France under Napoleon

France under the Consulate

A state to reform

It was under Napoleon that France underwent major reforms that helped to forge the country's identity following the Revolution, and made him one of the fathers of our institutions. After the Revolution, the French obtained new freedoms, and acquired civil equality. Freed from the feudal yoke and levies from the clergy (tithe), the peasants remained under the influence of the bourgeois, who grew rich and constituted large estates. But all without exception wanted peace, economic stability, an end to political upheaval and insecurity in the countryside. This is the goal set by Bonaparte, then First Consul.

Constitution of the Consulate

Napoleon began by promulgating the Constitution of the year VIII, the executive power is mainly attributed to the First Consul, who reduced to little the functions of the other two (Cambacérès and Lebrun who replaced Sieyès and Ducos). He appointed ministers, and dealt with treaties and declarations of war. The legislative power was quite small, it was composed of two Chambers each composed of 300 members. The Tribunate contented itself with discussing the laws (giving its agreement or its refusal), the Legislative Body as for it, voted the laws without being able to discuss them. An ingenious system, where the power of one Chamber does not encroach on the other. The ministers (the most famous of whom are Fouché and Talleyrand) were authorized to give their opinion, but it was necessary to avoid upsetting the Emperor, because his anger was famous. One day, he kicked Senator Volney in the stomach, who disagreed with him.

The Three Consuls

On the left, Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès, in the center Napoleon Bonaparte and on the right Charles-François Lebrun

The Three Consuls:Cambacerès, Bonaparte and Lebrun - by Vengorpe (National Library, Paris)

Organization of the Scheme

The internal history of the Consulate (1799 - 1804) was that of an efficient and rapid reorganization of the territorial administration. A police hastened to restore order around Provence or Languedoc where brigands had settled. But these measures often proved to be excessive (2,500 people incarcerated in state prisons), especially since the robbery did not cease completely. New roads made it possible to restore the lines of communication, and they were intended to facilitate the movement of armies and agents. The centralization of power initiated under the Old Regime was reinforced by the Consulate. Napoleon made the majority of these decisions at the Tuileries Palace where he was based.

Bonaparte's agents (prefects and judges)

In the departments, power was delegated to administrators appointed by him. There were the prefects (helped by the sub-prefects), they appointed the mayors of municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants, for the other larger towns it was the First Consul who reserved these appointments. After the reorganization of Justice in 1800, the judges became civil servants appointed by the First Consul. In all areas, the power of a single man was established, he had to complete the task by restoring civil peace to the French.

Napoleon and science

Napoleon always took a certain interest in technical and scientific progress. Here, we see Alexandre Volta presenting his discovery to the First Consul in 1800:the electric battery

Alexandre Volta shows his electric battery to Napoleon Bonaparte in 1800 - by Nicola Cianfanelli (Museum of Physics and Natural Sciences of Florence)

The major measures of the Consulate

The Concordat of 1801

Reconciling the French meant re-establishing harmony between the clergy and the revolutionary patriots. He therefore signed a concordat with Pope Pius VII. The Church regained a dominant place in French society, but in return the government also had an influence on the Church, and Bonaparte took care of appointing bishops and paying ecclesiastics as his officials. However Pius VII came into conflict with the Emperor and was interned in Fontainebleau, a new concordat was signed in 1813, which the Pope disavowed the same year.

The Civil Code

The legal rules of the Old Regime were completely modified by the institution of new laws and legal rules. Promulgated in 1804, the Civil Code took into account the irreversible transformations of the Revolution but retained some principles of orders from the Old Regime. Thus the Civil Code took note of the disappearance of feudalism, guaranteeing personal freedoms, the equality of citizens before the law and the secularism of the Church. However, it reinforced paternal authority in the family, reducing the status of women and children. The right of property was reinforced, provoking the rise of the bourgeoisie. He restores the right of primogeniture on the land (the eldest of the children obtains the inheritance of the property of the parents). It banned strikes and union demonstrations. The workers carried a booklet distributed by the police where the bosses appreciated the qualities or defects of the holder. Many European countries and even Canada used this code (also called Code Napoléon) to establish their constitution.

The Civil Code

“My real glory is not having won forty battles; Waterloo will erase the memory of so many victories. What nothing will erase, what will live forever, is my Civil Code. However, it will have to be done again in thirty years. » Napoleon in Saint Helena

the height of the reign

Economic boom

Bonaparte endeavored to restore the finances of the State (which was lacking before the Revolution). He applied a system of stable and equal tax collection, by creating a body of preceptors and controllers. The Banque de France was created in 1800 bringing together private associations, it minted the currency and distributed it exclusively from 1803 (it is the new currency:“the germinal franc“). Inspired by Colbert's measures, Napoleon closed the borders to foreign products, creating a condition of autarky intended to favor domestic production. The cotton industry was a privileged beneficiary. Manufacturers like Dollfus in Mulhouse or Richard-Lenoir in Paris adopted English machines (this was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution). The woolen industry also experienced a major boom. The iron industry developed with the extraction of minerals in Lorraine. In agriculture, colonial products such as coffee and cane sugar were joined by chicory and beet sugar.

