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==Notes==
==Notes==
<references/>
<references/>
==Further reading==
==
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/napoleonincaric00rosegoog|title=Napoleon in Caricature 1795-1821|publisher=John Lane, 1911 Caricature|last1=Broadley|first1=Alexander Meyrick|year=1911}}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1093/fh/18.4.379|title=Napoleon Bonaparte as Hero and Saviour: Image, Rhetoric and Behaviour in the Construction of a Legend|journal=French History|volume=18|issue=4|pages=379–403|year=2004|last1=Dwyer|first1=Philip G.|doi-access=free}}
* {{cite journal |last=Dwyer |first=Philip |title=Remembering and Forgetting in Contemporary France: Napoleon, Slavery, and the French History Wars |journal=French Politics, Culture & Society |year=2008 |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=110–22 |doi=10.3167/fpcs.2008.260306 }}
* Englund, Steven. "Napoleon and Hitler". ''Journal of the Historical Society'' (2006) 6#1 pp.&nbsp;151–69.
* {{cite book|first=Pieter|last=Geyl|author-link=Pieter Geyl|title=Napoleon For and Against|orig-year=1947|year=1982|publisher=Penguin Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=saMfAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{cite web|title=The Claremont Institute: The Little Tyrant, A review of ''Napoleon: A Penguin Life''|publisher=The Claremont Institute|author=Hanson, Victor Davis|year=2003|url=https://www.claremont.org/crb/article/the-little-tyrant/}}
* {{cite book |last=Hazareesingh |first=Sudhir |title=The Legend of Napoleon |year=2005}} [https://www.amazon.com/Legend-Napoleon-Sudhir-Hazareesingh/dp/1862077894/ excerpt and text search]
** Hazareesingh, Sudhir. "Memory and Political Imagination: The Legend of Napoleon Revisited", ''French History'' (2004) 18#4 pp.&nbsp;463–83.
** {{cite journal |last=Hazareesingh |first=Sudhir |title=Napoleonic Memory in Nineteenth-Century France: The Making of a Liberal Legend |journal=MLN |year=2005 |volume=120 |issue=4 |pages=747–73 |doi=10.1353/mln.2005.0119 |s2cid=154508777 }}

Revision as of 22:20, 6 May 2021

Napoleon legacy and memory covery the historiography of Napoleon (1769–1821), as well as his legacy and the uses made of his memory from his death to the present.

Memory and evaluation

Criticism

The Third of May 1808 by Francisco Goya, showing Spanish resisters being executed by French troops

In the political realm, historians debate whether Napoleon was "an enlightened despot who laid the foundations of modern Europe" or "a megalomaniac who wrought greater misery than any man before the coming of Hitler".[1] Many historians have concluded that he had grandiose foreign policy ambitions. The Continental powers as late as 1808 were willing to give him nearly all of his gains and titles, but some scholars maintain he was overly aggressive and pushed for too much, until his empire collapsed.[2][3]

Napoleon ended lawlessness and disorder in post-Revolutionary France.[4] He was considered a tyrant and usurper by his opponents.[5] His critics [who?] charge that he was not troubled when faced with the prospect of war and death for thousands, turned his search for undisputed rule into a series of conflicts throughout Europe and ignored treaties and conventions alike. His role in the Haitian Revolution and decision to reinstate slavery in France's overseas colonies are controversial and affect his reputation.[6]

Napoleon institutionalized plunder of conquered territories: French museums contain art stolen by Napoleon's forces from across Europe. Artefacts were brought to the Musée du Louvre for a grand central museum; an example which would later be followed by others.[7] He was compared to Adolf Hitler by the historian Pieter Geyl in 1947,[8] and Claude Ribbe in 2005.[9] David G. Chandler, a historian of Napoleonic warfare, wrote in 1973 that, "Nothing could be more degrading to the former [Napoleon] and more flattering to the latter [Hitler]. The comparison is odious. On the whole Napoleon was inspired by a noble dream, wholly dissimilar from Hitler's ... Napoleon left great and lasting testimonies to his genius—in codes of law and national identities which survive to the present day. Adolf Hitler left nothing but destruction."[10]

Critics argue Napoleon's true legacy must reflect the loss of status for France and needless deaths brought by his rule: historian Victor Davis Hanson writes, "After all, the military record is unquestioned—17 years of wars, perhaps six million Europeans dead, France bankrupt, her overseas colonies lost."[11] McLynn states that, "He can be viewed as the man who set back European economic life for a generation by the dislocating impact of his wars."[5] Vincent Cronin replies that such criticism relies on the flawed premise that Napoleon was responsible for the wars which bear his name, when in fact France was the victim of a series of coalitions that aimed to destroy the ideals of the Revolution.[12]

