Napoleon: Rise, Fall, and Legacy in Europe
Napoleon’s France
At the beginning of the Consulate, Napoleon was in a power struggle between two consuls (a triumvirate), but in 1802, he was declared sole consul for life. Napoleon acted to repress popular protests, Jacobinism, and democratic trends. He integrated the royalists into the scheme with measures like the return of emigrants. Napoleon gradually accumulated power in his hands until he was crowned emperor in 1804. He oversaw the creation of new institutions and a series of reforms to consolidate the principles of 1791. He developed a Civil Code (1804), a Commercial Code (1807), and a Criminal Code (1810) that sanctioned equality before the law, property rights, individual freedom of conscience, self-employment, and access to public office. He created a centralized administration led by prefects. Finally, he developed public education and linguistic uniformity.
The Domination of Europe
Foreign action was the other major component of the Napoleonic period. Napoleon pursued a policy of conquest and succeeded in dominating Europe from the Elbe to the Iberian Peninsula. He sought to create an empire with its center in France and implement revolutionary institutions in the occupied territories. French rule over Europe reached its zenith in 1812. From that moment, failure in Russia, the situation in Spain, and the difficulties in forming a European coalition (1813) caused Napoleon’s decline. The occupation of Paris by coalition forces in 1814 involved the deposition of Bonaparte and the restoration of the Bourbons in the person of Louis XVIII. Popular discontent after the restoration of absolutism favored his brief return (the Hundred Days). He was finally defeated by the allied powers at the Battle of Waterloo (1815) and exiled to the island of St. Helena.
The Congress of Vienna
The great powers met at the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) under the patronage of Austrian Chancellor Metternich, the great inspiration behind the principles of the Restoration. The primary goal was to return to the situation before the French Revolution and end the principles of national sovereignty and constitutionalism. The return to absolutism was based on the rejection of the Revolution and on legitimacy, which recognized the right of hereditary monarchs, ousted by Napoleon, to regain their thrones. In some countries, certain concessions had to be made to attract the middle class in favor of reforms. In France, Louis XVIII promulgated a granted Charter, which recognized some political rights and the operation of two chambers with a limited mandate.
The Reordering of the Map of Europe
The Vienna Congress reshaped the boundaries of Europe in the interests of the victorious powers. The aim was to balance the forces of the major powers through the distribution of the remains of the Napoleonic Empire. The big winners were the Russian and Austrian empires and the kingdom of Prussia. Two principles were established that would govern international politics: on the one hand, holding conferences to discuss solutions to possible changes in the regional balance; on the other, the right to intervene in countries threatened by a liberal revolution, exercised by the Army of the Holy Alliance, formed by Prussia, Russia, and Austria.
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political doctrine that exalts and defends what it considers a nation. It has a unitary variant with the idea of coming together to create one state and another variant that is divisive, each with its own state, territory, borders, government, and identifying symbol.
Liberalism
Liberalism is the set of ideological and political transformations that occurred in Europe and America between the eighteenth century and the end of the Napoleonic Empire. It forms a current of ideological, political, and economic doctrine. It stipulates that society is made up of individuals, not estates. Features:
- In society: There is legal equality, abolition of privileges, and many personal freedoms.
- Political power: An end of absolutism, national sovereignty, and a separation of powers and institutions, administration, and public justice.