In order to understand the effect of Napoleon Bonaparte’s role in France, it is first necessary to understand something of Napoleon’s life, understand the ideas of The Enlightenment and understand the stage upon which the French Revolution occurred. These are massive and complex topics which can receive only the most cursory of glances in a short essay.
Napoleon was born in 1769 on the island of Corsica, which had only belonged to France for a year at the time of his birth. It was an Italian (Republic of Genoa) possession prior to that time and had and has a deep Italian culture. It was given to France in payment of a debt. Napoleon was born in the capital city of Corsica, Ajaccio. His father worked as lawyer on the island. His family was minor nobility but the family was not wealthy. He attended school at a French military academy in France and graduated in 1785. The French Revolution is said to have started in 1789, but he was in Corsica for most of that time. During that time he associated with the Jacobin movement. This is an important point to note as the Jacobins were heavily involved later in the French …show more content…
However, that view is tainted by Robespierre’s support of Rousseau’s Social Contract which allowed for the notion that the “General Will” of the people could supersede individual liberty and representative government with the institution of Revolutionary Tribunals and restricted liberty. In reality, the French Revolution was not just revolt against a monarchy, but a fight between supporters of liberty and supporters of socialism. What has survived is the loss of monarchy, the rise of secularism, the rise of Republicanism, the institution of a declaration of the rights of man, but there is the remaining sense of Social Contract represented by Robespierre and the Reign of Terror that has given rise to French
Napoleon was born in 1769 on the island of Corsica, which had only belonged to France for a year at the time of his birth. It was an Italian (Republic of Genoa) possession prior to that time and had and has a deep Italian culture. It was given to France in payment of a debt. Napoleon was born in the capital city of Corsica, Ajaccio. His father worked as lawyer on the island. His family was minor nobility but the family was not wealthy. He attended school at a French military academy in France and graduated in 1785. The French Revolution is said to have started in 1789, but he was in Corsica for most of that time. During that time he associated with the Jacobin movement. This is an important point to note as the Jacobins were heavily involved later in the French …show more content…
However, that view is tainted by Robespierre’s support of Rousseau’s Social Contract which allowed for the notion that the “General Will” of the people could supersede individual liberty and representative government with the institution of Revolutionary Tribunals and restricted liberty. In reality, the French Revolution was not just revolt against a monarchy, but a fight between supporters of liberty and supporters of socialism. What has survived is the loss of monarchy, the rise of secularism, the rise of Republicanism, the institution of a declaration of the rights of man, but there is the remaining sense of Social Contract represented by Robespierre and the Reign of Terror that has given rise to French