Napoleonic France

The work of reorganization was by its breadth introduced a measure of qualities which ensured an exceptional duration. But the First Consul was devoured by the ambition of perfection, to establish the durability of the regime, to ensure the obedience of the people. But the successes on the battlefields and within the State made him accept the Empire, "It is by conquests that I have risen, it is only by conquests that I could maintain myself" . Once Emperor, Napoleon had little to change in the established institutions, he contented himself with making them even more authoritarian. The Court was dissolved in 1807, the work of the ministers was not limited to the execution of the decisions of the Emperor. He said to his Minister of War Berthier “Hold strictly to the orders I give you; I alone know what I must do. Napoleon surrounded himself with a court, and 18 generals became marshals, it was a question of having the Empire accepted. This one had for emblem a deployed eagle which made reference to César and Charlemagne, but Napoleon also adopted the golden bee that Cambacérès advised him. We had indeed found golden bees in the tomb of Childeric I in 1653 and it was one of the symbols adopted by the Merovingians.

The French campaign

Napoleon leading the French campaign with his exhausted marshals and generals.

1814, Campaign of France - by Jean-Louis-Ernest MEISSONIER 1864 (Musée d'Orsay)

Neoclassicism references

Under the Empire, Europe underwent a new art movement:neo-classicism, which advocated a return to the aesthetic canons of Greek and Latin antiquity. In architecture, the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile for example, there are many other Parisian monuments that are part of it, such as the Paris Stock Exchange. In painting, David's paintings such as "the Sabines" or "the oath of the Horatii" testifies to this change. Furnishings and fashion are also influenced there, as Bonaparte's bedroom at the Tuileries is an example. But even more, there are many references to Ancient Rome under the political regime of Napoleon, the Consulate is thus borrowed from the triumvirate, the Empire and its symbol the Eagle are also reported there. The recent excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii (respectively in 1720 and 1748) revealed more Roman art, explaining a new return to Antiquity in Europe after that of the Renaissance.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Portrait, of the Emperor with the laurels of the "Caesars".

The end of the Empire

A despotic regime

As imperial power became more absolute, the freedoms hard won during the Revolution shrank like a trickle. The obedience of citizens who became subjects again was the greatest of virtues, some of them were rewarded with the first crosses of the Legion of Honor, Napoleon declared:“It is with rattles that one leads men. The press was closely watched, only four titles enjoyed their publication in Paris, they had to further restrict their political allusion. Napoleon himself falsified the figures sent to him. In the provinces, only one title circulated, written by men appointed by the prefect. Theater and literature were routinely subject to censorship. Some critical writers like Chateaubriand or Madame de Staël were forced into exile or silence. Education, on the other hand, had the sole purpose of training the capable and disciplined elite destined to oversee the nation. The primary school was neglected in favor of the high schools, which were to train civil servants or officers. They taught Latin, grammar, sacred and ancient history, as well as the rudiments of science and mathematics. The monopoly of education by the State was entrusted to a grand master who directed the University. The baccalaureate, state diploma was created at that time. Finally, slavery which had been banished by the Revolution was reestablished in 1802 after the revolt of Santo Domingo led by Toussaint Louverture where General Leclerc died.

The rise of opposition to the regime

From 1812, after the first signs of weakness shown by the Empire (Spanish guerrilla warfare and the Russian campaign), the majority of social classes showed general discontent. The bourgeoisie, which had nevertheless benefited from the measures of the Consulate, and by the enlargement of its markets, began to get tired of the total absence of freedoms and criticism of power. The continental blockade against England had favored the primacy of the French economy, but the agricultural products that were exported to England (wine, wheat, hemp, flax) were numerous, and the industry very quickly experienced increasing problems in obtaining supplies of raw materials. The peasants, on the other hand, were tired of seeing their children go to the front at younger and younger ages. The working class initially welcomed the prohibition of work in the mine for children under 10 years old, but Napoleon was very little interested in the “people of the suburbs” of whom he granted a mistrust. The war had so far brought a lot of wealth to the Empire, but thereafter, it cost more and more expensive, not to mention that the young soldiers began to show weariness. Finally, the conflict with the papacy earned Napoleon the contempt of the clergy and many Catholics. Little by little, out of interest and weariness, the French broke away from the regime, yet the people and the Army kept a real devotion for their emperor until the end. The great empires of history have often been short-lived, and Napoleon's is no exception.