Napoleon Creates an Empire One of the world’s greatest military geniuses He inspires his troops & creates strategies most don’t think of Despite short stature (he wasn’t as short as believed – they used metric system), only took him 4 yrs to go from military officer to emperor He fought in the revolution & was considered the savior of the republic when his troops repelled an attack by Royalists on the National Convention In 1796, Directory appointed him to lead the military campaigns against Austria & Sardinia, which were successful

Napoleon’s Coup d'état In 1799, he seizes power from the Directory, which had lost control & confidence of people Directory is dissolved, and 3 consuls are appointed Napoleon makes himself #1 Consul & makes like a dictator! He once again leads troops into battle – this time against Britain, Russia, and Austria Using his diplomacy skills, Napoleon gets a treaty with them – 1st one in 10 years – this makes the French people happy.

Napoleon’s Reforms With wars over, he focuses on improving France 1st he gets people to support & approve a new constitution, which gives him total power as 1st Consul (uh oh!) He strengthens the central government Focuses on achieving some of the revolution’s goals Stabilizes the economy by creating a fairer & more efficient tax collection system & by establishing a new national banking system Ends gov’t corruption

Napoleon’s Reforms With wars over, he focuses on improving France He creates gov’t-run schools to better prepare people for gov’t jobs. All social classes can attend Appointments to gov’t jobs are based upon merit - you have to earn it through achievement, not through family connections He makes an agreement with the Pope to re-establish a relationship with the church. Church can function, but not play a role in national affairs (basically gov’t)

Napoleon’s Reforms He created the “Napoleonic Code” 1st uniform (standard) laws to ensure there are no injustices The new laws limit peoples’ freedoms – like speech and press – but they brought order and stability to society Many people wanted the stability more than the freedoms The code also restored slavery in French colonies in Caribbean

Emperor Napoleon In 1804, Napoleon made himself emperor & people supported him Coronation was in Notre Dame Cathedral He took the crown from the pope & crowned himself He wanted to show that he was more powerful than the Catholic Church

Napoleon Builds an Empire Napoleon sets out to create an empire First he tried to regain American colonies from Britain, but gave up and focused on Europe He annexed the Austrian Netherlands, part of Italy, & Switzerland Of course this makes other countries nervous Britain convinces Russia, Austria, and Sweden to join them in stopping Napoleon’s advances His many battlefield successes force his enemies to sign peace treaties – he built largest empire since Roman empire

Battle of Trafalgar Napoleon lost one major battle It was a sea battle against Great Britain, which had the greatest navy. Britain was as good at sea battles as Napoleon was on land This loss was significant in terms of its effects It ensured British supremacy at sea for many years Napoleon tried many other ways to take down his arch-enemy Britain, which eventually leads to his downfall

French Empire By 1812 Napoleon was the master of Europe He held all of Europe except for Britain, Portugal , Sweden, & Ottoman Empire Although France doesn’t posses all of the remaining countries, Napoleon uses military threats & creates alliances to keep control over them The French Empire was huge, however it was very unstable It eventually collapses in major part due to Napoleon’s decisions & actions