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Hello class. Today we are going to explain the origin of Napoleon as a ruler. Remember

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that in 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte organized a coup, golpe de estado, to remove the Directory

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from power. Napoleon was one of the members of this Directory but he was really ambitious,

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he wanted more power, he got the prestige due to his military campaigns and in 1799

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he was one of the ones who organized the coup which removed the Directory from power and

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it imposed the consulate. Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the just a few consuls and very

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very soon in 1799 Napoleon became the first consul. He was really ambitious but the moderate

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bourgeoisie supported young Napoleon because basically they have an aim in mind, the moderate

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bourgeoisie had a name, a goal in mind. They wanted to impose the moderate ideologies

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from the French Revolution, the moderate liberal system. So from the very beginning Napoleon

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had two goals in mind. He wanted to put an end to the instability in the French Revolution.

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Remember that the Directory and the consulate didn't have enough prestige, they didn't have

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enough social support and for this reason this period was very very unstable in France.

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And also Napoleon had in mind to create a government for the bourgeoisie to implement

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some important measures for the moderate bourgeoisie because it was the moderate bourgeoisie, the

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social class who gave the power and support to Napoleon. So as I said before in 1799 we are

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going to explain in this class the period of Napoleon from consulate in 1799 up to his access

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to be the first emperor in France in 1804. So in 1799 Napoleon became the first consul

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in France and he was able to carry out the revolution conquest by two important measures.

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He was able to do that, he was able to achieve peace in France by squashing his political

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opponents. Basically the radical bourgeoisie and some members of the commoners, the common

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people were opposed to Napoleon because they wanted to bring back the period of the Jacobins

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but Napoleon put an end to this instability by squashing, supprimiendo por la fuerza, by squashing

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his political opponents. And at the same time Napoleon allowed the nobility, the conservative

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nobility to return. Remember all these nobles who fled from France because they were absolutists,

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they were living in Prussia, they were living in Austria, but Napoleon allowed them to return

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because basically Napoleon wanted their money back. All this money was important for the state

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and for this reason Napoleon gave a chance to them to return to France. And also the period

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of Napoleon was really important because he signed an agreement, he agreed an agreement

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with the Holy See, Santa Sede, with the Vatican. This agreement was called the Concordat with the

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Holy See in 1801 and due to this important agreement the Catholic Church, the Catholic

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religion became the main religion in France and in exchange for that the Holy See, the Catholic

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Church didn't claim the land that it was taking from them during the time of the revolution.

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Remember that Maximilian Robespierre gave a lot of land to the poor people, land which belonged

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to the nobles, to the clergy, to the Catholic Church, but in exchange for this agreement the

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Catholic Church, as I said before, didn't claim the land that it was taking from them during the

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time of the revolution. And as well as that Napoleon managed to implement some important

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internal reforms in France. In my humble opinion the most important one was the Civil Code in 1804

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and in this Civil Code Napoleon set up some important revolutionary achievements. Actually

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he was able to implement the quality by law but it was only in theory because in reality,

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in reality the moderate bourgeoisie and the wealthy people supported Napoleon because

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Napoleon gave them a lot of power. It was true also that Napoleon implemented some reforms,

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some freedoms, but they were very, very limited because Napoleon was really,

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really authoritarian. He wanted to control everything in France so in theory he implemented

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the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly, and the freedom of press, but they were very

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limited because when all of these powers were against Napoleon, Napoleon managed to set up some

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limits against them. For example, if a newspaper leaked or pressed some important news against

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Napoleon, Napoleon had the power to ban this newspaper and the same with the political parties.

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When some political parties were against Napoleon, Napoleon put them out from the

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political scene to implement his power. Napoleon, due to the concordat with the Holy See, managed

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to create a separation between the church and the state. It was true and it was very revolutionary

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because remember that in the old regime, the clergy and the nobles ruled together,

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but from that moment Napoleon managed to create some limits. He actually separated the church,

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the Catholic Church, from the state and the state, it was the state, the moderate,

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the bourgeoisie, the social class who ruled, who had the power in reality in France. Napoleon,

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as well as that, created the basis for the welfare state, the Estado de Bienestar. Why?

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Because he wanted to get the support from the commoners, from the common people,

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and it was true in the healthcare system and in education, he implemented the basis of the

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welfare state. Actually, he set up different state schools in different provinces in France,

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but they were state schools only for the elite in France, for the bourgeoisie,

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for the moderate bourgeoisie, because Napoleon wanted to create a social class of civil servants

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to obey directly to the state, to obey directly orders from Napoleon. As well as that, finally,

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last but not least, Napoleon created a program of public works in Paris,

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Programa de Construcción de Edificios Públicos. He rolled out a program of public works and for

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this reason, he built some important buildings in what is now France, such as Los Invalidos in

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Paris. Actually, Napoleon was buried there when he died. When he died, we will explain this story

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at the end. I don't want to be a spoiler alert. I don't want to spoil the story.

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At the same time, he set up, for example, the Place de la Concorde, the Triumph Arch,

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because Napoleon, as we are going to explain in this unit, had a lot of victories in Western

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Europe. He built this Triumph Arch in the Champs-Élysées, in Campos Elysios. He gave the

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order to build the building, the main building for the National Assembly. Remember this institution

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which came from the third state, from the National Assembly. It was very, very revolutionary at the

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beginning. But now, this institution obeyed orders only from Napoleon and it was the main

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institution for the moderate bourgeoisie because the radicals were not allowed to be in the public

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building. He built also the Church of the Madeleine. For all of these measures, Napoleon

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gained widespread popularity. He was really ambitious. I would say that in 1802, Napoleon

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was at the peak of his power. He gave a step forward towards the authoritarian power. He wanted

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even more power than before. For this reason, in 1802, he declared himself the first consul for

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life. But do you think that it was enough for Napoleon? You are wrong because in 1804, he gave

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another step forward when he proclaimed himself the Emperor of France. He crowned himself.

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Actually, you might see in the image that he took the crown. He crowned himself in front of the

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Pope Pius VII and in front also of his wife Josephine. This is the moment when Napoleon

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became the first emperor in France. In 1804, he wanted to create an empire for the French.

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For this reason, he would roll out and launch different campaigns in Western Europe and Eastern

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Europe to conquer more territories and also to put Europe under his knees. But this is another

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story and we will explain that in the following class. Bye-bye!