Napoleon’s Social, Economic, and Political Effects on Europe

                Napoleon’s reign over France and almost all of Europe affected Europe’s social systems.  By abolishing titles of the nobility and ending serfdom, the nobility lost some of their power.  Without titles they were like the rest of the lower class citizens.  Madame de Stael says that Napoleon has “profound contempt for all the intellectual riches of human nature: virtue, dignity, religion, enthusiasm”¹.  Before Napoleon was in charge, nobility would sit in salons and discuss enlightenment ideas.  Napoleon took that away and angered many people in the noble class.  Many of the lower class people, serfs, gained freedoms.  Some freedoms included rights to property and education.  The lower class people enjoyed these new rights and freedoms, but the upper classes were against the lower classes having these freedoms.  Napoleon was “‘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’”².  He believed that the lower classes were entitled to the same rights as upper classes.  He also thought that if they were talented they should be able to work their way up and advance in society.    He also established “meritocracy” meaning that people could earn money based on their skills instead of based on their social class.  Again, this was an improvement for the lower classes, but an upset to the upper classes.

                Napoleon’s reign over Europe affected the economic systems.  The economic system of meritocracy helped lower classes make more money than they had been making.  The upper classes lost not only power, but wealth as well.  Through meritocracy, controlling prices, building roads and canals, and removing barriers against trading, he stimulated the economy.  He also stimulated the economy by having the Bank of France built.  Napoleon balanced the budget, and carried out major public works programs as well.  He helped other countries by stimulating trade, but he hurt other countries by stealing valuable items, such as artwork from Italy.  Napoleon brought mostly positive economic reforms to Europe.

                 The political systems in Europe were also affected by Napoleon’s rule.  The French Directory thought they would be able to use Napoleon to further their own goals, but instead, Napoleon planned to overthrow the Directory, causing five members to resign.  He also created an incredibly strong army that conquered many different countries in Europe.  Marshal Michel Ney discusses how Napoleon has improved the political and social situation in France and says that “The times are gone when the people were governed by suppressing their rights.  Liberty triumphs in the end, and Napoleon, our august emperor, comes to confirm it”¹.  Napoleon is loved by many and is viewed as improving the political and social situation for many previously suppressed people.  Though Napoleon was loved by many he “‘realized that he lacked the greatest of all props to political power-legitimacy-and that only continued success could assure the stability of his throne’”².  As soon as Napoleon stops being able to successfully conquer countries, then people will no longer have faith in him and Europe will fall into a political disaster.

¹              Two View of Napoleon, Sources (1) Ten Years of Exile by Madame de Stael, trans. Doris Beik (Saturday Review Press, 1972); (2) The French Revolution and Napoleon: An Eyewitness History, by Joe H. Kirchberger (Facts on File, 1985).

²              J. Vance, Thomas. "The Lost Voices of Napoleonic Historians," The Napoleon Series, http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/biographies/c_historians.html (accessed October 16, 2013).