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The French Revolution (1789-1799) became the period of significant changes within the French society and in the political life of France. It began with the meeting of the Estates-General in May, 1789, and finished with Napoleon Bonaparte’s coming to power in November, 1799 (Duiker and Spielvogel 394).
Like any substantial change in the political life of any country, the French Revolution consisted of several stages of the dramatic transformation of the state system, political and social life in France. In this paper, we will discuss the period from the Thermidorian Reaction to the last years of Napoleon’s government. We will discuss the reasons and the course of change of leadership in France during this period.
The Thermidorian Reaction, 27 July 1794, was the response on the violent policies of Reign of Terror and actually put an end to it. Being inspired by the ideas of the French Revolution, the people of France continued their struggle for their rights and for effective state system. The power in the country was taken by the Executive Directory (1795-1799).
The new body of executive power that consisted of five elected Directors started functioning within the country and at the same time took intense military actions abroad. The inner policies of the Directory were not successful with people and gradually led to the loss of its authority.
Particularly, the inability to implement successful taxation and financial policies, “flourishing” corruption and faction between the directors (ibid.) were step by step undermining the influence of the Directory. The French people expected the opportunity to forget about the events of the last years; however, the governance of the Directory did not meet their expectations, as the country did not approach to the desired stability.
On the other hand, the military successes of France did not contribute to the authority of the Directory, but backwards, actually gave birth to Napoleon’s bright political start. In 1799, the Directory finished its existence. Failures in the inner and foreign policies gave a good opportunity for Napoleon who came to France after the military operations to overthrow the Directory and seize power.
Napoleon’s success at the first stages of his governance can be explained by the effective balance between “liberation” and strengthening of his own power. He understood that the processes emerged during the first years of the Revolution could not disappear: they were more likely to be a starting point for the further changes.
Thus, it is possible to say that since the beginning of Napoleon’s era, the political life in France took its course between two poles, which are Napoleon’s personal motives of keeping and maintaining his power, and the inertial power of the French Revolution (Hunt et al 650-652).
The slogan “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity” reflects the essence of French Revolution; its focus was defense and equalization of the human rights and transformation of the social and political system in France, which included elimination of monarchy and replacing it with republic. During Napoleon’s governance, these two matters submitted to the interests of Napoleon as a governor. Instead of republic, Napoleon established an empire and defended his power by means of strong military services (652).
Since that moment, the notion of “liberation” stated by the revolutionary slogan had lost its initial meaning and served to Napoleon’s plans as the justification and disguise for his intent of conquest, being realized in his French-style reforms throughout the lands belonging to France.
In 1789, The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen proclaimed “freedom of religion, freedom of press, equality of taxation, and equality before the law” (660). Napoleon slightly followed the statements born by the Revolution, adapting them to the needs of strengthening his power: for example, he reduced an initial number of newspapers in Paris, which was seventy-three, to thirteen and then to four (684). He cultivated and popularized the image representing him as a hero, a magnificent governor.
When forming the new political system of France, Napoleon followed his imperial intents: he focused on eliminating both the ascendancy of the old nobility and the influence of the contemporary revolutionary trends of equality and liberation, and the most appropriate decision was to create the new nobility based on the military estate which would support his power.
Besides the political field, Napoleon reformed the legislation, having introduced the Civil Code: again, on the one hand, it was aimed to provide equality; on the other hand, this concerned only the adult males, omitting the rights of women and children.
The social transformations were fulfilled by Napoleon’s predecessors as well; however, they had another nature: the Revolution had penetrated into the life of the citizens too deeply, touching upon all fields of their life, including even the forms of speech and the names of the months (669).
Certainly, this intrusion was not a single factor which caused the resistance to the Revolution: some people were just tired of the hard conditions of life, such as “long bread lines” (670) or of the terror; however, the combination of a range of factors impacted on the total outcome of the Revolution. Thus, Napoleon came to power when the revolutionary “foam” descended and focused only on the matters which could impact his position and power, which defined the direction of his policy.
During the decade of his government, Napoleon’s power was strengthening within and outside the country. By 1812, the military success of France was impressive: only Great Britain and Russia as two major European countries kept their full independence (692). In fact, the Great Britain was the main obstacle on Napoleon’s way to fulfillment of his plans: the country “ruled the seas” (691), and its economy was developing rapidly; Britain produced goods and exported them to the European markets.
On the other hand, Napoleon’s power was undermined by his military failure in the war against Russia: trying to fight on two fronts simultaneously, having not enough provision and being not ready to the cold climate of the Russian territories, the French army failed. In 1813, the coalition of the Russian, Austrian, Prussian and Swedish armies (with the financial support of the Great Britain) defeated Napoleon.
Works Cited
Duiker, William J., and Speilvogel, Jackson J. The Essential World History. 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2008.
Hunt, Lynn, et al. The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, A Concise History. 2nd edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. Print.
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