, trading.

Napoleon decided to deal with Portugal, as a means of getting to Britain. This would involve passing through Spain. Napoleon then forced the Bourbon king of Spain to give up his thrown, then giving it to his brother Jerome. Then with the support of Britain, the Spanish put the French down. That caused a weakening in French’s resourced and army. Over the time, Bonaparte was exiled to south Atlantic, simply because he had France in his hand and he was ac ting as a dictator. After napoleon, the Ancient Regime was restored with Louis XVIII, a Bourbon king.

He got his throne from his grandfather Louis XVI that was executed in the beginning of the French Revolution. The people thought the Old Regime had come back. This gave Napoleon a way to come back, hence the Hundred Days. Napoleon escaped the British who were guarding him. The Hundred Days counts the approximate number of days that Napoleon came back into power after having been exiled. Then Napoleon tried to appease the people by drafting a new constitution. It did not pass. Then he decided to inflame the Prussians again and attacked Wellington.

Napoleon tried to rule Elba and even tried to design uniforms, held receptions, and inquired into the local economy. The island of Elba was not big enough for him. Napoleon landed in France and was joined by units from the French army. Louis XVIII waited for signs of resistance, which Napoleon did not show. Napoleon became the ruler of France without firing a shot. Napoleon then tried to negotiate with the allies but they declared him an outlaw and quickly assembled their troops. The Battle of Waterloo, was where the French Army was totally defeated, ended the second reign of Napoleon.

His fate was sealed. He resigned in favor of his son on June 22nd. He was eventually taken to the Island of Saint Helena, guarded by the British, and died there in 1821. Louis XVIII then returned for the Second Restoration, exactly one hundred days after he had left it. Napoleon was an exceptional man whose intelligence and rise from the bottom is eventually defeated by his mistakes, and that caused him to fall from power. He was born in Corsica just off the coast of Italy. France had annexed Corsica in 1768, officially making him a French citizen.