Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on when you are reading this. I am working through a series on Napoleon and this is episode five of that series. There are new episodes added to Timeline, so I am unsure of how long this series is. The run time for this episode is 48:05 and is called Imperial Zenith.
Napoleon’s career is in full swing by 1800. He was the First Consul of France and had survived an assassination attempt. The assassination attempt gave him the perfect excuse to eliminate his political enemies. He would shape France to his will and would now take his place in history. He greatly admired Alexander the Great. He was a national hero and defeated both the British and Austrians. Egypt was opened to the world. He was going to be the savior of France. He embraced the values of the French Revolution and wanted to stabilize the government. Outside of France, it was generally viewed as a good thing that Napoleon took over. There was a relief that stability had returned to France. However, the outsiders did not see Napoleon’s ambitions for France and eventually all of Europe. He was a man who had big plans and he was going to implement those plans no matter what the cost. Who would be able to stop Napoleon? Napoleon worked to form a grand collation and would try to include the former Bourbon family. However, there were elements of the old regime that did not appreciate Napoleon’s offers. A small group of royalists attempted an assassination attempt on Napoleon. This action would prompt Napoleon to root out his political enemies. Generals that Napoleon did not trust were replaced or placed in positions where they would not threaten Napoleon. Then there were the die-hard revolutionaries who wondered if one single leader was good for France. However, Napoleon wanted to stamp order on France in light of the chaos of the revolution. The Chief of Police was Napoleon’s rival and he tried to get Napoleon’s attention directed for the Royalists. He was also a revolutionary. However, at this time the revolutionaries were a minority. As a result of the assassination attempt many people were branded as terrorists. Napoleon would eventually turn his attention to the Catholic Church. The church had been stripped of its power and prestige in the Revolution. However, Napoleon saw the Church as a stabilizing force in France. Napoleon would only recognize the church as the dominant religion of the people. The pope wanted Napoleon to recognize the Church as the dominant power, but that was not going to happen under Napoleon. The Revolutionaries did not appreciate Napoleon’s overtures towards the church nor did they appreciate compromise. The ordinary people appreciated the restored religion and would flock to the newly open churches. Napoleon would not be deterred from his past. He would eventually be made consul for life, in other words, he was emperor. The church now had its place in society and it was under the rule of Napoleon. He would eventually introduce the Napoleonic Code to help provide the public with direction. This code would have benefited the wealthy middle class. The wealthy middle classes had done extremely well as a result of the Revolution. The middle class would rise to leadership positions under Napoleon. Napoleon would also reform and improve French Education. The Legion of Honor was introduced and this was an honor for everyone, both military and ordinary people could get the honor. To learn more about Napoleon continue to watch this documentary. Well, this was a better episode in comparison to yesterday. It gave a really good background to Napoleon’s rise to First Consul and how he went to work to bring stability to France. You could potentially walk away thinking that Napoleon was a good guy. I still would like to see a more modern documentary done on Napoleon. Hopefully one day there will be a more modern documentary on Napoleon. This felt way too old school for my tastes in comparison to other documentaries I have reviewed. Over all this episode could potentially be used for a history class because it provided an excellent background on the rise of Napoleon.
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The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |