Ashiusx

Did the Napoleon's policies and laws employed make the life of his average subject better or worse before his rule?

Mosquito

The problem is that there was no such thing like "average person".
People were still divided on classes and that division was abolished by French Revolution. Napoleon by his conquests which were followed by the achievements of French revolution which he did implement on the conquered territories helped to create such thing like "average person".

Kevinmeath

The 'average person' where?

jeroenrottgering

Yes, equality for the law, equality in jobs (everyone could get a high office job), equality in society (jew, catholic, protestant it didn't matter). Furthermore his improvements of the sewer system, better education, better roads, a national bank, end to religious struggles, metric system etc.

Napoleon said: "My true glory is not to have won 40 battles...Waterloo will erase the memory of so many victories. ... But...what will live forever, is my Civil Code.

The Code still has importance today in much of the world's jurisdictions including in Europe, both America's and Africa.

Rongo

Agreed. Well said.

Ashiusx

The average person usually refers to the masses. So that's what I ment.

sylla1

Has the predictable contribution of the Buonaparte fan club already been posted?

Ok, no one should be surprised that it's just fantastic delirious apology.

Beginning from Le Petit Caporal himself if the famous quotation attributed to him by Mr. Wanniski may be historical at all.

In any case, pretending that so miserably failing on his life long universal conquest attempt was not so relevant after all would indeed have been typical loser's talk, what one may expect to hear at Saint Helena.

Back to the OP, the utterly pernicious effects of the brutal Napoleonic yoke on the survivors of the by then unparalleled carnage unilaterally provoked by this personal universal conquest attempt couldn't have been any more evident, not only in let say Spain, Italy, Germany, Egypt, Haiti, and Russia, but even in France itself.

jeroenrottgering

Glad to be of service Sylla .

Of course they shouldn't.

That's debatable.

Hitler bragged about different things in his bunker in Berlin in 1945 then Napoleon did on St Helena. Quite a similar situation and still Napoleon decided not to brag so much about his victories, but about his legal achievements.

Carnage? Where do you get that from? And isn't it very naive to think that all brutality between 1799-1815 comes from Napoleon himself and that all the other European nations had clean hands? I believe their weren't any more casualties (relatively of course) then their were in the Thirty Years War, and the wars of the 18th century which caused starvation and death

Also his campaign into Egypt and Spain may you call conquest although the first was a mission organized by the Directoire but okay...

His first Italian campaign was caused by Austrians who attacked revolutionary France and the succesful General Bonaparte was sent out to deal with the situation.

His second campaign was again provoked by Austria who backstepped France while Napoleon was in Egypt. Both are reactions on actions from the Austrians.

His gains in Germany were made after Austria lost the Austerlitz coalition (organized by Britain and thus not started by Napoleon). To secure his border he needed loyal states at the Rhine (nothing unreasonable about that I would say). Austria lost a war they started so they could expect so demands.

His further gains in Germany were again not caused by the by you so called personal ambition. Cause it was Prussia who out of nothing declared war on France in 1806, not counter wise.

Haiti, was no more different then Britain's intervention in the America's in 1775 and 1812. Napoleon himself also never set a foot on this island.

Russia we discussed before and it was only waiting who of the two would attack first.

Then last but not least, please do explain why you included France.



You no this picture is about Spanish Guerrillas performing horrible acts on French soldiers right? French executions were relatively soft in comparison what these Guerrillas did to the Grande Armée.

Theguy8882

Napoleon's laws were quite harsh on women. The man tended to get the most out of divorce and adultery was almost always blamed on the woman.

Brisieis