British military historian Correlli Barnett calls him "a social misfit" who exploited France for his personal megalomaniac goals. He says Napoleon's reputation is exaggerated.[13] French scholar Jean Tulard provided an influential account of his image as a saviour.[14] Louis Bergeron has praised the numerous changes he made to French society, especially regarding the law as well as education.[15] His greatest failure was the Russian invasion. Many historians have blamed Napoleon's poor planning, but Russian scholars instead emphasize the Russian response, noting the notorious winter weather was just as hard on the defenders.[16]

The large and growing historiography in French, English, Russian, Spanish and other languages has been summarized and evaluated by numerous scholars.[17][18][19]

Propaganda and memory

Main article: Napoleonic propaganda

Napoleon's use of propaganda contributed to his rise to power, legitimated his régime, and established his image for posterity. Strict censorship, controlling aspects of the press, books, theatre, and art were part of his propaganda scheme, aimed at portraying him as bringing desperately wanted peace and stability to France. The propagandistic rhetoric changed in relation to events and to the atmosphere of Napoleon's reign, focusing first on his role as a general in the army and identification as a soldier, and moving to his role as emperor and a civil leader. Specifically targeting his civilian audience, Napoleon fostered a relationship with the contemporary art community, taking an active role in commissioning and controlling different forms of art production to suit his propaganda goals.[20]

In England, Russia and across Europe—though not in France—Napoleon was a popular topic of caricature.[21][22][23]

Hazareesingh (2004) explores how Napoleon's image and memory are best understood. They played a key role in collective political defiance of the Bourbon restoration monarchy in 1815–1830. People from different walks of life and areas of France, particularly Napoleonic veterans, drew on the Napoleonic legacy and its connections with the ideals of the 1789 Revolution.[24]

Widespread rumours of Napoleon's return from St. Helena and Napoleon as an inspiration for patriotism, individual and collective liberties, and political mobilization manifested themselves in seditious materials, displaying the tricolor and rosettes. There were also subversive activities celebrating anniversaries of Napoleon's life and reign and disrupting royal celebrations—they demonstrated the prevailing and successful goal of the varied supporters of Napoleon to constantly destabilize the Bourbon regime.[24]

Datta (2005) shows that, following the collapse of militaristic Boulangism in the late 1880s, the Napoleonic legend was divorced from party politics and revived in popular culture. Concentrating on two plays and two novels from the period—Victorien Sardou's Madame Sans-Gêne (1893), Maurice Barrès's Les Déracinés (1897), Edmond Rostand's L'Aiglon (1900), and André de Lorde and Gyp's Napoléonette (1913)—Datta examines how writers and critics of the Belle Époque exploited the Napoleonic legend for diverse political and cultural ends.[25]

Reduced to a minor character, the new fictional Napoleon became not a world historical figure but an intimate one, fashioned by individuals' needs and consumed as popular entertainment. In their attempts to represent the emperor as a figure of national unity, proponents and detractors of the Third Republic used the legend as a vehicle for exploring anxieties about gender and fears about the processes of democratization that accompanied this new era of mass politics and culture.[25]

International Napoleonic Congresses take place regularly, with participation by members of the French and American military, French politicians and scholars from different countries.[26] In January 2012, the mayor of Montereau-Fault-Yonne, near Paris—the site of a late victory of Napoleon—proposed development of Napoleon's Bivouac, a commemorative theme park at a projected cost of 200 million euros.[27]

Long-term influence outside France

Main article: Influence of the French Revolution
Bas-relief of Napoleon in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives

Napoleon was responsible for spreading the values of the French Revolution to other countries, especially in legal reform.[28] Napoleon did not touch serfdom in Russia.[29]

After the fall of Napoleon, not only was the Napoleonic Code retained by conquered countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, parts of Italy and Germany, but has been used as the basis of certain parts of law outside Europe including the Dominican Republic, the US state of Louisiana and the Canadian province of Quebec.[30] The code was also used as a model in many parts of Latin America.[31]

The memory of Napoleon in Poland is favorable, for his support for independence and opposition to Russia, his legal code, the abolition of serfdom, and the introduction of modern middle class bureaucracies.[32]

Napoleon could be considered one of the founders of modern Germany. After dissolving the Holy Roman Empire, he reduced the number of German states from about 300 to fewer than 50, prior to German Unification. A byproduct of the French occupation was a strong development in German nationalism which eventually turned the German Confederation into the German Empire after a series of conflicts and other political developments.

