Western History

There is no doubt that Napoleon had a major impact on the post French revolution period. First I will describe negative impact he had on France and western Europe then I will discuss the positive impact Napoleon had on France and western Europe.

Napoleon became the first consul in 1799 and helped overthrow the government he once helped build. Napoleon set out to secure his position of power by eliminating all of his enemies and weakening all others. He also guaranteed the security of all other property gained in the revolution, this move made royalist very upset because the idea of returning the property to it's original owners.

During Napoleon reign he was either preparing for a war or at war. He wanted to all the European powers. Napoleon was quite capable of doing so with his prior success with the military. He then signed treaties with Austria and Great Britain. He wanted to establish France as a dominate power in Europe. The peace was very short lived France began an 11 year war period that started in 1803. With Napoleon in power, European powers began to fall one by one. First came Austria in 1805 next up was Prussia in 1806 then Russia in 1807 then finally came Spain.

Napoleon had some positive impacts but not many in my view on France and Western Europe. Napoleon reestablished relations with the pope in 1801 by the concordat, which recognized Catholicism as the religion of the French and restored the roam catholic hierarchy to France. Napoleon wanted France to be on top of everyone so he supported science work in areas such as physics and chemistry. In his mind this would help build for the future. This contribution was much needed he authorized the creation of the bank system French industries flourished because of this.

The best thing I believed Napoleon did was come up with a new legal system/ the Napoleon code facilitated trade and the development of commerce. He also protected property right and equality before the law.