Napoleon

• Napoleon Bonaparte's strong personality dominated the European scene. B

• Born in 1769, Bonaparte grew up in Corsica and was the son of anti-French revolutionaries.

• However, upon studying at the academy, he became a lieutenant of artillery, the highest rank for those not noble. With the end of the privileges, he was promoted- to general.

• In 1796, victories in Italy made him the first soldier of the Republic. When, in 1799, the Directory proved incapable. And the people tired. Power was delegated to the general, now a consul.

The Consulate

• Beginning with 18 Brumaire, France was ruled by a triumvirate of consuls. As the first consul, Napoleon had the power to make laws, direct diplomacy, and appoint ministers, high officials, and judges.

• The Senate, guardian of the Constitution, appointed members of the Tribunate and the Legislature.

• In 1799, the fourth Constitution since the beginning of the revolution was made, with no preamble and no declaration of rights. In an authoritarian manner, the consulate repressed neo-Jacobin and monarchist revolts.

• Napoleon recognized the agricultural changes of the Jacobin period. He offered peasants the land expropriated from the nobility. Amnesty to the exiled nobles, authorizing their return, was also provided.

• He created the Bank of France and encouraged public works. And industrial growth, especially in textile manufacturers.

• In parallel, he established religious pacification and, in 1801, ended the opposition between the Catholic Church.

• Napoleon faced the anti-French Coalition II and once again invaded Italy. He crossed the Alps to defeat the Austrians. However, continuing effects of the Revolution destabilized international relations and made peace very difficult.

• During the Consulate period, the Napoleonic Civil Code was also promulgated, whose purpose was to systematize all human possibilities in the field of law and guarantee the moderate achievements of the revolution: individual liberties, right to private property, equality before the law.

• However, it maintained the subordination of women to men and strikes. And trade unions. Napoleon replaced all the old universities with Polytechnic Schools.

The Fall of Napoleon

• The Empire was highly complex. To govern it, Napoleon needed men and resources. In Italy, individual taxes were doubled, in addition to confiscations and exemptions against the Catholic Church. These measures were not well received, and Italy experienced large popular movements in opposition to the French.

• By 1812, France controlled the entire European continent, except the British Isles, Scandinavia, Russia, and the Turkish Empire. Napoleon then placed Brother Joseph on the throne of Naples, Brother Louis on the throne of the Netherlands, Brother Jerome on the throne of Westphalia, and made other appointments.

• Napoleon invaded Portugal due to D. João VI's resistance to the continental blockade, as the Portuguese kingdom had relations with the English. At this time of the Napoleonic invasion, the Braganza Crown materialized the old project of transferring it to Rio de Janeiro.

• The French army's passage through the Iberian Peninsula also strained relations with Spain. And even though Joseph Bonaparte was crowned as Spanish king, the population, with the help of the Catholic Church, defeated Napoleon through his guerrilla tactics (at which point the term "guerrilla" even appears).

• Spain's victory encouraged several national movements of resistance to France. Russia also broke the continental blockade. The attitude of Tsar Alexander I challenged Napoleon's authority. Therefore, in 1812, the French emperor began the long march on Russia.

• Despite having a larger army, Napoleon was defeated in one of the greatest military disasters. It was the beginning of his end. After the disaster, England formed the Sixth Coalition with Prussia, Russia, and Austria in 1813.

• Napoleon and his army were beaten at the Battle of Leipzig.

• These events led to Napoleon's abdication.

• The former emperor was replaced at the helm of France by King Louis XVIII, Louis XVI's brother. He escaped exile and returned to France. Louis XVIII fled to Belgium, and Napoleon returned to power. This period became known as the Hundred Days' Government.

• No power wanted to negotiate with him. A seventh coalition was organized, against Napoleon.

• The Battle of Waterloo was the endpoint of the Napoleonic Wars. Exiled to the island of St. Helena, Napoleon died in 1821 at the age of 52. The legacies of war and the Congress of Vienna Napoleon's defeat could not undo the spread, throughout the Western world, of the principles of the French Revolution.

• In each conquered region, Napoleon deposed the absolute monarch and established a liberal constitution and civil code.

• Thus, people realized that a radical transformation of the social and political order was possible. Even though the population saw Napoleon as a tyrant, he left legacies in the conquered places.

• After the conquest of Portugal and Spain, in the same way, the process of independence in America gained momentum. In the region of present-day Italy and Germany, the transformations of Napoleon's time decisively influenced the unification movement in the 19th century.

• After the Thirty Years' War, the equilibrium achieved at the Peace of Westphalia was interrupted by the Napoleonic period.

Congress of Vienna

• The fundamental objectives of the Congress were to preserve the reigning dynasties and create an anti-hegemonic balance, that is, one that would prevent the formation of a new empire. From the event, several agreements and treaties were sealed, such as the following:

• Restoration Principle: the central idea of the victors was to restore the Old Regime by returning power to the old structures.

• Principle of Legitimacy: rulers and borders before the French Revolution were to be restored.

• Principle of European Equilibrium: aimed to stop the strengthening of any power, preventing them from achieving hegemony. France lost territories and paid compensation. Prussia received the Rhineland and Saxony; Russia obtained part of Poland; Austria obtained Northern Italy; the Confederation of the Rhine became the German Confederation, etc.

Geopolitical system

A multi-polar geopolitical system has thus emerged.

• Holy Alliance: composed of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, it aimed to maintain international order. The armies of the Holy Alliance were the biggest armed element of the absolutist powers, repressing opposing movements.

• England, aiming to ensure its economic hegemony in America and fearing the geopolitical strengthening of Russia opposed the Holy Alliance and supported American independence movements.

Conclusion

• In any case, the years between 1815 and 1914 marked relative peace among the European powers. However, these countries promoted bloody wars in Africa and Asia, as we will see below.