Napoleon/Directory Flashcards
Napoleon’s method of gaining power?
Peaceful - no bloody purges
LEFEBVRE - weak assemblies and influential committees.
Brumaire coup
- Events: 3 of 5 directors resigned, council of elders and 500 dispersed (by Lucien), temporary new body Legislative Commission established. This declares the Consul etc.
Brumaire coup results
Bonaparte in Consul. Purge of Jacobin deputies from c of 500 (pretext of coup)
Cult of Bonaparte as Hero
DWYER 72 pamphlets on his Italian campaign 1796. Presented as virtuous in comparison to corrupt directory.
Centrally appointed administrators
Prefects, deputies (x 4 per dept), councillors, advising council, mayors (nobles recruited to lower positions for local integration where prefects were outsiders), JP’s
Justice
JP’s appointed centrally. Special tribunal established: public, defence lawyers. 36 in total. Flying columns in the south to enforce justice.
Prefects
Above faction - centre. Some leaning either way for local support, non locals, 30% members of revolutionary assemblies. Appt by 1st minister.
HORN prefects appointed local elites to integrate them into the government and gain support.
Napoleonic plebiscites
1799, 1802, 1804
1799 plebiscite
Lucien falsified ‘oui’ votes 1.6 to 3 mil
HORN in the Aube people thought they were voting for a gov that would end conflict.
1802 plebiscite
Life consulate, 1/2 electorate showed
Fructidor coup
1797, military coup by Barras (n was his protege) in order to purge Royalist candidates from c of 500 after they were successful in elections. Aided by Bonaparte. 53 exiled (still over 100 jacobins/royalists in council). Turn towards jacobin policies (refractory clergy/émigrés persecuted, end of freedom of the press)
Directory and voting
Manipulated results between oscillations of Jacobins and Royalists 1794-99: loss of faith in democracy, voter apathy, increasingly authoritarian rule.
Successful eg of integration of elites
HORN Bruslé in the Aube: 28% of emigre’s returned
Gendarmerie
Napoleon’s initiative, specialised professional corps, recruits from Army after peace, 16,500 men by 1801. Clean record, literate, 7 years experience. Targeted banditry in flying columns of 6.
Cisalpine Republic
One of three created, 1797, N director 1800.
Conscription
Driven by prefects; 3-3.5 mil under N wars. All sorts of evasion excuses. Unevenly imposed, enforced by flying columns, dodging and desertion decreased bc of increased penalties.
Amiens
Peace treaty between France and Britain, 1801. N a reputation as diplomat. Econ stability; army returned to civilian life - BROWN “a vital balm for the countryside”
Guerrilla warfare
SPAIN 30-55,000 partisans against the French
Success of laws/justice systems?
BROWN increasing fear of reprisals rather than fear of bandits!
Young political elites?
Auditors to the Council of State. 60 prefects were originally these by 1841
Imperial Nobility
1808, new, meritocratic social hierarchy. Political role: international legitimacy and prestige, integrating OR nobility. Hereditary after 200,000 francs, could pay for other privileges too. Public service: poor relief. 3200 by 1814.
Imperial Nobility eg
HORN - Aube: selected from a list of 600 wealthiest men in the dept, 46% landowners, 21% legal professions.
N’s two spearhead policies
Railliement, amalgame (eg. Imperial nobility 1808; emigre amnesty 1800 - conditional 18 months)
Napoleonic code
1804 passed after rejection and purge of Tribunate 1801: re asserted gains of the revolution BROERS, inheritance/divorce/patriarchy. Created by Cambaceres and special council of legal experts.
