Transcript Napoleon the Emperor

Foreign and Domestic Policy
The Concordat
 Began Secret Negotiations with the Pope after his victories in
Italy
 Understood that the church still played an important part of
French Culture and without church support the population
would never be completely happy
 Terms of the Concordat
1. France would pay clergy
2. Seminaries were re-opened
3. Clergy was responsible to Rome
4. France keeps the land seized during the Revolution
5. France could choose its own bishops but Pope had veto power
6. Pope would publicly support Napoleon’s rule
Economic Reforms
 Standardized Coinage
 Created a centralized
bank for France
 Balanced the Budget
 Put the French
economy back on track
The Code Napoleon
 Probably his greatest
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contribution to the world
He didn’t write it but helped
with the final edits
Also, he was the only one
strong enough to push it
through
The first time a code of civil
laws was applied to a large
European nation
Very influential, adopted be
most of Europe in the 19th
century
Peace!
 When Napoleon enter power, France was still at war
 Napoleon defeated the First Coalition (England, Russia,
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Austria and others)
1799, Second Coalition formed, France won the land war
but was losing the naval campaign
1801 – Treaty of Luneville – Austria surrenders – France
takes control of Italy and ends Austria’s control of Germany
– allows larger German states to form
1802 – Russia backs out of War and England negotiates
with France
France gets to control Europe while England gets the sea
France was in the best position in its history
War again!
 Napoleon had everything – a powerful, modern nation
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under his control, all of Europe under his influence
His vision of stabilizing France and Europe had been
reached
But his vision changes – a universal Empire with France at
the center
“My power proceeds from my reputation and my reputation
from the victories I have won. My power would fail me if not
supported by more glory and victories. Conquest made me
what I am; only conquest can sustain me.”
In 1803, war breaks out between England and France
The Continental System
 The French navy was defeated at the battle of Trafalgar
 A direct assault on England would be impossible
 War was a stalemate
 Napoleon introduces the “Continental System” to attack
England through economic isolation
 Forbids any European country from trading with England
 Huge mistake – England expands its trading relationships
in Asia and continues to make money
 However, the rest of Europe was reliant on British products,
they suffered the most
The Russian Campaign (1812)
 Russia abandons the continental system
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in 1810
Napoleon gathers his grand Army –
French supported by Austrian and
Prussian Troops – 600,000 men – and
invades Russian in 1812
The Russians refuse to engage the French
and constantly retreat – instead they
burn, destroy and poison everything
while they move back
In September of 1814, Napoleon reaches
Moscow and rather than victory, he finds
the city on fire!
He realizes that his troops would not
survive the winter and he orders the
retreat
The Long Road Back
 The retreat was a nightmare
 Food, shelter and fresh
water were difficult to find
(because the Russians
burned everything and
poisoned the wells)
 The Grand Army was slowly
picked apart by Russian hit
and run tactics, Cossack
horsemen, angry peasants
and a brutal winter
 600,000 went in, only
50,000 made it out!
 There was not a single major
battle!
 Napoleon abandoned his
men and travelled back to
France
The Emperor dethroned
 With the French Army in ruins, a new coalition forms
 In 1813, at the battle of Leipzig, Russian, Prussian and
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Austrian forces beat Napoleon
English forces invade France from Spain
March 31, 1814, coalition armies take Paris and Napoleon is
dethroned
The coalition re-establishes the Bourbon monarchy and
Louis the 18th takes over (Louis the 16th brother, who was
living in exile in England)
Napoleon is exiled to Elba (a small Mediterranean island)
The Emperor Returns!
 In March 1815, Napoleon escapes and returns to
France
 He walks from the Southern coast of France to Paris
 As he travels, French peasants recognized him, grab
weapons and join him
 Louis sends soldiers to stop him again and again
 However, each group of soldiers that meets
Napoleon joins him in his Quest
 Louis runs away and Napoleon reclaims the thrown
 The rest of Europe rallies against him
 Napoleon gathers an army and meets them at
Waterloo
 Napoleon is defeated by Lord Wellington’s English
troops combined with an army from Prussia
 Napoleon is exiled again – to St. Helena – a cold
and windy rock in the middle of the Atlantic ocean
 He dies there in 1821 of Stomach cancer – he was 51
years old