Anguiano Hernandez Ricardo

Canchola Heron Eduardo

Ortega Esteban Maria Teresa
Sanchez Mendoza Jorge Alberto

Modern ideas of the Napoleonic Empire

Throughout this writing the Napoleonic era will be addressed, we will begin by
giving a brief political biography of Napoleon in order to put the reader in the
temporal context of this important character; Also, we will highlight the most
relevant events of this French period and see the ideas of nation, country and
homeland embedded in the policies that Napoleon carried out while he was on
the throne. The Napoleonic Empire was an important event in the history of
France since during this period peace and stability were given to a nation that
was involved in post-revolutionary chaos. So, a very popular general like
Napoleon managed to take control of France, first through the Consulate, then
as emperor he obtained a march in his ideas and plans to change the way in
which the vicissitudes of the Ancien Regime were carried out.

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio,

capital of Corsica, from his early years he stood out for his lively and turbulent
character. When he was 11 years old, his father took him to France where he
found protection for his son, and also managed to get him accepted into
Brienne's school .

In 1784, without yet reaching the age prescribed by the regulations, he was promoted to the class
of disciples who had to transfer from the military school of Brienne to that of Paris. 1 According to
José Fortian, at the outbreak of the French Revolution Napoleon Bonaparte became a republican
“because it could provide him with the means to make a fortune and satisfy his excessive ambition
.”2

Before approaching the ideas of nation, country and homeland embedded

in the policies of Napoleon Bonaparte, we must understand the context in
which these policies occurred during the Empire. Once the time of “terror”
exercised by the Health Committee and the quarrels between the Jacobins
1
José Fortian Pons, Political and military history of Napoleon Bonaparte put in its true point of
view, Barcelona, Printing and bookstore of Pablo Riera, 1840, p 17, 20.
2
Ibid. Q 21.

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and the Girondists ended, this ended, causing the revolutionary government to
break up, which led to its end with the establishment of the Directory, which
was looking for a liberal regime that was supported by the people. 3 During the
period that the Board was in office, it created a General Secretary and a
Ministry of Police, and made efforts to fix the Public Treasury and production. 4

Later, in 1799 and after a coup d'état by Napoleon Bonaparte, a Consulate

was established, in which apart from Bonaparte himself there were two other
provisional consuls who were: Sieyés and Roger Ducos, but Bonaparte was
the strong figure among the three. Something fundamental that happened
during the Consulate stage was the creation of the Constitution of the year VIII
in 1800.

This was not a coincidence, but, thanks to the great military strategist that
he was, he was successful in this campaign due to his military and political
ability. Napoleon knew how to enter French politics, so he took advantage of
the situation that the citizens were going through as a double-edged sword,
since this process gave him entry into politics and in some way he gained
followers for his cause and , followers, he also acquired fame. On the other
hand, he could go down in history as a hero and defender of the French
people.

We can say that Napoleon appeared at the right time, because he not only
served the citizens, he also achieved political unity, this is the most notable
thing about him, because with the Old Regime there was no such stability in all
sectors of society. , and as we already mentioned with the new leader, social,
institutional and military stability was achieved, this was due to Bonaparte's
intelligence and training.

By 1804 Napoleon had all the power of France in his person and that is
when he finally established the empire and was crowned by Pope Pius VII. But
because he was crowned emperor, he did not put aside what was fought in the
3
Georges Lefebvre, The French Revolution and the Empire (1789-1815) , Mexico, FCE, 2004, p.
267.
4
Ibid. , p. 269.

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French Revolution and that is where he will finally put his policies and ideas
into practice.

Throughout his government, Bonaparte had important feats regarding

invasions and looting of nations, an example is Spain in 1808. Where he
subdued Ferdinand VII, then the king of that empire already in decline, among
other maneuvers typical of a genius. Which makes us reflect on his ambition
and thirst for power. Also in the same way, we came to the conclusion that
Napoleon's empire had a paternalistic vision in wanting to possess large areas
of territory.

(...) it was the culminating moment of a total restructuring of continental Europe, the Holy
Roman Empire disappeared and the Papal States, Italy and Germany underwent profound
transformations, all of this to the benefit of France, whose great empire extended from the
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Ebro to the Elba (and even beyond)

This era stood out not only in politics, but also in the economic part.
Napoleon dedicated himself to supporting and elevating it, since, as
mentioned, it was in a very deplorable state. The emperor focused on
improving infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, canals, and ports. I also
promote internal trade, industry and agricultural production; In this sense,
cotton was a more important industry because there were many
establishments. In agriculture, feudalism was abolished, property was
redistributed and internal borders disappeared.6

According to our vision, we think it happened because of two things; the

first to show a France with strong and national unity. The other was to
strengthen the economy since financing for wars, the survival of the state and
its inhabitants came from here, which is why internal trade was promoted and
the cotton industry was greatly favored, which was of utmost importance in
nineteenth-century France.

