Napoleon - an enlightened despot Essay -- essays research papers

Enlightened despotism is when there is an absolute ruler, in some cases a tyrant, who follows the principles of the Enlightenment finished reforms. Permitting religious toleration, allowing freedom of the press and speech, and expanding education are a few main guidelines to being and enlightened despot. snooze I is often referred to as oneness of the greatest enlightened despots. Although, he did not follow the ideas of the enlightenment entirely, he managed his country in a way that he maintained complete potentiality as well as many of the sort outs of the French Revolution. Yes, sleep did want to do a few things for himself, but he excessively ruled for the volume in most cases, promote government-funded education, and supported many other enlightened ideas. But, most importantly, Napoleon did what he thought would make his country stronger.One of Napoleons first areas of concern was in the strengthening of the French government. He created a strong centralized governmen t and pretty much got rid of the hundreds of situate law codes that had existed during under the control of the monarchy. He also created an army of government officials. He had the entire country linked under a rational administration. He also was able to get an easy supply of taxes and soldiers under his new and improved French government. Before he could get very far, however, he had to gain public favor and shape the public opinion. To do this he used reforms of propaganda and thus caused people to think that they were getting the better end of the deal, but were actually, subconsciously giving Napoleon their approval for his actions. Among some of the methods he used for propaganda included getting all of the printers and book sellers to swear an oath to Napoleon and all newspapers knock down under state control, so Napoleon gained access to almost everything that the citizens of France were able to read. Many of the gains from the French Revolution were kept, such as equalit y before the law, and careers hold to talent. Some anti-revolution actions that Napoleon took included repressing liberty, restoring absolutism, and ending political liberty. He believed that allowing political freedom would end with a state of anarchy. He believed that he could bring in these problems by acting in favor of the peoples interests as an enlightened desp... ...ig concepts, such as equality before the law, but he also did what would benefit his country. It is important to understand that since France had just exited a revolution, it was pretty fragile one big mistake and France might have ended up in another one. Napoleon was not only a child of both the French Revolution and the Enlightenment, he was also a very intelligent person. His blind and his wits led him to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest enlightened despot of all time.Works Consulted(none). The Age of Enlightenment. 17 Dec. 2004. 18 Dec. 2004. http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_EnlightenmentBerger on, Louis. France Under Napoleon Napoleon as Enlightened Despot. 13 Dec. 2004. Gay, Peter. The Enlightenment An Interpretation New York W. W. Norton & Company, 1996Kreis, Steven. Europe and the Superior Being Napoleon. The History Guide Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History. 13 May. 2004. 6 Dec. 2004. Karl, Kenneth. Cracking the AP European History Exam New York Princeton Review Publishing, 2004 118-120Spielvogal, Jackson J. Western Civilization Comprehensive volume atomic number 20 Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, 2000 517-518, 572-579, 917