NAPOLEON THE EMPEROR
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
 

Napoleon became known as Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, instead of General Bonaparte. He had complete political and military power in France. But alas, he still hadn't built up his great Eastern Empire. He wanted to recreate the empire Charlemagne was ruler of many years ago. The Austrians had been defeated at Marenegro. The German states and England were tired of fighting so they signed a peace treaty of Aimens in 1802. This was the first time since 1792 that France was at peace with the whole world! During the next 14 months of peace, Napoleon drastically altered Europe. He became president of the Italian Republic and reshaped Switzerland with France. He annexed Piedmont, Parma, and the island of Elba to France. Napoleon also reshaped a lot of France. He re-established the University of France, reformed the education system, and founded the Bank of France and the Legion of Honor. He also codified the Napoleonic Code: The first clear, compact statement of the French law. The Napoleonic Code has served as a base for legal systems around the world! Napoleon's most lasting effect on France and much of the world was the set of civil laws that he instituted that still bears his name to this day. This code was so impressive that by 1960 over 70 different states either modeled their own laws after them or adopted them verbatim. The Code of Napoleon took the over 14,000 decrees that had been passed under the Revolutionary Government and simplified them into one unified set of laws. The Code had several key concepts at its core:

  1. Equality of all in the eyes of the law
  2. No recognition of privileges of birth (i.e. noble rights

    3. inherited from ancestors)

  3. Freedom of religion
  4. Separation of the church and the state
  5. Freedom to work in an occupation of one's choice
  6. Strengthening the family by:
-Placing emphasis on the husband and father as the

head of the family

-Restricting grounds for divorce to three reasons:

adultery, conviction of a serious crime and grave

insults, excesses or cruelty; however divorce could

be granted by mutual agreement, as long as the

grounds were kept private.

- Defining who could inherit the family property The Code in effect did several things:
  1. It preserved the social aims of the Revolution.
  2. It protected the interests of the rising middle class.
  3. It guaranteed civil liberties.

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