Napoleon Bonaparte Reflection

Many great leaders have left their impact throughout history, especially ones that were particularly controversial at the time of their leadership. Abraham Lincoln is now famous for freeing the slaves, but at the time of his presidency, people felt that he left a country divided after the Civil War. No leader is more controversial, however, than Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France from 1804-1814. As George Gordon Andrews wrote, "His record is a long one and there are many blots, falsifications and obscure passages."  Napoleon, as a general, conquered more of Europe than any other individual in all of history. This military skill led to a controversial outlook towards him, but it can’t be denied that Napoleon had an enormous impact on the social, economic, and political systems of the European countries he conquered. 

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            Napoleon instituted a series of reforms that made many countries he took over completely different from how they used to be. In Egypt, he totally rearranged the government, which may have been unpopular, but he also created the first study into ancient Egyptian history. In all of the places he conquered, Napoleon established a meritocracy, a system of rewards based on skills rather than social class, which ties in largely to the American system of partial capitalism. Napoleon also contributed to American expansion by authorizing the sale of the Louisiana Purchase. Perhaps the most important thing Napoleon did, however, was to remove a lot of the Catholic Church's influence in politics in the countries he conquered. This gave more power to the people, who now were beginning to form a middle class under Napoleon's rule.

          Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte changed many things with his rule over the European countries. He influenced many other countries so that they were able to expand greatly, like Egypt being able to dive into its own history and the USA growing greatly in size. However, Napoleon's European property experienced many changes to their social, economic, and political systems under his rule.