Napoleon’s Reign

“The Revolution is

over . . . I am the Revolution.”

What does the quote mean? What does it reveal about Napoleon?

Think About This Quote---After We Are Done I Will Ask You If You Agree---Why or Why Not?

"I closed the gulf of anarchy and brought order out of chaos. I rewarded merit regardless of birth or wealth, wherever I found it. I abolished feudalism and restored equality to all regardless of religion and before the law. I fought the decrepit monarchies of the Old Regime because the alternative was the destruction of all this. I purified the Revolution.“

– Napoleon Bonaparte

Early Life• Born (1769) in Corsica to

poor family• Character traits from the

Enlightenment– Creative, scientific, non-

traditional, liberal– The ideas of the

philosophes influenced his government, religion, law, education, and economy reforms.

Discrimination Napoleon Faced In Military School Because He Was

Corsican• Corsicans were thought of as lower people and Napoleon's Corsican decent

could have hindered his advancements because of stereotypes such as they were dirty and poor islanders with no education or class.

• Also Corsican society had very different ideals and values from those of Paris which people sometimes associated Napoleon with even though he moved to Paris when he was nine years old.

• It was also easy for people to realize that Napoleon was an islander because of his accent.

• He was so worried about being accepted by the people of Paris that he even changed the spelling of his from Buonaparte to Bonaparte to give it a French rather than Italian pronunciation. (Erickson 140)

• This is why his marriage to Josephine later on would make it easier for him to rise politically.

Early Life

• Napoleon was commissioned as a lieutenant in the French army.

• He was not popular with his fellow officers.

• He was able to inspire and motivate the troops under his command.

Early Life • Studied French philosophy• Analyzed famous military campaigns and

strategy • Studied the use of artillery in the army.

• The revolution provided Napoleon with the perfect opportunity to take advantage of his knowledge and talents.

Military Successes

• Napoleon rose quickly through the ranks of the French army.

• By age 26 he was the Commander of the French armies in Italy.

Military Successes

Italian Campaigns

In a series of lighting quick victories Napoleon crushed the Austrian armies in Italy.

On his own initiative he concluded the Treaty of Campo Formio with Austria, against the wishes of the government in Paris.

The Treaty of Campo Formio: Took Austria out of the war and placed all of Italy and Switzerland

under French control. It made Napoleon a nationalhero in France.

Impact of Josephine• Josephine Bonaparte had an immense impact on her husband Napoleon, assisting him to

his rise to one of the greatest political powers and military leaders that Europe has ever seen.

• Josephine's social powers and great personality assisted and affected Napoleon. • The emotional ties that bonded them greatly impacted Napoleon from day to day. • It was also her opinions that influenced him, for he often listened to them and took them

to heart. • Napoleon remained grateful til the day he died for her "devotion and self-sacrifice" (Laing

193) and regretted divorcing her for the rest of his life. • Josephine's good friend Claire Rémusat once said that "She (Josephine) acted as the

original link between the French nobility and the Consular Government."(Laing 123). • She would listen to their needs and tell Napoleon what she thought should be done to

satisfy them fairly (Laing 124).• When Josephine was Empress, Napoleon made it part of her job to enforce the new

social code and it is said that he did this because many of the reforms sheherself had introduced (Erickson 240).

• Napoleon had many great ideas and actions which Josephine often gave her input into and had an effect on the final result.

Character Traits of Napoleon Also Found In Dictators of 20th Century

• Impressive intellectual ability• Could work 18 to 20 hours at a stretch without a break in concentration• He was “a typical man of the 18th century, a rationalist, a philosophe who placed

trust in reason, in knowledge and in methodical effort”• He also had a love for action and boundless ambition.• He had charisma and could move men to obedience, to loyalty, and to heroic

acts.• He was quite arrogant and manipulated people at will.• He said, “A man like me troubles little about the lives of a million men.”• From the Revolution, he learned that he must become a statesman and a tyrant

to consolidate the Revolution and bind together the different social classes.• Machiavelli, the author of The Prince, would have thought Napoleon was the

perfect prince---the whole concept of the end justifies the means.• Napoleon made it impossible for the Old Regime to be restored as it was.

• The Consulate had democratic principles and voting rights, however, Napoleon soon seized power for himself and was named the First Consul.

