In class last week I learned about Napoleon. Several of my classmates had learned about Napoleon last year, but I had never studied him before. I was excited for the new unit, because I had heard of Napoleon, but I didn’t know anything about him. The essential question for our class asked us what Napoleon’s impact was on the social, economic, and political systems of Europe. My class watched a video about Napoleon’s life, which helped me learn the basics about Napoleon’s reign of power and his impact on the people. We then read a primary source document about Madame de Stael and Marshal Michel Ney’s opinion of Napoleon. After that, we reviewed our knowledge of Napoleon by highlighting a document showing Napoleon’s effect on France versus the world and discussed key questions in our groups.
 |
| Napoleon Bonaparte http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Napoleon_Bonaparte_Lithografie_von_Louis_Kramp_ca1825.jpg |
There were many people who thought of Napoleon as a hero, but there also many people who thought of him as a scourge to France and the world. Madame de Stael fits into the latter of these two groups. She accuses Napoleon of having “profound contempt for all the intellectual riches of human nature: virtue, dignity, religion, enthusiasm.” Madame de Stael also criticizes Napoleon’s rule when she said “His system was to encroach daily upon France’s liberty and Europe’s independence… By alternating between cunning and force he has subjugated Europe.” Madame de Stael was a member of the nobility during Napoleon’s rule, and she represents the way that the wealthy saw Napoleon. The wealthy didn't like Napoleon because he took some of their power away. Marshal Michel Ney was one of Napoleon’s military officers. His view of Napoleon represents the opinions of the people who benefitted from and supported Napoleon’s rule. Marshal Michel Ney told Napoleon’s soldiers that “Napoleon, our sovereign, belongs alone the right to rule over our beautiful country.” He also refers to Napoleon as “our august emperor.” People like Marshal Michel Ney supported Napoleon because they were given opportunities and power that they didn't have before. Current day historians are split as to whether or not Napoleon impacted the world in a positive or negative way. George Gordon Andrews wrote in one of his books that “Napoleon was so inconsistent in many of his actions, so untrustworthy in much that he said of himself, and so all-inclusive in his ambitious designs that differing interpretations of the man are inevitable.” Andrews speaks for the group of historians who believe that Napoleon both helped and hurt Europe during his rule. He suggests that neither side is completely right because Napoleon did both positive and negative things for many different countries.
I agree with Andrews. I think that Napoleon helped and hurt Europe during his rule. I believe that that Napoleon hurt the political systems in Europe by taking art from Italy, and by taking control of nearly all of Europe. He did help the political systems in Europe by overthrowing the French Directory. He helped Europe’s economic systems by building new roads and canals, and by controlling prices and removing trade restrictions, and by staring the Bank of France. He also helped the European social system by establishing a meritocracy and by giving property and education rights to citizens. Napoleon did a lot to help France and Europe, but he also damaged countries and made unwise decisions.
Sources:
Ten Years of Exile, by Madame de Stael, trans. Doris Beik (Saturday Review Press, 1972)
The French Revolution and Napoleon: An Eyewitness History, by Joe H. Kirchberger (Facts On File, 1985).
No comments:
Post a Comment