French Revolution
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Napoleon's Coup d'Etat
Napoleon became Hero of the HOur when in October 1795 a government officer told him to defend the delegates against the royalist rebels. He and his gunners greeted the thousands of royalists with a cannonade and within minutes the attackers fled. He became Hero of the Hour and was hailed throughout Paris as the savior of the French republic. He gained many military successes and kept his setbacks out of the newspaper remaining the great hero to the people. In 1799 the Directory had lost control of the political situation and Napoleon was urged to seize political power. The national legislature members were driven out and the remaining members dissolved the Directory creating a group of three consuls. Napoleon took the title of first consul and assumed the powers of dictator. The sudden seizure of power is known as a coup d'etat. Through his war and diplomacy he was able to end the war with Britain, Austria and Russia and by 1802 Europe was at peace for the first time in ten years.
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Creating an Empire
At first Napoleon pretended to be the constitutionally chosen leader of a free republic. In 1800 a plebiscite, vote of the people, was held to approve the new constitution. The people voted in favor of the constitution that gave all real power to Napoleon as first consul. He supported laws that would strengthen the central government and achieve some of the goals of the Revolution. He set up an efficient method of tax collection and established a national banking system. Also, he dismissed the corrupt officials and set up government-run public schools. Napoleon also signed a concordat, or agreement, with Pope Pius VII where the government recognized the influence of the Church but rejected Church control in national affairs. He also created the Napoleonic Code which gave the country a uniform set of laws and eliminated many injustices but it limited liberty and promoted order and authority over individual rights. In 1804 Napoleon made himself emperor and he took the crown from the pope and placed it on his own head. This signaled that Napoleon was more powerful that the Church. He not only wanted to rule France but a large empire and started conquering Europe. The only major battle he lost was the Battle of Trafalgar which was against the British fleet. The French defeat ensured the supremacy of the British navy for the next 100 years and forced Napoleon to give up his plans of invading Britain. By 1812 the only areas of Europe free from Napoleon's control were Britain, Portugal, Sweden and the Ottoman Empire. Napoleon was not able to maintain the vast empire and after five years it collapsed.
http://www.britannica.com/event/Napoleonic-Wars
The Collapse of the Empire
Napoleon tried to create a blockade to destroy Great Britain's commercial and industrial economy and to make continental Europe more self-sufficient, but it failed this was known as the Continental System. He also overthrew the Spanish king and put his own brother in power enraging the people. This was known as the Peninsular War and he lost 300,000 men weakening his empire. Napoleon's greatest downfall was invading Russia. In June 1812 Napoleon marched 420,000 soldiers into Russia and Russians practiced the scorched earth policy where they burn fields and slaughter livestock leaving nothing for the enemy to eat. When Napoleon finally decided to turn back from the burning city of Moscow in the middle of October snow started falling in November. Soldiers died of exhaustion, hunger and cold as well as battle wounds. Only 10,000 soldiers were left and his enemies were quick to take advantage of his weakness. All of the main powers of Europe declared war on France and even though Napoleon raised another army they were ill prepared and the European powers easily defeated the inexperienced army. In April 1814 Napoleon accepted the terms of surrender and gave up his throne and the victors exiled him to Elba. When Napoleon heard that Louis XVIII was having trouble gaining popularity in France among the people that was the incentive Napoleon needed to escape Elba and try to regain power. March 1, 1815 Napoleon landed back in France and on June 18, 1815 attacked the British near the village of Waterloo in Belgium. Two days later the British and Prussian forces had exhausted Napoleon's troops and this defeat ended his last bid for power called the Hundred Days. The British the shipped him to St. Helena where he lived in exile there for six years dying in 1821.
Congress of Vienna
The goal of the Congress of Vienna was to create security and stability for all of Europe. Metternich had three goals, to prevent future French aggression by surrounding France with strong countries. Restore a balance of power so no country would be a threat to others. Finally, he wanted to restore Europe's royal families to the thrones they had held before Napoleon's conquests. Britain and France then had constitutional monarchies and governments in Central and Eastern Europe were more conservative and Russia, Prussia, and Austria all had absolute monarchs. Alliances were made called the Concert of Europe to ensure that nations would help each other if any revolutions broke out. After 1815 France was deeply divided politically and many people still supported the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Ideas about the basis of power and authority had permanently changed as a result of the French Revolution and the ideas introduced in the Enlightenment. More and more people supported democracy as a way to ensure equality and justice. The French Revolution had changed the social and political attitudes and assumptions that had influenced Europe for centuries.