Napoleon was the first modern political figure to Napoleon was the first modern political figure to

use the philosophies of the Enlightenmentuse the philosophies of the Enlightenment

combined with the idea of nationalism, combined with the idea of nationalism,

and to back both with military power and and to back both with military power and

force in the service of his own power and ambition. force in the service of his own power and ambition.

“The truest conquests, the only ones that give rise to no regrets, are those gained over ignorance. The most honorable as well as the most useful activity of nations is to contribute to the advancement of human knowledge. The real strength of the French Republic should henceforth lie in its determination to possess every new idea, without a single exception.”

— Napoleon Bonaparte (upon his election to the National Institute of France)

– Napoleon, quoted in Thorpe, Scott, How to Think Like Einstein, Barnes & Noble Books, Inc., 2000, p.167.

"A man will fight harder for his interests than for

his rights."

Social Class Reforms• Created a new Napoleonic nobility called the Legion of Honor.

Positions were given out depending on job and ability.• There were:

a)Napoleon’s Imperial Familyb)Six Grand Officers of the Empirec)26 Marshal Generals of the Empired)10 Princes, 31 Dukes, 388 Counts,1090 Barons, and 1500 Knights

*All served in the government*He also welcomed back all the old aristocracy that had fled the

country.

Social Class Reforms-The Bourgeoisie

• Napoleon did much to help them to gain their political support

• His legal code and economic reforms reaped major benefits for them

• Bourgeoisie not treated differently from new aristocracy.

• Benefitted from new …• Education system

Social Class Reforms-Peasants

• Improved the legal status of the peasants• But in some areas, the nobles still had feudal

privileges• Did improve their quality of life• Provided free elementary education• Offered scholarships for higher…• Education• Were not over-taxed anymore

Social Reforms---Women• The Napoleonic Code actually took away rights

women had won during the French Revolution.• For example women were not allowed to

independently trade in chattels or property, but had to ask their husbands before they did so.

• He tightened divorce laws and fathers were empowered as rulers of their homes. They could ban children from inheritance and also imprison children for a month.

Social Reforms---Women• Interestingly, Olympe de Gouges' idea of the social contract

between husband and wife was adopted in part.• The Code introduces the idea of Community. This was the joint pool

of assets and liabilities in a marriage. • The Code explains what was to be included in the pool and what

was excluded by law. • The wife's dowry was included but her "paraphernalia" was not. • Wife’s Paraphernalia: the use of logic and deduction from other

sections, one can assume that it meant little more than her trinkets, married women could not make a donation during their lifetime without the assistance or special consent of the husband or being authorized by law.

Social Reforms---Women• The husband's adultery was still no ground for divorce unless he brought his

mistress home. • However, the wife's adultery could land her in jail for up to 3 months and was

certainly a ground for divorce. • In this regard the husband had the same power as over a minor.• Other grounds for divorce were introduced : such as severe and grave injury, either party being condemned to an infamous punishment or mutual consent where the parties had been married at least two years but not

more than twenty, where the wife was no more than 45 years of age but more than 21 and where the husband was at least 25.

For the last ground of divorce one also required the consent of parents and other descendants of the spouses.

• However, this was a major amendment to the previous law and this together with the aspects of freedom of contract in relation to property brought to the marriage went some way down the road of the concept of a social contract between men and women.

Social Reforms: Overall Effects on Women

• The Code led to an increase in women's rights but fell well short of the grand social ideals of liberty, equality, fraternity.

• A woman's liberty could be removed by her husband for adultery where he could escape all legal censure; equality could never be achieved while she did not share full rights of citizenship and property.

• As for fraternity - what a boys' club!• But let us not be unjust for these were different times and Napoléon

put in place the beginnings of great social change. • The idea of the social contract which was introduced in the Code was

to endure and expand with time.

Napoleon on Women• “In France women are considered too highly. They should

not be regarded as equal to men. In reality, they are nothing more than machines for producing children.”

• “Public education does not suit women, as they are not called upon to live in public…marriage is their whole estimation.”

• “The husband must possess the absolute power and right to say to his wife: “Madam you shall not go to the theatre, you shall not receive such and such a person, for the children you bear shall be mine. Women should stick to knitting.”

Social Reforms: Jews• The Napoleonic influence

accounted for the improved status and better treatment of Jews.

• Although they were not treated the same everywhere, they had the right of worship (at least in private) and in some cases

• became full-fledged citizens.

