propaganda was more important than censorship in Napoleonic France’. Assess the validity of this view.

Question 1

propaganda - securing popularity to he regime

Answer 1

• Books, plays and the arts were used to honour Napoleon’s achievements
• Architectural feats such as the Arc de Triomphe (building began in 1809).
• Coins were minted with effigy and laurel wreath
• Revolutionary national festivals
• The institution of St Napoleon’s Day (16 August) was a religious change that placed emphasis on Napoleon. The cult of the Emperor.
• Bulletins and Le Moniteur promoted Napoleon’s achievements.
• Public works: He embarked on a programme of rebuilding and public works in Paris to help create a positive image

Question 2

censorship: securing popularity to the regime

Answer 2

• Tight control over newspapers, books, plays and artists
• Reduced the number of newspapers in Paris. Jan 1800 newspaper reduced from 73 to 13. By 1811 only four remained in Paris
• He forbade the production of new ones.
• Subject to police supervision and censors appointed to each paper from 1809. (e.g. the Press Bureau of the Ministry of police)
• From 1810 publishers/printers in Paris had to take out a license and swear an oath of loyalty before they were allowed to print.
• 1810 more than half the printing presses in Paris were shut down
• Theatres could only operate under license. Theatres in Paris were reduced from 33 to 8 in 1807.
• 1810 – one newspaper per department.
• No paper was allowed to discuss controversial subjects.
• Could only print official news reported in military bulletins and the govt journal, Le Moniteur (written by Napoleon and his ministers).

Question 3

propaganda - containing political opposition/ political stability

Answer 3

• Link to popularity: NB portrayed himself as standing above the factions and divisions of political life.
• He would forgive and forget what people had done in the past so long as they were loyal to the regime.
• E.g., emigres allowed home if they were willing to accept his authority.
• Second Consul – Cambaceres (ex-member of the NC)
• Third Consul – Lebrun (ex-servant of the AR).
• Ministers and Prefects , members of the Council of State and the Senate, deputies of the Tribunate and the Legislative Body, together represented a mixture of political backgrounds.
• Same was true of ecclesiastical appointments: 16 ex-refractory bishops served alongside 12 patriots.
• He promised a society which was open to talents where men could advance through merit, establishing the legion of honour in 1802 to reward those who had served him well.

Question 4

censorship - containing political opposition / political stability

Answer 4

• Liberals such as Benjamin Constant and Germaine de Stael exiled.
• Tribunate purged in 1802 was abolished in 1807.
• No-toleration of left-wing republicans – e.g., infiltrated clubs and associations with informers.
• By 1804 opposition had been contained and repressed:
• there were no further large-scale uprisings during the Napoleonic period.
• Potential trouble-makers from across the political spectrum were either forced into exile or were harshly dealt with.
• He used the administrative police for general surveillance and to ensure that political troublemakers were rounded up. They ensured that any opposition was crushed and exercised tight control over all public expression.
• Writers critical of the regime faced persecution (special courts).
• Booksellers were strictly controlled and severely punished, even with death if found to be selling subversive material.

Question 5

propaganda - education

Answer 5

• Link to popularity: New catechism was issued to be taught to children and said in church. It emphasised the duty of loyalty and obedience to Napoleon and suggested that the empire’s creation was God’s will.
• Prefects in purple vehicle for Napoleonic propaganda.
• Curriculum was utilitarian
• Education ensured the production of a generation loyal to Napoleon → created cohesion and loyalty to the regime.BUT benefited the bourgeois.
• But education for ordinary people and girls was neglected
• All that was considered necessary was a simple ‘moral education’ and the provision of basic literacy and numeracy.

Question 6

censorship - education

Answer 6

• In 1808: Control over education became more direct with the creation of the Imperial University
• The Imperial University – a centralised system
• Restrictions on revolutionary and Bourbon history.
• All teachers were to be properly trained and paid for by the state
• Imperial University from 1808 trained teachers to teach NB propaganda and NB appoints the teachers at the lycees.
• Lessons were standardised, and what was taught was dictated in accordance with the needs and demands of the government.