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Hi I’m John Green and this is Crash Course
European History.
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So, the word revolution is a funny one, because
it literally means a full turn of 360 degrees.
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Like, you end a revolution where you started
out.
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But in history, revolution means radical change,
stark departures from the world that was,
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and the messy, often violent embrace of a
new world.
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The French Revolution was in different ways
both kinds of Revolution--in the end, an absolutist
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government was replaced by an absolutist government.
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But the change that emerged from the Revolution
was real and lasting.
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It helped usher in a world where people saw
themselves as citizens of a community rather
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than subjects of a king.
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And eventually, a rising military star named
Napoleon Bonaparte would prove that having
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your dad be king of France was not the only
way to become ruler of France.
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[Intro]
Napoleon grew up poor in Corsica, but he loved
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reading and managed to secure a scholarship
to a military academy.
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As a kid, he spoke Corsican and Italian and
didn’t start learning French until he was
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ten.
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And he was bullied for his accented French
and for his overall tininess--although despite
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what you may have heard about Napoleon Complexes,
Bonaparte would eventually end up being around
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five feet seven inches tall, about average
for an 18th century man.
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He entered the army as a second lieutenant
in 1785 and began to rise through the ranks
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throughout the tumultuous years of the French
Revolution.
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By the time he was 24, in 1793, he was a brigadier
general working under the Committee for Public
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Safety, which as you’ll recall killed a
lot of the public in the name of public safety.
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And then in 1798, Napoleon crossed into Egypt
with an entire army at his command, aiming
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to disrupt Britain’s access to India.
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In addition to lots of soldiers, Napoleon
brought with him scientists, linguists, and
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other scholars to advance knowledge and also
carry off more Egyptian riches.
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The Egyptians were impressed by the openness
of these scholars, but in general the French
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completely appalled the local people with
their crude ways and drunkenness.
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And even as Napoleon flattered the Egyptians
by declaring himself a worshiper of Islam,
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he ultimately stole and desecrated many Egyptian
artefacts--although later he also stole and
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desecrated lots of artefacts from around Europe.
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He loved a plundered artefact!
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At any rate, Napoleon ultimately had to return
to France in 1799, as his army and navy were
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defeated by the British and the Egyptians.
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And that timing turned out to be perfect:
The Directory, which you’ll recall, was
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a five-person committee governing France after
the collapse of Robespierre’s Committee
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for Public Safety, was overseeing a still-floundering
economy and fighting wars on many fronts.
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Napoleon helped overthrow the directorate
in 1799, and quickly became “First Consul,”
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and then took as his first task mending fences
with the Catholic Church.
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He agreed to the Concordat of 1801, which
recognized Catholicism as the primary French
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religion.
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It also validated the sale of Church lands
and the state’s payment of clergymen’s
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salaries if they swore to uphold the French
government.
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And that was important because it ensured
him the support one of France’s most important
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institutions, and you’ll recall our discussions
about how even dictators need support from
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within their holdings.
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But it’s also telling that Napoleon would
eventually be excommunicated by the Catholic
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Church for annexing Papal lands for France.
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Napoleon was also popular with the people:
He offered a solution to decades of instability
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and economic decline.
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He won majorities when he had his candidacy
for office and other decisions approved by
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a plebiscite or vote, cast by men over the
age of 21.
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In 1802 he had himself declared Consul for
Life and in 1804 Emperor.
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Did the center of the world just open up?
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Is there a bust of somebody who actually believes
himself to be the center of the world in there?
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It is!
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It’s Napoleon himself.
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Stan got this in Paris.
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I can tell, because it says, “Souvenier
de Paris.”
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So this bust of Napoleon complete with its
armlessness and being cut off at the torso
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and everything is extremely Roman-ish.
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And this was part of how Napoleon justified
his dictatorial form of government.
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He said “no, we’re just going back to
the Roman Empire...to the good old days of
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ancient Rome.”
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And dictators do this a lot.
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From the Russian word Tsar, which comes from
the word Caesar, to 20th century dictators,
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when your leaders start talking about reviving
the glory of the Roman Empire, get nervous.
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Oh look, its half-French, half-Roman Napoleon.
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So, during the French Revolution, leaders
promoted the ancient Roman idea of virtu—that
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is, the sacrifice of personal interest for
the good of the republic, the whole.
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Napoleon continued all that Roman imagery
but switched it from the Roman Republic to
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the Roman Empire.
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you can even see this in his journey from
being a Consul to being an Emperor.
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He was portrayed in lavish costume and crowned
with the laurel leaves of a conquering hero.
