Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Corsica in 1769, and at the age of nine he received a scholarship from the military school Ecole Militaire. He soon became a military genius and led France’s army through through the French Revolution. He was a hero and eventually gained political power due to his popularity and success as a leader, soon becoming the emperor of France. The goals of the French Revolution were to overthrow the monarchy, convert France to democracy, and give the peasants rights. The revolution called for “Liberty, equality, and fraternity” among the French people. Napoleon Bonaparte supported the ideas of the French Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment in that he enacted the Napoleonic Code, and undermined them in that he became
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He met with the Pope to be officially crowned as the emperor, but instead Napoleon placed the crown on his own head. When Napoleon did this, he showed that he was above the state, the church, and law. The goals of the French Revolution emphasized the importance of equality, which Napoleon did not currently show. In addition, during Napoleon’s reign as Emperor, he was confident and attempted to conquer Russia. His attempt was a complete failure, and out of the 600,000 soldiers he brought with him, only 30,000 survived. Many soldiers died from disease, exhaustion, and starvation. When Napoleon was a power-hungry dictator, he held little regard for human life. This action contradicted Enlightenment ideas in which every human life had considerable value. Also with Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, his treasury went bankrupt. Napoleon used too much money for his military campaigns and spent an absurd amount of money to decorate his imperial palace, called Tuileries Palace, which was located in the French countryside. At the time of the French Revolution, excessive spending by the monarchy led to revolution. Louis XVI spent excess money on his palace and private affairs and used the tax dollars of the peasants to pay off France’s growing debt. In this way, Napoleon embodied a despot and contradicted Enlightenment
He met with the Pope to be officially crowned as the emperor, but instead Napoleon placed the crown on his own head. When Napoleon did this, he showed that he was above the state, the church, and law. The goals of the French Revolution emphasized the importance of equality, which Napoleon did not currently show. In addition, during Napoleon’s reign as Emperor, he was confident and attempted to conquer Russia. His attempt was a complete failure, and out of the 600,000 soldiers he brought with him, only 30,000 survived. Many soldiers died from disease, exhaustion, and starvation. When Napoleon was a power-hungry dictator, he held little regard for human life. This action contradicted Enlightenment ideas in which every human life had considerable value. Also with Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, his treasury went bankrupt. Napoleon used too much money for his military campaigns and spent an absurd amount of money to decorate his imperial palace, called Tuileries Palace, which was located in the French countryside. At the time of the French Revolution, excessive spending by the monarchy led to revolution. Louis XVI spent excess money on his palace and private affairs and used the tax dollars of the peasants to pay off France’s growing debt. In this way, Napoleon embodied a despot and contradicted Enlightenment