Case Study On Napoleon Bonaparte History Essay

Napoleon entered military at Brienne in 1779 at the age of fourteen .he moved to the Parisian Ecole Royale Militaire in 1784 and graduated a year later as a second lieutenant. The February of 1785 saw the death of his father and that might been seen as what propelled him to the greater height of leadership in France. He completed in one year a course that normally took three years to train and complete.

He married Josephine, who as critics would later say was an unusual match ever.

He was one of the greatest militant commanders and a risk taker, a gambler, a workaholic genius, an impatient short term planner, and a cynic who forgave his closest betrayers; to have ever existed. He ruled one of the powerful countries in Europe by the time he was thirty years of age.

He believed in the government ‘of’ the people but not ‘for’ the people. He ensured that the press was controlled and sent police around to shut down plays that hinted on criticism or bad governance. He was quoted in a famous quote that” I closed the gulf of anarchy and brought order out of the chaos. I rewarded merit regardless of birth or wealth, wherever I found it. I abolished feudalism and restored equality to all regardless of religion and before the law. I fought the decrepit monarchies of the old regime because the alternative was destruction of all this. I purified the Revolution.’

Napoleon became a general of the French revolution at the age of 24 and accumulated victories in Italy during the campaigns in Egypt and then took over power in a coup d’eat in November of 1979. He led the French revolution army from the end of 1799 and to 1804 where in 1804, he later became a counsel. He became an emperor of the French from May 1804 to April of 1814.one of the key elements about Napoleon was that he reorganize and reformed the state and the society. He also placed most of the members of his family on thrones of several kingdoms in Europe.

He was at one time president of the Italian republic from 1802 to 1805, then king of Italy from 1805 to 1814.he ruled and conquered most of the European kingdoms.Napolean also tried to bring to an end the series of wars undertaken by the European monarchies against France from the beginning of 1792.

During the French revolution, he played an active role in both political and military matters. However his fortunes rose and fell as different patrons came and went. Napoleon played a major role in the history of Europe having been a great general and later in life a monarch. He played also a greater role and is remembered in the evolution of France. Many monuments and history books have been displayed and written to showcase his accomplishment and highlight his life and history. Napoleon was a hero by 1793. Napoleon is credited for the following quotes;

1. A leader is a dealer in hope.

2. A resolute determination is the truest wisdom.

3. Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.

One of the distinguishing traits of Napoleon is that he grew to be brilliant in that he never kept his opinion to himself. It was impossible to express an opinion during his time without his approval.

Napoleon proved to be a great administrator and one of his achievements was his supervision of the revision and collection of French laws into codes.

The new codes which were seven in number incorporated some of the freedoms gained by the people of France during the French revolution such as religious toleration and the abolition of serfdoms. The most famous code known as the napoleon code or code civil still remains and forms the French civil law. He appointed prefects to administer regions called departments, into which France was initially divided.

It must be remembered that napoleon in the states that he created ,napoleon granted constitution, introduced new codes, abolished feudalism ,created efficient governments and fostered education, science ,literature and the arts.

In his final adventure, Napolean was heavily defeated in less than 100 days during the waterloo incident. His army suffered immensely and most of them died during the war and due to the strenuous conditions that they went through during the way. [2] It was during the 1812 that he destroyed most of his army and he was never able to recover again to fight with a great army again. Among Napoleon weakness in during his reign was to try and impose his brother Joseph to rule the people who were against the will of the majority.Napolean may not have been the best leader at his age, but he was superb and a genius for a general, his contributions were hugely important to the French at the time.

Bonaparte was forced to by the British forces in the island of Elba.

Napoleon died on 5th may 1821 on the island of Saint Helena at the age of 51.

Through Napoleon, history books have been written that have continued to demonstrate the kind of leadership that was exhibited by Napoleon most especially during the French revolution.