The Rise of Napoleon and Intro to French Revolution

The Rise of Napoleon

Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. Napoleon was sent to military school at the age of nine by his parents and later on when the revolution broke out, he joined the army of the new government. This army was involved in many military conflicts with different nations in Europe since 1792. Napoleon lead a French army in a series of battles in Italy in 1796. The next year, France and Austria signed the Treaty of Campo Formio, which resulted in gaining of land for the French. Napoleon was then offered an opportunity to invade England by the Directory, the five-person group that governed France since 1795, however Napoleon declined the offer because he was equipped with poorly trained soldiers. Napoleon decided to invade Egypt instead to stop the trade routes between England and India. Napoleon and his army came out with a victory in the Battle of the Pyramids in July 1798. Napoleon then thought that he should abandon his army in Egypt and return to France, however his friends encouraged him to take political power of France.While France was undergoing war, Britain, Austria, and Russia joined forces to drive Napoleon from power. In turn, Napoleon was successful once again and his military successes forced the rulers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia to sign peace treaties, surrendering. By 1802, Napoleon lead Europe to peace for the first time in ten years, people loved Napoleon and voted him to take power of Europe and then became emperor of Europe. The rise of Napoleon was a huge step towards democracy, he spread the idea of Nationalism all across Europe. Nationalism gave people that they have the power, that they could revolt and create their own democratic style of government.

Introduction

France wasn’t in the best conditions in the 1780s. Poor harvesting, crucial taxation, food shortages, and very unfair treatment. The main reason for France’s poor conditions was because they were ran by a very weak leader who cared nothing about his government, instead cared about his own wants, such as door locks and hunting. This man was named Louis, King Louis XIV, and was accompanied by his partner, Queen Marie Antoinette, and let’s just say they abused their wealth and power to a whole other level. The two did not care about their kingdom and found themselves spending way too much money for their own benefits. King Louis XIV owed many debts and to resolve it, he’d impose taxes only on the poor peasants, better well known as the Third Estate. The Third Estate was treated very poorly, while they were working in harsh conditions, the First and Second Estates would be partying and living in royalty, and in the end the Third Estate would be the ones paying for the First and Second Estates gatherings. Third Estate members realized that it was time to make a change in their government and