5
José María De Francisco Olmos, “ The Coinages of the Napoleonics.” Image of New Europe
(1803-1815)”, Documenta & Instrumenta, 5 (2007), P 158.
6
Agustín Ramón Rodríguez González, “France and Napoleonic Europe” in From the liberal
revolutions to the First World War , Digital Library of the CEU-San Pablo University, 2006, p. 125

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 Another aspect that seems very important to us is in the field of education,
there were many changes with respect to what teaching was in the time of
Louis XVI, so drastic transformations were adjusted. So Napoleon reorganized
education into three levels: primary, which was compulsory for all French and
relegated to local authorities or in some cases, the Church took charge of
some primary schools.7 In the case of the other two, secondary school and
university, where deeper transitions were made such as: organization,
teaching methods and study plans. Also the government was the only one that
provided official degrees for students.8

It is obvious that Napoleon wanted a literate state, and for the type of
change that was proposed, it was evident that he wanted more civilized
citizens, who were capable of thinking so that the nation would advance as a
whole and thus, have a smaller number of illiterate people. . But in our view, he
wanted the French to be role models for all those states that were subject, and
also at the same time, stand out as a strong nation, solid with literate and
intellectual inhabitants.

Likewise, we can see how the old education that was provided before the
Revolution, where the Church was in charge of all education, is put aside. It is
at this time that Napoleon sought indoctrination to form citizens as “faithful
“patriots” who could respect and comply with the laws. In this way, an
institutionalized and educated nation began to be formed since the history of
France was also better taught and the country's own literature was reviewed.
And there we can already see a small outline of national identity.

Regarding the Napoleonic code , this is an important event that occurred

during the Bonapartist Empire. This conception was about civil, criminal, and
fiscal legislation, this was a modern novelty which was approved and
published in 1804. This statute is of utmost importance since it laid the
foundations or served as an example for the other codes of the West.9

7
Ibid. p. 126
8
Ibid .

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 Through this Code, many laws were reflected that had been suggested
during the revolutionary stage, but due to the instability of the period it could
not be done and it was also given legal and legal permanence that was so
needed. The most important thing about Napoleon's legislation was that it
legally ended the Old Regime since it eliminated society divided into classes
and the legal privileges that being in certain classes implied.10 Other relevant
peculiarities of the Civil Code are: freedom of conscience, the separation of
powers: legislative, executive and judicial, in addition to the privileged powers
based on birth and supported freedom of worship.

With this legislation, the foundations of the elements that make up a

legal, administrative and civil country begin to be laid. These regulations were
so important that they served as a model for what would later become future
countries. And above all, these rules gave a complete change to the society
that was getting tired of the instability in which post-revolutionary France found
itself.

In conclusion, Napoleon's ideas were reflected in all aspects of his

government while he was on the throne. It should be noted that some of these
convictions or laws had been in mind since the French Revolution, but due to
the lack of stability in which the revolutionary government found itself and
Napoleon had to first establish order, once pacified, France could launch its
plans.

French citizens were initially happy with the emperor, since they were
obtaining what they so coveted during the French Revolution. Later
Bonaparte's government became a tyranny, with this a struggle arose in
French political power, and although power was not centralized, but federal, it
had problems.

9
José Palanca, “The Napoleonic Code” in La Crisis de la Historia , Digital Magazine consulted at
https://www.lacrisisdelahistoria.com/codigo-napoleonico/#ts-fab-bio-below [September 22,
2019]
10
Ibid .

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 Finally, we think that every beginning has an end, and Napoleon's had
one. Since, he did have innovative plans, but his contradictions marked his
government, since it ended up being what he criticized so much. Vico
mentioned it well, that history is “cyclical”, by which we do not mean that
French history repeated itself, but that in the last moment of the empire, it took
on certain patterns that caused the Bonapartist decline.

By 1812, the fall of Napoleon's government began to appear, for various

reasons, including the failure of foreign policy. An example of this is Russia,
since Napoleon decided to invade it in winter, another case was Spain began
to rebel against a foreign emperor, if we add internal politics to that, Napoleon
contracted weakness and the situation became increasingly delicate. .

Napoleon physically disappears, but his military, institutional, and

educational ideas are what created the foundations of today's Europe and the
entire world.

Bibliography

 Lefevbre, Georges, The French Revolution and the Empire (1789-1815) ,

Mexico, FCE, 2004.
 Olmos, José María, “ The Napoleonic Coinages.” Image of New Europe
(1803-1815)”, Documenta & Instrumenta, 5 (2007), P 158-192.

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 Palanca, José, “The Napoleonic Code” in La Crisis de la Historia , Digital
Magazine consulted at https://www.lacrisisdelahistoria.com/codigo-
napoleonico/#ts-fab-bio-below [September 22, 2019]

 Pons, José, Political and military history of Napoleon Bonaparte put in its
true point of view, Barcelona, Printing and bookstore of Pablo Riera, 1840,
pp189.

 Rodríguez González, Agustín Ramón, “France and Napoleonic Europe” in
From the liberal revolutions to the First World War , Digital Library of the
CEU-San Pablo University, 2006.