• In some regions they preferred not to be assimilated, and to pay tribute rather than serve in the army.

Cultural Changes: Religious Reforms• July 1801-signed to Concordat

with Pope Pius VII• This regulated relations

between the Church and French government until 1905

• Did not restore confiscated church land

• Bishops were nominated by the First Consul

• The clergy was paid by the government

• But Catholicism was declared the religion of the majority of the people

• Stopped civil war in the Vendee religion by restoring relations with Rome

Concordat (Between Napoleon & Pope Pius VII in 1801)

1. France reverted back to “old” calendar.

2. Catholicism was the “preferred religion” of France.

3. Catholic Church could control primary education.

4. Church leaders had to take loyalty oaths to the government.

• This was VERY popular in France.

Concordat of 1801Napoleon wanted to heal the divisions within the Catholic Church that had developed after the confiscation of Church property and the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.

But, Napoleon’s clear intent was to use the clergy to prop up his regime.

Concordat of 1801• Catholicism was declared the

religion of the majority of Frenchmen.

• Papal acceptance of church lands lost during the Revolution.

• Bishops subservient to the regime.

• Eventually, Pope Pius VII renounced the Concordat, and Napoleon had him brought to France and placed under house arrest.

Cultural ---Education Reforms• Education was high on Napoleon's list of priorities, which were in

large part those of the middle class. • Napoleon believed in a system of merit, and for such a system to be

effective there must be some form of widespread education, especially at the secondary level.

• Problems with education system when Napoleon began to rule: This fact was made abundantly clear by the results of a survey of all

prefects in the nation conducted in March of 1801, under the direction of Minister for Home Affairs Chaptal.

Numerous complaints were heard regarding the lack of schools in many areas, lack of professionalism among teachers, lack of discipline and attendance by the students and, in a few areas, the lack of religious education. [14]

Education Reforms Dealing with Religion and Girls

• Allowed some of the religious elementary schools to be reestablished. • These schools had provided most of the education available to girls, a fact that

conveniently reflected Napoleon's attitudes toward female education.• Napoleon felt that education was important for girls, but did not generally

expect them to have the same sort of education given to boys. • In his Note Sur L'Établissement D'Écouen, [15] Napoleon suggests that religion

and assorted domestic skills necessary for the attraction of husbands should be stressed at this girls' school.

• He at least does call for their learning numbers, writing, and the principles of their language, as well as history, geography, physics and botany.

• Napoleon has been criticized for his attitude toward women and their education, but he was simply a reflection of the historical trend in France.

• Indeed, women received the right to vote in France almost a quarter century after they did in America.

Cultural Changes: Education Reforms

• Elementary schools were set up in each commune• A secondary school was set up in each department

for boys at age 12• Created a unified system of teaching under the

control of the government to teach Napoleon’s principles

• 1808-established the Imperial University• Teachers had to be certified by the University• Supported Sciences

Elementary Schools versus Secondary Schools

• Under the new system, elementary schools (écoles populaires) were to be the responsibility of the local municipalities.

• Napoleon had relatively little interest in this level of education, and was not firmly committed to the mass education that would result from a state-wide elementary education system.

• As a result, the religious schools were to share a significant amount of the responsibility for elementary education.

• Secondary education, however, was the base education for the future leaders of the nation, as well as members of the bureaucracy and the military; hence, Napoleon's greater interest.

Secondary Schools• The state had a strong interest in the curriculum

being presented, and control would be easier if they established a system of secondary schools under the direction of a central authority.

• Many of these secondary schools would be established by private initiative, including clerical, but all such schools were controlled by the state.

• Covering students roughly from age 10-16, they would provide a level of education designed to provide students for higher levels of education.

• Indeed, some bonus plans were established for teachers who had large number of students qualifying for advancement. [18]

Lycees• The heart of the new system was the establishment of thirty lycées,

which provided educational opportunities beyond the secondary schools and replaced the écoles centrales.

• Every appeal court district was to have a lycée, and they were to be completely supported, and controlled, by the state.

• Scholarships were provided, with about one-third going to sons of the military and government, and the rest for the best pupils from the secondary schools. [19]

• The lycées had a six year term of study, building on the work of the secondary schools.

• The curriculum included languages, modern literature, science, and all other studies necessary for a "liberal" education.

