Napoleon Bonaparte's Rise & Fall

Napoleon Bonaparte bought the French Revolution to an end in 1799 but he was also a child of the revolution. The French revolution made possible his rise first in the military & then into supreme power in France and gave him new opportunities to use his knowledge. In 1797, Napoleon returned to France as a conquering hero. By 1799, the British had cut off Napoleon's army in Egypt so he abandoned his army and returned to Paris. One of Napoleon's first moves at home was to establish peace with the oldest enemy of the revolution, the Catholic Church. The most important of the codes was the Civil Code or Napoleonic Code, which preserved most of the gains of the revolution by recognizing the principle of the equality of all citizens before the law, the right of the individual to choose a profession, religious toleration, and the abolition of serfdom and feudalism. Within his empire, Napoleon sought to spread some of the principles of the French Revolution, including legal equality, religious toleration and economic freedom. The spread of French revolutionary principles was an important factor in the development of liberal traditions in these countries. A second important factor in the defeat of Napoleon was nationalism. Napoleon's spread of the principles of the French Revolution beyond France indirectly brought a spread of Nationalism as well.

Information found in Book, Pages 563 - 568