Napoleon's History

                Napoleon has gained a bit of a bad connotation throughout the course of history. For one, he was never actually that short. As an emperor he was a ton better than many others that have existed, and he was nearly indestructible on the battlefield. His love of micromanaging even had him stand on the same lines as his soldiers and share the same dangers they felt. Much of the bad characteristics associated with him were created from British propaganda, and most of the rest comes from the fact that he called himself an emperor. In truth, Napoleon made many economic, political, and social reforms still present in Europe today, and most of them weren’t all that bad.

            In terms of economics, Napoleon had many ways of making his country richer. For one, he sold America the Louisiana Purchase, which consisted of most of the land France had owned in the Americas, which not only helped America prosper but gave France a good deal of money. He achieved the monumental task of balancing the budget, something that America had hardly managed to do, and established the Bank of France. When he conquered Italy, he took vast amounts of money and used it all for France. While this may not be the best way to achieve economic prosperity, it was at least effective.

            Much of Napoleon’s success was based on politics. The French Directory actually hired him for their own uses, but somehow he managed to turn the idea around them getting all five members to quit. With France under his control he conquered nearly all of Europe, save England, Portugal, and Western Russia. While much of Europe was taken through military might, a lot of it was still politics. He had to have many allies, and somehow he managed to hold his territory, which according to him was all of Europe except England. Being able to hold such a large amount of territory alone is a feat worthy of the history books.

            Perhaps Napoleon’s greatest reforms took place in the social sector. He is often seen as a strict ruler, as he did call himself emperor, but in reality he gave the people a lot more rights than they’d previously had. He gave more citizens the rights to own property and get an education. When he took over Egypt he established the Institute of Egypt, which began the study of ancient Egypt. But perhaps most important of all, he took away the titles of lords, kings, and serfs alike, and put nearly everyone on an equal playing field. While at the time European nobility hated this, seeing as they had all the power, this idea seemed to linger, and much of Europe had kept the idea. While Napoleon’s image has been somewhat destroyed over history, let it not be forgotten that he did more good than bad in his short time ruling the continent.