Lycee System of Education

• Established by Napoleon in 1801 as an educational reform.

• Lycées initially enrolled the nation’s most talented students [they had to pay tuition, although there was some financial help available for poorer student].

• Lycées trained the nation’s future bureaucrats

Lycee Bonaparte

Structure of Lycee and Teachers

• Each lycée was to have at least eight teachers, as well as three masters (a headmaster, an academic dean, and a bursar).

• In a reflection of modern debate on the subject, the government provided a fixed salary for teachers, but also provided bonuses for successful teachers.

• They were also provided a pension• Teachers were, incidentally, chosen by Napoleon from a list of

recommendations provided by inspectors and the Institute. • The inspectors were given over-all responsibility for inspecting

the schools on a regular basis.

Reforms Concerning Teachers

• Napoleon had long been concerned about the teaching profession. • He recognized the central importance of teachers to the

educational system. • He had at times suggested that the teaching profession should take

on some of the characteristics of an order, or corporation, with very specific expectations, privileges, and rewards.

• He had, for example, in a Note Sur Les Lycées [23] of February 14, 1805, suggested that beginning teachers might be forbidden from marriage.

• On the other hand, by the end of his career a teacher should see himself in the highest ranks of state officials, having been placed under the protection of the Emperor himself.

Purposes of Education Reforms• It was intended, of course, to provide an educated elite

that could help run the country and the military. • It was also designed to provide for an increased middle

class; a middle class that would be successful and hence non-revolutionary.

• There was a great emphasis on patriotism in the schools; an emphasis that was to increase during the years of the empire.

• This is not surprising, of course, as even in modern America we are expected to teach a certain amount of patriotism in our classes.

Purposes of Education Reforms• As is the case with schools today, patriotism and loyalty to the state

were a major part of the purpose of educational institutions. • We might be somewhat reluctant, however, to be as bold about it

as was the law establishing the Imperial University:• All schools of the Imperial University will take as the basis of their

instruction (i) the teaching of the Catholic religion, (ii) fidelity to the Emperor, to the imperial monarchy which is entrusted with the happiness of the people, and to the Napoleonic dynasty which ensures the unity of France and all the liberal ideas proclaimed in the constitution, (iii) obedience to the regulations of the teaching body, the object of which is to secure uniformity of instruction and to train for the State citizens who are attached to their religion, their prince, their country and their family. [24]

University Education• He established the Imperial University in 1808. The law

creating this "university" stated, in part:• ...the Imperial University, a body charged exclusively with

instruction and public education throughout the Empire. . . No school, no educational institution of any kind whatsoever, shall be permitted to be established outside the Imperial University, without the authorization of its chief. No one may open a school or teach publicly without being a member of the Imperial University and a graduate of one of its faculties. [21]

University Education• Perhaps the most important element in the

development of the Imperial University was that for the first time the state took responsibility, and control, of the elementary education of its citizens. [22]

• Teachers were placed under stricter controls, including dress, discipline, and salary

• Next few images are of the buildings of the Imperial University, now the University of Paris, started by Napoleon.

Education Reform Effects

• There has certainly been some turmoil in French education over the years, especially as regards the role of the Catholic Church.

• During the Third Republic, the separation of church and state was made complete, and the teaching of religion was no longer part of the public school curriculum.

• Thus, the curriculum of Napoleon was replaced by that of the Revolution. • The Imperial University has, of course, disappeared, but centralized control lives

on in the Minister of Public Instruction. • The lycée continues and, indeed, plays an even more important role.• It is a virtually self-contained unit, and graduation from a lycée is adequate for

many careers (unlike, say, the American high school.) • As in Napoleonic times, French education is much more stratified and elitist in

nature than in the American system; success and progression are based on examination results rather than on the belief in universal education.

Cultural Reforms---Healthcare

• He laid down the requirements for a person to be a pharmacist or a physician.

• The government favored vaccination against smallpox, and it made a feeble attempt to increase the number of midwives so as to raise the percentage of live births.

• Chaptal, as Minster of the Interior, started on a system of hospitals, each of which was to have schools for nurses, midwives, and obstetricians.

