...2/HUM2052 Napoleon Out of the chaos and confusion of the French Revolution, one man arose who would change the course of French and European history. This man has been called everything from a military genius and heroic soldier to a delusional dictator and paranoid executioner. Whatever one’s opinion may be, one thing is certain: Napoleon Bonaparte redefined post-Revolutionary France and, in turn, redefined the idea of what it meant to be a military dictator. To say that there was chaos and political unrest during the French Revolution is a huge understatement. After decades of oppression amidst a feudalistic society, the country peasants revolted against wealthy landowners and the aristocracy. The gap between the wealthy and powerful and those who were less fortunate was enormous, and the majority of Frenchmen would no longer tolerate living amidst poverty, hunger, and sickness while the French aristocracy lived the life of luxury off the taxes they imposed on the impoverished. After the uprising, France quickly fell into political unrest and financial disaster, with different men rising to power on nothing more than their own aspirations or “reigns of terror”, a la Robespierre. France was spinning out of control and nothing seemed to stabilize society or wield control on the population. The French were desperate for a hero, someone who would come and not only save their dying country, but also reinstate their dignity, power, and sense of national pride. Napoleon recognized...
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... Ailalou – gather one big force – deplorement of moureau down to napoleon Inspirational leader to his officers – respect Good memory – knew the motivation things – esprit de cour etc loot Weaknesses of enemy State of the army His strategy and battle field command -tactics Philosophy of war – speed, isolate enemy, defeat Campaign strategy – making it happen (Danube river east of orhm) 1805 ulm Battlefield - austerlitz -logistics - battles, sieges, grand strategy, campaign conclusion There has been great debate of Napoleon as a military leader among historians. While some think he was a military genius who led France to victory many times, others perceive him as someone, who although a good military commander, was not without his flaws, which at times proved to be very dangerous. Passage A (Barnett) is critical of the myth of Napoleon. Passage B (Rothenberg) although critical of his flaws does also highlight his talent as a commander. Passage C (Black) and Passage D (Esdaile) both praise Napoleon as a military genius and highlight his strengths. Napoleon, in fact, was a great commander, who although made errors and had some weaknesses, was successful in campaigns and battles. Victory on the battlefield clearly can be attributed to Napoleon a great deal. One of the key reasons to Napoleon’s greatness as...
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...The greatest revolutionist that the world has ever known, before and since his time, fought for Democracy, Liberty, Equality, and Freedom: all that the Man of the Millenium achieved for his republic state. In 1803, The Black Napoleon was laid to rest in Fort de Joux, France. Francois-Dominique Toussaint Breda, also more commonly known as Toussaint L'Overture, achieved the legacy of being the preeminent figure of that Haitian Revolution, through education, his brilliance as a military genius, and a political mastermind, paving the way to the second republic state in the Western Hemisphere: Haiti. He was born into slavery May 1743 in the French colony of Saint-Dominique on the Breda Plantation, near Cap-Haitien, with the birth name Francois-Dominique Toussaint Breda. Sources believe that Toussaint could be the eldest son of Gaou Guinon, a African prince who had been captured in war and sold into French slavery. Toussaint's success is credited from the education he received, even though he was a slave. The priest and former slave Pierre Bapitiste Simon, taught Toussaint how to read and write French, from a young age. Under the...
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...The Illuminating Conflict between Madame de Stael and Napoleon Bonaparte The notorious relationship between Madame de Stael, also formally known as Germaine de Stael, and Napoleon Bonaparte can be seen as electrifying and has helped provide in depth knowledge regarding the actions and livelihood of Bonaparte. In the book On Politics, Literature, and National Character, Madame de Stael describes the many attributes pertaining to Napoleon some positive and others negative. Madame de Stael’s fascinating background enabled her to become a very educated woman especially during the French Era she lived in, which allowed her to have great influence on politics. Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise to power was initially viewed by Madame de Stael as a possible rejuvenating revival of France after the revolution. Madame de Stael quickly learned that Napoleon Bonaparte was very arrogant and in her own words “I was made increasingly apprehensive. I had a vague feeling that no emotions of the heart could influence him. He considerers a human being a fact or a thing, not a fellow man. He does not hate nor does he love. For him, there is nothing but himself; all others are ciphers.” Stael became fascinated with Bonaparte because she had never met any man like him due to the unique mindset Napoleon Bonaparte possessed. Madame de Stael declares that Bonaparte has three principal foundations on which he thrives off of consisting of “satisfying men’s interests at the expense of their virtues, to deprave...
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...Lisa Rojas Jeff Johnson Civilization 2/HUM2052 Napoleon Out of the chaos and confusion of the French Revolution, one man arose who would change the course of French and European history. This man has been called everything from a military genius and heroic soldier to a delusional dictator and paranoid executioner. Whatever one’s opinion may be, one thing is certain: Napoleon Bonaparte redefined post-Revolutionary France and, in turn, redefined the idea of what it meant to be a military dictator. To say that there was chaos and political unrest during the French Revolution is a huge understatement. After decades of oppression amidst a feudalistic society, the country peasants revolted against wealthy landowners and the aristocracy. The gap between the wealthy and powerful and those who were less fortunate was enormous, and the majority of Frenchmen would no longer tolerate living amidst poverty, hunger, and sickness while the French aristocracy lived the life of luxury off the taxes they imposed on the impoverished. After the uprising, France quickly fell into political unrest and financial disaster, with different men rising to power on nothing more than their own aspirations or “reigns of terror”, a la Robespierre. France was spinning out of control and nothing seemed to stabilize society or wield control on the population. The French were desperate for a hero, someone who would come and not only save their dying country, but also reinstate their dignity...
