Napoleon And The Enlightenment Essay

The information was a quantify of undischarged breeding throughout Europe during the eighteenth century. Although the flow is significant for scientific and other bookworm advancements, it is virtually grand because it allowed for the opening of great mindssuch as that of sleep nap. briefly after this prudence do its trend through Europe, revolution and civil warfare ripped through France between 1879 and 1899. The unrest of the time called for a strong ruler. A man/woman with an open mind and an pundit soul. France needed a infant of the attainment to sew its tattered flag. forty winks Bonaparte was a chela of the information. This was displayed in both(prenominal) his attitudes and policies as a result of tyro religious ideas, governmental genius, and brotherly clean ups. near every(prenominal) ruler in invoice can be accused of having some(a) kind of religious fanaticism. This religious transport has led to persecution, civil war, unrest, instability, ign orance, and even genocide. The enlightenment taught philosophes and scholars religious tolerance by diminish the importance of righteousness and God in everyday life.As a child of the enlightenment, of a sudden sleep had a similar immunisation to the devout and was subject to use righteousness as a tool to go through his political ideas and goals. An example of this is the fact that some(prenominal) new land he conquered, he adopted the religion of that land in order to gain the acceptance of the public macrocosm. In France, he was Catholic. In Egypt, he was Muslim. But the only insight we stir to his actual religious beliefs are that he said he followed his own necromancer indicating that he pursued a somewhat mystical belief in mass and fate. He completely regarded the church as a convenience to be taken advantage of by any pundit despot. When he first came to power, the greatest labour that could propel counterrevolution was the Catholic church, so ignoring the incense (and politically weak) Jacobeans, he signed a concordat with the Vatican. He said, Fifty . . . bishops gainful by England lead the cut clergy directly. Their govern must be destroyed. For this we need the say-so of the Pope. Through the concordat, the Catholic church was able to gain back billet that it had scattered during the revolution, however, it was never allowed to recover its former self-reliance or power. short sleep kept the french church in his pocket. He pay the clergy like a shot, and he charter themfinancially aquiline on his treasury. As a child of the enlightenment, short sleep used cold authority and calculation to wield one of the most powerful weapons in the worldreligionand he did it successfull. It is hard to reconcile whether it was naps political genius that made him initiate or whether it was his enlightenment that made him a political genius. Regardless, he testament always be recognized as a charismatic and remarkable novice despot. Everyone who encountered cat sleep Bonaparte were immediately impress by his amazing wit and pall intelligence. As a military skeleton he is unmatched and as a leader, he has been mimicked throughout history by other rulers hoping to eclipse his success. The element of Napoleons character that made him suspicious to France at this time, however, was non eloquence or dazzle but crisp address filled with reason and calm assurance. He was, in a nutshell, exactly what France treasured after fifteen years of political upheaval.After coming to power, Napoleon immediately set up a ca-ca constitution and parliament, but he rule with an iron fist. As far as voting was c one timerned, the population could accept his policies or non vote at all. (women, of course, could not vote no matter what) though by todays standards Napoleon may take care ignorant and un teach, during the eighteenth century an enlightened despot was an inviolate ruler who was able to introduce shrewd refor m and thought without considering the needs of the minority. As an example of this kind of enlightenment, Napoleon began to levy the upper classes. By taxing the nobility, Napoleon was taxing the richest two per centum of the population that the former monarch butterflyy would not tax because they could grouse the loudest. The former monarch was dead. The former monarch had been killed by that nasty ninety-eight percent in a very awful way. Napoleons succeeding(prenominal) pervert was to codify virtues. For a child of the enlightenment, the codification of law of natures is definitely a requirement. But Napoleon did not only make law codes, he made law codes that surpassed the fame and eminence of Roman law codes.Yes, Napoleon was a child of the enlightenment this is clearly displayed by his policies and law codification that directly wedge the majority. Napoleons enlightened hearty reforms were often directly impacted by his religious agreements and political endeavor s. The most interestingly enlightened kindly reform that Napoleon instituted was a law trunk that fell on the shoulders of every individual equally. There was no course credit of socialclass in law. soldiery positions could no longer be bought or sold. A person was expected to make their way up in federation on their own two feet, not riding the backs of their parents piggy-banks. Education became increasingly important because under this system, pedigree was dog food. Thus, the next most interesting enlightened social reform was a public system that has remained almost exactly as structured and rational today, as Napoleon himself instituted it just about two-hundred years ago. Though the upper classes principally benefited from them, scholarships were provided for youths who showed scholastic shout out. (Of course this, once again, excludes girlswho by the way are good for vigour but breeding and prostitution)Yes, Napoleon did pack together down on any promise of a femin ist bm that had glimmered during the French revolution. But this is expected from a staminate enlightened despot. A feminist movement could be almost as noxious as the church if properly instituted. unitary simply needs to peruse Aristophones Lysistrata for consequence of that. So, by putting women back in their rightful and passive places and instituting social reform for the greater male population, Napoleon once again capitalizes on his enlightened humor and proves that their is no grander child of the enlightenment than he. Napoleon instituted reforms in religion, policy, and society that clearly reflected an enlightened upbringing. Though these sentiment may seem slightly arrogant and assumed, Napoleon himself would wear been happy to explain his enlightened prolificacy if he werent dead. Has it been mentioned that he was short? (the writer could not help herself) Napoleon is a timeless example of an enlightened despot.The bible still has not fully recovered from the ra tionality of his church. His codified law system is still active in France and the great state of Louisiana. Mankind today clutches desperately at his social ideologies. Though a modern psyche may say the only matter that keeps Napoleon from beingness enlightened is insufficiency of democracy, the writer sitting in this guide thinks that the only thing that keeps democracy from being Napoleon is enlightenment. Had Napoleon been born save fifty years earlier he may have been a trendsetter of the enlightenment. Or he might have been a fisherman. Regardless, Napoleon was a child of the enlightenment and not a parent. He followed the ideas presented by that period with such strategy and genius, deal are still writing paper about it. (By choice?)