Our Sovereign... Napoleon?

            Napoleon, a military genius, responsible for the conquering of Italy, Venice, Egypt, Austria/ Vienna, Berlin, Spain, Portugal, Moscow, Belgium, Prussia, Rhineland, and Holland. After the monarchy failed he was the one who stepped up and seized power over France. We know that Napoleon had a major impact on the social, economic, and political systems of Europe but they can be seen as either positive or negative. This developed our class's essential question, what was Napoleon's impact on the social, economic, and political systems of Europe?

Napoleon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon

            According to Madame de Stael, a wealthy women who gained her power through the monarchy, disliked Napoleon greatly. She thought, for the social systems, that Napoleon, "would like to persuade men by force and by cunning", and that he would, "encroach[intrude] daily upon France's liberty and Europe's independence." In other words Madame de Stael thought Napoleon brought an unethical approach to human interactions and would be nothing but a burden for France. For the economic situation she was again at a loss. Napoleon replaced the old monarchy completely and everyone that had ties to the monarchy lost their social status as well as they wealth. Madame de Stael was one of those people. Finally, she believed that Napoleon's main goal was to conquer all of Europe. Also, she thought that Napoleon was striving towards a "universal monarchy" with him as king. She would be against this because she would never get her old wealth back. 

            However, Marshal Michel Ney, an officer who served with Napoleon, had different views on Napoleon's overall impact. He was completely for Napoleon because he gained military and political power with him as ruler. His main statement for the social impact that Napoleon had is, "Whether the Bourbon nobility choose to return to exile or consent to live among us, what does it matter to us? The times are gone when the people were governed by suppressing their rights." He is trying to say that whether the public like it or not the social standards have changed under Napoleon's power and there is no changing it. Instead of rebelling against it they should just go with and support it. Unlike Madame de Stael, Marshal Michel Ney like the new economic ways because he was an officer of war. In result of this he gained a new sense of authority, influence, and of course wealth. "Liberty triumphs in the end, and Napoleon, our august[respected; impressive] emperor, comes to confirm it." He like how Napoleon is running France's government and invites others to join in supporting the "immortal legion" that is Napoleon.

            The last source is called "The Lost Voices of Napoleonic Histories": http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/biographies/c_historians.html. The document is a collection on different historians' views on Napoleon. The overall impact that Napoleon had on the three systems was mixed. A comment made of his social impact was made by J.T.(Joel Tyler) Headley, writer of historical and biographical works. He described Napoleon's social interactions as, "Napoleon's moral character was indifferent enough; yet as a friend of human liberty, and eager to promote the advancement of the race, by opening the field to talent and genius, however low their birth, he was infinitely superior to all the sovereigns who endeavored to crush him." But Andrews described him as inconsistent and untrustworthy. A strong opinion on his political impact came from George Bancroft who said, "the Directory needed a man, they found him in the expert artillerist; France needed a man, she found him in the conquerer of Italy."