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...It is commonly believed that the French revolution started in 1789 and ended in 1799, with Napoleon staging a coup d'etat, and eventually taking power. This, however, was not the end of the french revolution. The french revolution began in 1789, while france was under the rule of King Louis XVI, and his wife Queen Marie Antoinette. The pair were very unpopular with the public. Louis was only fifteen by the time he was declared king, and Marie was only fourteen. Louis was a timid, indecisive boy, both very unattractive features for a king to have. Marie was a lavish spender, and was nicknamed “Madame deficit” after all of her extravagant purchases. All this, combined with the fact that france was already in debt from the British-Indian war, meant france was on a...
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...Napoleon Bonaparte and Hitler were very significant figures in history and are well known for their military triumphs. Napoleon is most known for his military genius and his ability to defeat immense armies with smaller forces or to simply outwit his opponents. Hitler is best known for his atrocious human rights violations and his genocide of the Jewish during World War 2. However, Hitler was another gifted military commander who was able to take Germany from a small nation in poverty to a world power that rivaled the United States and the Soviet Union. A blemish on both Napoleon and Hitler’s military resumes is that both of them failed to conquer Russia as their invasions failed. Napoleon’s invasion of Russia was similar yet different to Hitler’s invasion of Russia. Napoleon invasion of Russia was similar to Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union for many reasons. One reason that the invasion was similar was that both Napoleon and Hitler failed in their attempts. When Napoleon invaded Russia he had brought as many as 650,000 soldiers to overwhelm the Russians. However, during the invasion “The French Army barely existed as a fighting force. Napoleon watched as his army slowly died… What remained of his defeated army straggled towards safety.” Hitler also suffered a defeat when he attempted to invade the Soviet Union during World War 2. “The tremendous strain of that winter campaign, on armies which had not been prepared for it, had other serious effects. Before...
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...General Respect: No Pun Intended Robert E. Lee, general of the Confederate Army, showed great respect to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. Napoleon Bonaparte, former Emperor of France, was exiled twice even though he should have been executed as soon as he was captured because he made many of the European kings angry. King Leonidas of Sparta stayed with his men until death even though he had the chance to run. General Macarthur of America made a vow to save his men in the Philippines. Saladin, a Muslim leader, and King of England Richard the Lionheart were enemies, but they cared for each other when one was sick or when they were missing supplies. Respect from generals is an expectation, beyond degree, that can be shown in different ways....
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...“Napoleon – Revolutionary Influence or Beneficiary?” Napoleon Bonaparte is widely regarded as one of the greatest military commanders of all time. At the height of his power, he had “expanded the conquests of France from her revolutionary borders to that of an empire that stretched from Spain to the steppes of Russia.”[1] In his book The Napoleonic Wars, noted historian Gunther Rothenberg states that Napoleon “created the most effective army of its time, transforming the art of war itself.”[2] While it is true that the French army under Napoleon was the superior force in Europe for some time, credit for its creation and the ways in which it was employed can not be attributed to him alone. In fact, as Hew Strachan points out in European Armies and the Conduct of War, “The components, the technology and the techniques of Napoleonic warfare were all present before Bonaparte’s first successful campaign in 1796.”[3] Napoleon was indeed a superb military commander, but he inherited, rather than created, the conditions and practices which enabled his success. Napoleonic warfare was dominated by large, mobile armies. Decisive battles were sought and the primacy of the offensive was encouraged. The destruction of the enemy’s forces took precedence over geographic aims and victory was to be pursued at all costs. Warfare under Napoleon has been described as being more ‘total’ in nature than those which preceded him. There is little doubt that the ways in which wars were...
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...Napoleon Bonaparte: the best of leaders; the worst of leaders 1 comment Posted in Leaders from History | 1 comment I must confess that I have a bit of thing about Napoleon. A quick check on Amazon will show you (reassuringly, perhaps, for me) that I am not alone. There are a lot of books about Napoleon. If you are a student of leadership, then you come up against Napoleon like a student of modern art comes up against Picasso. There is simply no way around the man. But why? Firstly, Napoleon had a very large canvass to work on. The French revolution was a truly remarkable event. It began as an essentially liberal revolution, but was hijacked (as revolutions so often are) by homicidal fanatics: Robespierre and his fellow Jacobins. When Napoleon seized power in a nearly botched but nevertheless bloodless and generally welcomed coup, he became the leader of a nation that was beset on all sides by the old monarchies of Europe, desperate to snuff out this terrifying, king-killing, unthinkable republic in its midst. The French people were equally desperate to retain their new and bitterly hard-won freedoms from the essentially feudal rule of the Bourbon kings and the Ancien Régime. A significant sector of society was also keen to keep its hands on the financial benefits that they had accrued by buying up, at a very good price, the lands and estates previously owned by the monarch, the aristocracy and the church. Napoleon found himself at the head of nation that was predisposed to welcome...