• It was the first organized public enterprise of its kind in the world

Cultural Reforms• Alongside his aesthetic works Napoleon instituted certain features necessary for

the modernization of Paris: sidewalks, house numbers, two miles of new quais, a water supply, sewers, a fire department, new markets and slaughter houses replaced the eccentric street names of the Revolution.• In 1811 he wrote to his Minister of the Interior, Montalivet, that the four most

important contributions he had made to Paris were to bring it water by building a canal from the Ourcq River, the new markets at Les Halles, the wine market, and the slaughter houses.

Cultural Reforms: The Theatre• Napoleon issued theater regulations which basically remained in

effect a century after his downfall.• The decree drawn up in Moscow laid down the organization of the

Theatre-Francaise and stipulated that the superintendent of Spectacles should appoint the committee which would decide whether the Theatre would perform a particular play.

• Napoleon personally oversaw the productions of plays in the theaters of France.

• If Napoleon disapproved of a playwright's work, his career was over.

•

Cultural: Censorship of the Press

• Napoleon also controlled the press, dropping the number of newspapers in Paris from over sixty in 1799 to four by 1814.

• “If the press is not controlled, I shall not remain three days in power.”

Cultural Changes: Art and Culture Programs

• A major patron of the arts• Made the Louvre into a national museum• Used French armies to steal priceless artwork from all the

conquered countries to hang in the Louvre• Commissioned several buildings:

a)Madeleine Parish Churchb)Arc de Triumphec)Boursed)Numerous fountainse)Four bridgesf)Vendome Columng)Courtyards

Cultural: Stolen Artwork• As imperial victor, Napoleon considered himself entitled to strip all his conquered Italian

territories of their cultural and artistic treasures. "Rome is no longer in Rome," he is said to have announced exultantly. "The whole of Rome is in Paris."

• The following year, Napoleon brought his trophies triumphantly back to France. A spectacular cavalcade wound its way through the streets of Paris, while crowds lined the route.

• Antique statuary including the great marble figure of the priest Laocoon (struggling with sea-snakes) and the majestic Roman Apollo Belvedere, with famous paintings by Raphaël, Titian and Tintoretto, all crammed into huge packing cases, were carried into the city on horse-drawn carts.

• To add to the sense of occasion, there were also animals from Napoleon's African campaign - a caged lion and a pair of dromedaries.

• But the parade's centre-piece was a cart bearing - unwrapped and on display - the four huge, antique, gilded bronze horses, which for 600 years had stood high above the great central door of St Mark's Basilica in Venice.

• In 1808 those Venetian horses provided the crowning glory for the Triumphal Arch erected by Napoleon in the Place du Carrousel, just in front of the Louvre.

• Today that arch still presides magnificently over one end of a nine-kilometre-long grand vista, running through the Place de La Concorde, and the length of the Champs-Elysée, down to the Arc de Triomphe.

Cultural: Stolen Artwork• It was certainly the documentation, if indeed not the manifestation, of a claim to

be leading in culture that Napoleon Bonaparte had in mind one-and-a-half centuries before with the Louvre.

• Whether in Italy or Egypt, once a country had been conquered, the art experts were on the spot in the front line to secure the best for Paris in accordance with the canon of Classicism.

• Translated into French, the writings of the German art scholar Johann Joachim Winckelmann, who was seen as the founder of archaeology, served as an important aid to orientation.

• The Laocoön Group and the Apollo Belvedere with their "noble simplicity and quiet greatness" as examples of antiquity, or works of the Renaissance such as Raphael's Transfiguration were to help Paris take over from Rome as the centre of European art.

• The Horses of Saint Mark were installed on the basilica in about 1254.

• They date to Classical Antiquity; by some accounts they once adorned the Arch of Trajan.

• The horses were long displayed at the Hippodrome of Constantinople, and in 1204 Doge Enrico Dandolo sent them back to Venice as part of the loot sacked from Constantinople (Istanbul) in the Fourth Crusade.

• They were taken by Napoleon in 1797, restored in 1815 and remained in place until the 1990s.

• They now reside in the basilica's museum in an upper gallery; replicas take their place on the facade.

• Apollo Belvedere that was stolen.

• It was eventually returned and is in the Vatican Museum.

• Raphael's Transfiguration was stolen.

• It was later returned and is now in the Vatican Museum.

• The Laocoon was also stolen.

• It was later returned and is in the Vatican Museum.

• Madeleine Parish Church

• Vendome Column

Cultural Programs

Cultural Reforms• Not only was Paris beautified with the

construction of boulevards, bridges and monuments, but the National Archives received a permanent home.

