conny bonny's List: Napoleon

• Despite his lowly beginnings, he rose to be the undisputed ruler of France and influenced the fate of Europe. He fought a series of wars against all the states of Europe, and redrew the borders of the continent many times. He also passed a wide range of laws within France, and established a variety of new institutions as part of his system of government.
• His huge successes in Italy in 1796 and 1797, and expedition to Egypt 1798–99, ensured that he had become the leading military figure of the day.
• the Directors' plans to use Napoleon to make themselves all powerful were soon overturned by the ambitious Corsican, and by the end of 1799 Napoleon had seized absolute power, and was the undisputed leader of France.
• Napoleon set about reforming France internally, both by building on the changes made by the revolution and by introducing his own more traditional ideas.
• In December 1799 Napoleon drew up a new constitution for France, known as the 'Constitution of the Year VIII'. This constitution gave him total control over the government of France.
• The new organization gave Napoleon total control of France.
• property rights of all those who had bought land taken from the Catholic Church during the revolution. This measure increased Napoleon's support among the key middle classes.
• Napoleon worked to introduce a system of education that would produce highly skilled civil servants, engineers, and soldiers.
• Ministry of Education (University of France) in 1808 to control education
• Napoleon ensured that education was available to his supporters in the middle classes, as well as reserving one-third of all places in his lycées (schools) for the sons of the military. The education of women received little interest from Napoleon.
• In 1804 Napoleon reintroduced the nobility to France.
• By 1814 Napoleon had created 32,000 nobles, of whom over three-quarters had been nobles in 1789.
• In 1801 Napoleon forced Pope Pius VII to sign the Concordat that allowed the Catholic Church to return to France, although it remained heavily under the control of Napoleon and the French government.
• In 1804 Napoleon forced the pope to take part in his coronation as emperor.
• In 1800 he established the Bank of France, which was a central government bank modelled partly on the Bank of England.
• The burden of taxes was increased and, more importantly, their collection was made much more effective.
• Napoleon was never able to create a surplus in the government's account because of his constant warfare across Europe.
• Continental System, which had an impact on domestic economic affairs. The Continental System forced all occupied or allied nations to trade within the French Imperial area, and banned trade with Britain. The System, which was established following the Berlin Decree (1806) and the Milan Decree (1807), opened up vast markets for French merchants and industrialists to exploit.
• It became known as the 'Code Napoléon', and remains the basis of French law.
• at war between 1799 and 1815. During this time Napoleon managed to defeat every European power in battle except Britain.
• In European history, the wars fought by France with other European nations between 1791 and 1802 are known collectively as the Revolutionary Wars; those fought from 1803 to 1815 are known as the Napoleonic Wars.

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