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...* Les Misérables synopsis: * Ex-convict Jean Valjean is the main character in Victor Hugo’s novel about the injustices of French society, Les Misérables (1862, trans. 1862). * At the time of the novel’s writing, Hugo was living in exile on the island of Guernsey—his home since 1855 when Napoleon III banished him from France. Napoleon censored the press and banished many writers and their works. * In the following excerpt from the novel, Valjean is tending to the dying Fantine, a prostitute and single mother. * Fantine is frantic about the welfare of her only child, Cosette, and Valjean tries to comfort her. Javert—a dogmatic police officer who spends most of the novel tracking Valjean--enters Fantine’s room and frightens her, with tragic consequences. * My feedbacks: * From the bare abstract, the story does not seem to promise much pleasure to novel-readers, yet it is all alive with the fiery genius of Victor Hugo, and the whole representation is so intense and vivid that it is impossible to escape from the fascination it exerts over the mind. * Its tendency is to weaken that abhorrence of crime which is the great shield of most of the virtue which society of today possesses, and it does this by attempting to prove that society itself is responsible for crimes it cannot prevent, but can only punish. * I learned that the bigotries of virtue are better than the charities of vice. * On the whole, therefore, I think that Victor...
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...The legacy of Napoleon has spanned across the centuries since Waterloo and historians always been quick to praise the Emperor and his achievements. However, over time realistic perspectives have come to light and showcase Napoleon in a different way. The contributions to history are still intact but as far as what his motivations were or the fallout from his time as ruler are far from the normal praise he has come to enjoy. Numerous experts sway on both sides of the spectrum of whether or not his success was due to his own intellect and skill or whether he did nothing more than take advantage of current events then shaped it to his will. Memoirs written by soldiers, such as Sergeant Vionnet, who fought on the front lines contain firsthand accounts...
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...Napoleon, after the French Revolution ends, takes power of the French state and becomes emperor of France. The people are fine with this because Napoleon is conquering many foreign lands across Europe and even many other parts of the world. He becomes too powerful in his quest for world domination, and the French and many other countries do not like the amount of power this one man has. Also, before this time Oliver Cromwell had deemed himself “consul for life” of England, and that also upset the people, and the others feel as if Napoleon is becoming like Cromwell maybe even worse. The people decided and feel that the absolute power of one man creates problems for everyone including the nobility and clergy. As a result, the Congress of Vienna is formed, consisting of many countries in Europe, they are created to make sure that in the future not one single monarch or country can control more than they should. Also, the people overthrew The Directory, because it was a strong dictatorship and failed at efforts...
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...succeeded. Between then and now, there have been other attempts to unify the European continent under one ruler - people such as Charlemagne, Napoleon and Hitler. It is only now that the unification of Europe seems to be possible, but in such a way as has never been thought of in the history of civilized man. No longer is the move towards a single ruler or a conquest of land. Today's unification is one of political and economic borders, in which the "conquered" nations gain a seat in an international High Authority and all people involved prosper. At least, this is the goal of the growing organization in Europe. In the course of history many famous people have spoken or dreamt of a United Europe, ranging from George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, or Giuseppe Mazzini to Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi. But probably the clearest, most concrete vision was articulated by the French writer Victor Hugo. This vision can only be understood against the background of the historic upheavals in nineteenth-century Europe that Victor Hugo experienced at first hand: several wars between France and Germany, Victor Hugo’s enforced exile in the Channel Islands because of his opposition to Napoleon III, the traumatic annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany after the war of 1870/71, and lastly his involvement in the laborious birth of the Third Republic in France. Understandably Victor Hugo yearned then for peace and democracy on the Continent. And at the Paris Peace Congress in the middle of the...
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...The Start of The Knights of Malta up to British control of Malta The most important of all the military orders both for the extent of its area and for its duration; it is said to have existed before the Crusades and is not extinct at the present time. During this long career it has not always borne the same name. Known as Hospitallers of Jerusalem until 1309, the members were called Knights of Rhodes from 1309 till 1522, and have been called Knights of Malta since 1530. Knights of St. John on 23 March 1530, the islands passed under the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, a chivalrous religious order initiated in 1099 and officially founded in Jerusalem in 1113. According to the chronicles, merchants from the ancient Marine Republic of Amalfi obtained from the Caliph of Egypt the authorization to build a church, convent and hospital in Jerusalem, to care for pilgrims of any religious faith or race. The Knights built there first structures in Jerusalem where a temple dedicated to St. John the Baptist had been destroyed. Together with the Knights Templar, who were formed later in 1119, they became one of the most powerful Christian groups in the Middle East. The order came to distinguish itself in battles with the Muslims, its soldiers wearing a black surcoat with a white cross. By the middle of the 12th century, the order was clearly divided into military brothers and those who worked with the sick. It was still a religious order and had useful privileges granted by the...
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