• Napoleon also saved the Louvre.• Monument buildings were constructed

throughout the Empire and structures, such as the Imperial Cathedral of Speyer, made famous by Luther, were preserved while work on the spires of the great cathedral of Cologne were continued on Napoleon's orders.

• In fact, Napoleon's architectural handiwork can be found scattered across Europe, from Rome to Vienna.

Place du Carrousel

Cultural Reforms: Paris Cultural Center of Europe• Napoleon thought of Paris as the cultural center of at least Europe, and perhaps

the world, just as it was the political center of the French Empire. • He therefore looted all possible areas to make the Louvre a world art center.• Among the arts, Napoleon was especially interested in architecture. Buildings he

commissioned had a Classical inspiration, and his principle seemed to be that "what is large is beautiful.“:

parish church of the Madeleine, which could now be mistaken for a Greek temple, and the Roman-style Arc de Triomphe de l'Etaile,

the Bourse the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, the facade of the Chamber of Deputies, numerous fountains, four bridges, the Vendome Column, and the courtyard and the Rivoli wing of the Louvre. The rue de Rivoli, the rue de la Paix, and the rue de Castigli all date from the imperial

epoch. the squares of the Bastille and Saint-Sulpice. In addition, Napoleon acquired the terrain which made possible the later Trocadere One hundred and three million francs spent total

• PARIS---All Napoleon Built to Beautify Paris• - The Ourcq canal, Rochechouart, Ménilmontant, Villejuif, and Grenelle abattoirs.• - The flower and bird markets• - The Halle aux vins• - Egg and fish market in the Halles Sainte-Eustache• - The Carmes, des Blancs-Manteaux, Saint-Joseph, Popincourt, Saint-Germain markets• - Pont des Arts• - Pont d Austerlitz • - Pont d Iéna• - Restoration of the Panthéon• - Reconstruction of the Odéon• - Works on the Louvre, the Tuileries, the Chamber of Deputies, and the Sainte-Geneviève

and Saint-Denis churches• - Quais du Louvre, Debilly, Morland, de la Cité• - Palais des Archives• - Fifteen fountains• - Streets: de Rivoli, de Castiglione, des Pyramides, de la Paix, Soufflot, d Ulm, Clovis, �

Champs-Élysées, etc.• - Excavation of ten kilometers of sewers • - Père-Lachaise cemetery

Napoleon on the Importance of the Louvre

He initiated work on the gallery at the Louvre, he asked the architect to carry out the work in sections: "If am unable to finish it, at least I shall not leave behind me a long line of stunted columns, sadly waiting to be crowned with their vaults and the rest of the edifice; a glance at the Carrousel will beautify as many complete arcades as I could have erected and the Tuileries service will profit from this wing more quickly than the Louvre."

1801-Napoleon’s Exhibition at the Louvre

Rivoli Wing of the Louvre

• Rivoli Wing of Louvre• Café there now

Rue de Rivoli

Examples of policies and actions of Napoleon which were consistent with

the ideals of the Revolution • Equality under the law• No legal distinctions between social classes• Merit based government offices• Napoleonic Code

– Unified legal system– Freedom of religion and occupation

• All citizens taxed equally• Set up Lyceés (government-run schools)

Examples of policies and actions of Napoleon which were inconsistent

with the ideals of the Revolution • Napoleon was a dictator• Was censorship and repression• Labor unions forbidden and the rights of

employers far greater than the rights of workers

• Did not give full equality to all• Men had extensive control over their families

Results of Napoleon and the French Revolution

• In France, it ended the Old Regime permanently– Ended feudalism and established a written constitution

• France was no longer the most powerful nation in Europe – Britain was

• The political boundaries of Europe were redefined• Was the beginning of strong nationalism which spread

throughout Europe and was sparked by Napoleon• After defeat of Napoleon, was a general peace that lasted

100 years• Ideas of the Revolution and radicalism had been spread

throughout Europe

Think About This Quote---Do You Agree---Why or Why Not?

"I closed the gulf of anarchy and brought order out of chaos. I rewarded merit regardless of birth or wealth, wherever I found it. I abolished feudalism and restored equality to all regardless of religion and before the law. I fought the decrepit monarchies of the Old Regime because the alternative was the destruction of all this. I purified the Revolution.“

– Napoleon Bonaparte