Napoleon indirectly began the process of Latin American independence when he invaded Spain in 1808. The abdication of King Charles IV and his son, Ferdinand VII created a power vacuum that was filled by native born political leaders such as Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín. Such leaders embraced nationalistic sentiments that were influenced by French nationalism and fought for independence which ultimately succeeded.[33]

Napoleon also significantly aided the United States when he agreed to sell the territory of Louisiana for 15 million dollars during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. That territory almost doubled the size of the United States, adding the equivalent of 13 states to the Union.[34]

From 1796 to 2020 inclusive, at least 95 ships associated with the name of the Emperor of the French were identified as an object of intangible heritage. In the 21st century, at least 18 Napoleon ships are operated under the flag of Indonesia, Germany, Italy, Australia, Argentina, India, Netherlands, United Kingdom and France.[35]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Hastings, Max (31 October 2014). "Everything is Owed to Glory". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 13 November 2014.
  2. ^ Charles Esdaile, Napoleon's Wars: An International History 1803–1815 (2008), p. 39
  3. ^ Colin S. Gray (2007). War, Peace and International Relations: An Introduction to Strategic History. Routledge. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-134-16951-1. Archived from the original on 20 March 2015.
  4. ^ Abbott 2005, p. 3
  5. ^ a b McLynn 1998, p. 666
  6. ^ Repa, Jan (2 December 2005). "Furore over Austerlitz ceremony". BBC. Archived from the original on 20 April 2010. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  7. ^ Poulos 2000
  8. ^ Geyl 1947
  9. ^ Philip Dwyer, "Remembering and Forgetting in Contemporary France: Napoleon, Slavery, and the French History Wars", French Politics, Culture & Society (2008) 26#3. pp. 110–22. online
  10. ^ Chandler 1973, p. xliii
  11. ^ Hanson 2003
  12. ^ Cronin 1994, pp. 342–43
  13. ^ Correlli Barnett, Bonaparte (1978)
  14. ^ Jean Tulard, Napoleon: The Myth of the Saviour (1984)
  15. ^ Bergeron, Louis (1981). France Under Napoleon. Princeton U.P. ISBN 978-0-691-00789-2.
  16. ^ Dominic Lieven, "Review article: Russia and the defeat of Napoleon." Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History (2006) 7#2 pp. 283–308.
  17. ^ Robert S. Alexander, Napoleon (Oxford University Press, 2001), examines major debates among historians.
  18. ^ E.A. Arnold, "English Language Napoleonic Historiography, 1973–1998: Thoughts and Considerations". Proceedings-Western Society for French History, Vol. 26 (2000). pp. 283–94.
  19. ^ John Dunne, "Recent Napoleonic Historiography: 'Poor Relation' Makes Good?" French History (2004) 18#4 pp. 484–91.
  20. ^ Alan Forrest, "Propaganda and the Legitimation of Power in Napoleonic France". French History, 2004 18(4): 426–45
  21. ^ Hubert N.B. Richardson, A Dictionary of Napoleon and His Times (1921) online free pp. 101–06.
  22. ^ Mark, Bryant, "Broadsides against Boney." History Today 60.1 (2010): 52+
  23. ^ Mark Bryant, Napoleonic Wars in Cartoons (Grub Street, 2009).
  24. ^ a b Sudhir Hazareesingh, "Memory and Political Imagination: the Legend of Napoleon Revisited". French History, 2004 18(4): 463–83
  25. ^ a b Venita Datta, "'L'appel Au Soldat': Visions of the Napoleonic Legend in Popular Culture of the Belle Epoque". French Historical Studies 2005 28(1): 1–30
  26. ^ "Call for Papers: International Napoleonic Society, Fourth International Napoleonic Congress". La Fondation Napoléon. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 27 June 2008.
  27. ^ Laurent, Ottavi (8 February 2012). "A New Napoleonic Campaign for Montereau". Foundation Napoleon. Archived from the original on 29 September 2013.
  28. ^ Grab 2003, country by country analysis
  29. ^ Lazar Volin (1970) A century of Russian agriculture. From Alexander II to Khrushchev, p. 25. Harvard University Press
  30. ^ "Napoleonic Code". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 29 December 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  31. ^ Lobingier, Charles Sumner (December 1918). "Napoleon and His Code". Harvard Law Review. 32 (2): 114–134. doi:10.2307/1327640. ISSN 0017-811X. JSTOR 1327640.
  32. ^ Andrzej Nieuwazny, "Napoleon and Polish identity". History Today, May 1998 vol. 48 no. 5 pp. 50–55
  33. ^ "The Crisis of 1808". www.brown.edu. Brown University. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  34. ^ Cite error: The named reference McGraw-Hill was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  35. ^ S. Yu. Rychkov «Invincible Napoleon – the memory of the participant in the battle of Borodino, Emperor Napoleon I in the names of the ships. On the 200th anniversary of the death of the emperor of the french. Scientific report. // Sources. Monuments. Problems. Materials of the XXIV International Scientific Conference, 7–9 September 2020. Borodino.

Further reading

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