Saying the French revolution emerged with Napoleon at the helm is a little disingenuous. It all happened a decade before he rose to prominence. Then Napoleon hijacked it, claimed to be a champion of the revolution but in reality he was is it's betrayer. He took France back to monarchy.
It is only from the perspective of the current world we can claim he hijacked the revolution. The people who took the tennis court oath did not want a democracy, they wanted responsible monarchy. Most of the enlightenment philosophers did not want a democracy, they wanted an enlightened monarchy. If the last decade of French history before the revolution had proven anything it was that democracy was dangerous, chaotic, blood thirsty, corrupt, and incompetent. Was it a betrayal of the ideas of the revolution to accept an enlightened monarchy which set about codification of the law in a responsive manner to the grievances of the general population?
I do not know enough about this time period to defend him the way I would Caesar, but from what I do know, I do not think he was just a dictator who took power because he could. He used his power to cement many of the goals of the revolution into law spreading the napoleonic code across europe. The revolution wasn't just about doing away with the monarchy and even if it was the one and only goal, they had a decade to replace the monarchy with a working system and failed spectacularly, falling to counter revolution after counter revolution. He abandoned some goals in exchange for securing others. He didn't betray the revolution, he compromised in such a way that would achieve many goals and form a stable government that could protect those achievements. It was as much a revolution against feudalism as it was against monarchy, and they won when it came to feudalism despite falling to the sixth coalition. I think calling him a betrayer of the revolution goes too far.
Saying the French revolution emerged with Napoleon at the helm is a little disingenuous. It all happened a decade before he rose to prominence. Then Napoleon hijacked it, claimed to be a champion of the revolution but in reality he was is it's betrayer. He took France back to monarchy.
Alot of people forget that, well put.
He did have a lot of liberal ideas though he was a very liberal dictator or emperor, king whatever you would like to call him.
It is only from the perspective of the current world we can claim he hijacked the revolution. The people who took the tennis court oath did not want a democracy, they wanted responsible monarchy. Most of the enlightenment philosophers did not want a democracy, they wanted an enlightened monarchy. If the last decade of French history before the revolution had proven anything it was that democracy was dangerous, chaotic, blood thirsty, corrupt, and incompetent. Was it a betrayal of the ideas of the revolution to accept an enlightened monarchy which set about codification of the law in a responsive manner to the grievances of the general population?
I do not know enough about this time period to defend him the way I would Caesar, but from what I do know, I do not think he was just a dictator who took power because he could. He used his power to cement many of the goals of the revolution into law spreading the napoleonic code across europe. The revolution wasn't just about doing away with the monarchy and even if it was the one and only goal, they had a decade to replace the monarchy with a working system and failed spectacularly, falling to counter revolution after counter revolution. He abandoned some goals in exchange for securing others. He didn't betray the revolution, he compromised in such a way that would achieve many goals and form a stable government that could protect those achievements. It was as much a revolution against feudalism as it was against monarchy, and they won when it came to feudalism despite falling to the sixth coalition. I think calling him a betrayer of the revolution goes too far.
Because the French Revolution turned to pot that's why.
Nice video ❤
Very subtly stolen from Clever Camel