The Napoleonic empire- paper 17 lecture - Rather than treating him as the only historical actor, he was dependent on the burst of innovations and transformations that occurred with the clearing away of Old Regime legislation, and on a tightknit network of meritocratic administrators which expanded along the empire itself - Napoleons appropriation of Hellenistic and Egyptian motifs for self-fashioning, his abandonment of colonial empire building in favour of consolidating Continental gains, and his construction of a brand new European dynasty to rule over the new empire - If many new policies and institutions for education, science, law and the press were produced in the Revolutionary decade, the successful implementation or activation of these reforms and institutions often took place under Napoleon - He oversaw the codification of laws and administrative reforms which would survive for over a century - Story can be told both in terms of his military, economic and industrial successes and failures, but also from the standpoint of those who experienced French rule; middle class administrators, conscripted soldiers and their families, or reluctant subjects - If napoleons conquests engulfed vast areas of Europe, the state of 'total war' which reigned for 15 years had devastating effects even for those areas not absorbed in the empire How to govern such a large land area - 1792 Chappe invented the telegraph, strongly supported by the national assembly o Aim was primarily military o Copied by the English o Characteristic of the Napoleonic empire i.e. support for tech and invention and warfare being the instigation of such experimentation - Napoleon wasn't acting in a vacuum - Historiography was dominated by focus on warfare - Lazare-nicolas carnot o Former noble o Helped to develop modern models of mass warfare o Military engineer o Became of one of 5 directors during the directory period o Was made minister of war (18ffff-18ff4) Conquest of Europe - The Napoleonic empire had a profound on geopolitics due to creation of satellite republics - Ardent enthusiasm for republicanism, reform of military tactics and expansionism= already looks like an empire - Treaty of Leoben - Treaty of Campo Formio - Treaty of Tilsit Napoleon became emperor of the French 18ff4 = alienated republics - The new order established peace by force - Claimed it would be hereditary= monarchical
- Censorship - Regulation of theatre - No direct suffrage - He turned to antiquity for models of good government i.e. painting of him crossing the alps in the footsteps of Hannibal and Charlemagne - Surrounded himself with scientific advisors and supported invention i.e.Jean-Antoine Chaptal who reintroduce the metric system into the empire and reorganisation of hospitals - Collected important objects of the science and arts, knowledge and military rule overlap - Hellenistic - Appropriation of antient history of Greece and Egypt - Appointment of siblings in positions of power o Joseph (king of Naples 18ff6, king of Spain 18ff8) o Lucien (minister of the interior 1799-18ffff) o Elisa (Duchy of Lucca 18ff5) o Jerome (King of Holland