Successes and Failures of Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte was the most successful leader of his era. His life consisted of many accomplishments followed by a few failures. Napoleon was born on 15 August 1979 in Ajaccio, which is the capital of the island of Corsica. He attended school at the age of 9 in France, and later got admitted to the military school in Paris at the age of 15. Napoleon was exceptionally good in his studies, especially mathematics, which made him a second deputy of artillery at the age of 16. He went to Corsica three times at the beginning of the French Revolution in order to set the Revolution there. All his efforts were unsuccessful. In 1793, his superiors noticed his exceptional artillery performance during the siege of Toulon, which resulted to his promotion as a brigadier-general of the artillery by the Committee of Public Safety. Napoleon as a Jacobin lost his commission in 1794 when Robespierre was killed. To save himself, he disowned any involvements with the Jacobins. He was back in his military uniform by 1975, protecting the Directory. Napoleon became prominent when he fostered an attempted coup against the Directory. This worked in his favour, resulting in his appointment as a commander in chief of the Army of Italy. The successful days of his military had just started[footnoteRef:1]. [1: Tim, McNeese, The Age of Napoleon. (St. Louis, Mo: Milliken Pub, 2000), 16]
Napoleon is well-known as one of history's greatest and prominent military commanders. Through his reformation of the French army, his capability to handle clashes with great manoeuvre and his adaptable and unusual strategies of handling the armies, he was successful in dominating the European battle field during most of his career.[footnoteRef:2] [2: "Napoleon as a Military Commander: The Limitations of Genius." Napoleon as a Military Commander: The Limitations of Genius. Accessed April 14, 2016. http://www.napoleonseries.org/research/napoleon/c_genius.html. ]
After the demise of Robespierre in the summer of 1794, the ultimate consequences brought about by the French Revolution did not end. The breakdown of Jacobin force and the formation of the Directory in Paris as the regulatory body of the country also did not result in the termination of those consequences. The men of this five-person committee government were regularly part of themselves. The Revolution could not resolve the crucial issue of a financial crisis that was faced by the nation with the decreasing face value of paper money assignats to one percent. The Directory did his best to overcome the poverty, hunger and bankruptcy in the country by bringing back the assignats and delivering new currency, but it didn't work in their favour[footnoteRef:3]. The Directory was dependent on the backing from the military to keep itself in power, but in 1797, its political force came to an end due to lack of military support. In the same year, the army expelled the administrative and judicial divisions of the French Government. Napoleon Bonaparte took hold of the power by force at the end of 1799. He ended 10 years of war, reform and defeat known as the French Revolution, and set up a military autocracy. French history from 1799 to 1815 is largely based on the success stories of Napoleon's power. Throughout the battles with the prominent authorities of Europe, Napoleon proved to be an exceptional political leader and military contriver. He introduced a new constitution in France called the Consulate, after the defeat of the Directory. The structure of the Consulate was familiar with the Roman Republic and its Later Empire of ancient times. Napoleon was a military dictator who confirmed himself as a First Consul. Later in 1804, he emerged as an emperor of France and the lands which he had captured. His political and military power was at its peak after he strengthened victories over his European enemies, including Russians, Austrians and Prussians from 1805-1807. The years that followed were slow for him, with less or no victories. He completely over exhausted himself after his dreadful invasion of Russia in 1812. He continued to win wars in 1813 and 1814, bringing to an end his power and the resignation of his royal seat. Even though Napoleon was expelled to an island in the Mediterranean, he ran away and united with the French in 1815, which resulted in another defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in summer. Napoleon lived his final years on an island off the cost of West Africa where he ruminated, writing his records until his death in 1812.[footnoteRef:4] [3: William, Doyle. The Oxford History of the French Revolution....
A a) Describe the personal traits and talents of Napoleon which place him in a unique position in world history. Napoleon Bonaparte was the leader of the French army that defeated the revolution. He ultimately became the dictator ruler of France and succeeded in conquering various parts of Europe. However his methods are frowned upon, Napoleon the First and Emperor of France remains unique personality in the history of the world. As
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