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... work for and age of talk... he would create a methodical government based upon popular consent, and conceived in the interests not of any particular faction but of France as a whole. Napoleon is generally credited with having consolidated the gains of the Revolution With the exception of fathering the Civil Code, Napoleon perhaps gloried more in his reputation as consolidator of the Revolution than in any other one title.
In this sense he can be credited with having saved the Revolution by ending it. Had the Bourbons come back to power in 1799 instead of Napoleon, they would at that time had less trouble turning back the clock to the ancient regime than they had in 1814. The Code Napoleon, one of the Emperors most enduring achievements, embodied many of the principles of the Revolution and made them permanent. Feudalism was suppressed and careers were open to all those with ability regardless of birth. Napoleon became the personification of the revolutionary aims of the bourgeoisie. He reformed and modernized French institutions.
He brought much longed for order and stability to France and forged a sense of unity. He attempted to unite under his wing both the revolutionaries and the emigres nobles, clergy and others who chose or were forced to live in exile under the Revolution. The sales of the lands taken from the nobles who had emigrated or been declared enemies of the state, from the Church, or from the Crown an important benefit for the middle classes and the peasants of the Revolution were recognized not only in Napoleons coronation oath, but also in the signing of the Concordat with the Pope. It has been said that many of Napoleons reforms were just continuations of reforms begun under the Revolution (just as it has been said that many of the reforms of the Revolution were continuations of those begun during the ancient regime).
It is important to keep in mind that Napoleon also brought these reforms to the countries with the Empire, where they were truly revolutionary. The principles which Napoleon inherited from the Revolution and consolidated in France, he exported to the countries, which fell under the French empire. If Napoleons reforms in France were no longer revolutionary, outside of France these same reforms were profoundly revolutionary. It had been the goal of many of the Revolutions leaders to revolutionize the rest of Europe. Napoleon accomplished this. The principle of equality was recognized in the destruction of feudal rights and privileges in the Empire and in the submission of all members of society to a common scheme of justice, the Napoleonic Code.
The Legion of Honor was also intended to foster equality, as well as reward talent. The establishment of the Legion of Honor, which was the reward for military, civil, and judicial service, united side by side the soldier, the scholar, the artist, the prelate, and the magistrate; it was the symbol of the reunion of all the estates, of all the parties. The Emperor, as the supreme executive, was deemed the representative of the general will. This powerful executive was a feature also of the relationship between the Convention and the Committee of Public Safety, as well as the Legislature and the Directory. The Revolution, like Napoleon, bore a strong authoritarian streak.
Napoleon declared that he wanted to cement peace at home by anything that could bring the French together and provide tranquility within families. Napoleon didnt see an incompatibility between the Revolution and monarchy. Napoleon did what the Bourbon King could not reconcile the elements of the monarchy with elements of the Revolution which was the failed goal of Mirabeau in 1790. Napoleon was largely successful in attracting men from all parties from ex-Jacobins to ci-devant noblest his government.
Signing the Concordat (15 July 1801) allowed Napoleon to reconcile the religious differences which had torn France apart during the Revolution. (At the same time, the Concordat insured religious freedom. It recognized Catholicism as the religion of the majority of the French, but did not make it an established religion as the Church of England was in Britain. Protestants and Jews were allowed to practice their religion and retain their civic rights. ) A general amnesty signed by Napoleon (26 April 1802) allowed all but about one thousand of the most notorious emigres to return to France. These two actions helped to bring relative tranquility to those areas of France which had long been at war with the Revolution. What of liberty? Of the three key principles of the Revolutionliberty, equality, and fraternity it was liberty which suffered most under Napoleon.
Bonaparte can be reproached for not having established liberty; he cannot be accused of having destroyed it, for the excellent reason that on his return from Egypt he did not find it anywhere in France. The French desiring to safeguard what that had acquired during the Revolution, be it rights or property, wanted these guaranteed. Many felt that guarantee could come only with the restoration and preservation of order. They were willing to sacrifice their liberties for that guarantee, for that order. He would keep most of the revolutionary institutions while at times amalgamating then with those of the Old Regime, which were restored but adapted.
His work would prove so solid that it made any total restoration of the past impossible. The solutions Napoleon came up with leave little doubt that he was the heir and preserver of the Revolution. Napoleon had undoubtedly felt a revolution had been necessary. When it had achieved its purpose he felt that it was necessary to end the Revolution and begin the work of governing. He exported to those countries under French hegemony many of the achievements of the Revolution. He embodied these achievements in the Code Napoleon.
Without the Revolution Napoleon, despite his talents, would have been no more than an obscure provincial military officer. He unified a country torn apart by ten years of political and religious strife. While liberty languished, he promoted equality and opened all careers to those with talent. A proletarian king, he humiliated kings and nobles in his antechamber. He leveled ranks not by lowering but by raising them. He insured religious tolerance.
He consolidated and preserved the gains of the Revolution. Bibliography:
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