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“Empire” style in furniture arose and
women donned slim white dresses, free from
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corsets and voluminous petticoats, in imitation
of Roman statuary.
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And Napoleon saw himself as a modern Justinian--the
famed ancient lawgiver.
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So to that end, he set out to have the most
celebrated jurists under his guidance produce
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a rational code of laws.
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Completed in 1804, the Code Napoléon (aka
the Napoleonic Code) standardized the laws
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of citizenship, family, and property.
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The Code made rules for financial transfers
and mortgages and for other legal transactions
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concerning property standards across France
instead of differing from province to province.
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And legal standardization facilitated modern
economic development.
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But the other two sections on family and citizenship
stunned many for the way they impoverished
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and curtailed most of the rights of women.
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Under the Napoleonic Code, women had no right
to their own property once they were married--not
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even the wages they earned themselves.
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They could not serve as witnesses in court
nor have control over or guardianship of their
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own children.
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They had to live where their husband directed
them to live.
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If they committed adultery, they were sent
to jail.
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But men, in contrast, would only be charged
with a crime if they brought a sexual partner
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into the family home.
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I’m not making this up.
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Lest you think that history is simply a march
toward more people having more rights….not
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always.
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But by creating laws that specifically targeted
the economy, the empire was seen as paving
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the way for modernization.
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And other institutions followed: individual
schools were founded for higher education
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in engineering, science and technology, and
for developing a cadre of advanced teachers.
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Napoleon also sponsored the creation of lycées,
or high schools.
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Countries in Europe and across the globe imitated
the French legal and educational systems as
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they too strove to become modern as well.
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This may not seem like a huge deal, but consider
how different the world becomes as more people
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have access to more education:
There are more potential innovators to solve
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big problems, and more people who can use
the tool of writing to share their perspectives
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with wide audiences, and more teachers to
train and educate future generations of professionals
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and experts.
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On the other hand, it’s worth remembering
that half of the population--women--were denied
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not just most of the new opportunities in
France but also many of the rights they’d
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previously had.
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So, Napoleon initially succeeded in France
because he quelled the political chaos by
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making himself an emblem of authority and
order.
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Right out of the dictator playbook.
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He also created a police state with strict
censorship and spies operating in everyday
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life.
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And he restored the monarchical system of
aristocratic titles and hierarchies, even
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giving back titles to some of the old aristocracy
who could help revive the appearance of ceremonial
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grandeur.
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And so in all those ways, Napoleon was returning
to Louis XIV’s absolutism, so the revolution
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did turn all the way around, ending where
it started, in that sense.
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While members of Napoleon’s family often
became wealthy and titled, his enemies were
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frequently exiled from France.
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The most famous of his exiled enemies was
Germaine de Staël, the wealthiest woman in
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Europe and one of the most accomplished.
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De Staël never stopped criticizing the dictator,
although at first she found him fascinating
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and even thought she might become his companion.Early
on, she probed him for an expression of admiration
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of her talents by asking what kind of woman
he valued most.
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He responded, “the one with the most children”
and pointedly gazed at her chest.
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After that, she denounced his brutal nature
to whoever would listen, rallying opponents
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around her.
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But Napoleon had as many plans for Europe
as he had for France and he set out to conquer
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and colonize all of Europe and the British
Isles.
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He amassed a huge army by drafting young men
between the ages of 20 and 24, then he earned
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their complete devotion by fighting alongside
them in at least sixty battles.
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As he conquered German and Austrian territory,
he brought men from those areas into his armies
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too.
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And by 1806, he had ended the Holy Roman Empire
after defeating Austria in several battles,
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most thoroughly at the battle of Austerlitz
in 1805.
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Then he went on to defeat Prussia in 1806
and Russia in 1807 after they declared war
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on France in succession.
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Napoleon then forced or inspired reforms such
as the end of serfdom, legislating religious
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toleration, and creating schools to advance
scientific and technological study.
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And he unified German states excluding Austria
in the Confederation of the Rhine.
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His imposition of the Napoleonic Code, the
metric system, and other institutions for
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standardization helped to unify Europe.
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What is the metric system?
Stan says it’s something that Europeans
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do, like soccer and ensuring that all citizens
have health care.
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One of the big effects of Napoleon’s European
ambitions was that it inspired a lot of nationalism
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among his new subjects, who mostly opposed
his dictatorial regimes, in places where one
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of his brothers usually.
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I mean, for one thing, most of these newly
conquered lands were run by one of Napoleon’s
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brothers, who’d serve as surrogate monarch,
and if you’re gonna live in a dictatorship,
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you wanna at least be dictated by the dictator
himself.
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Not some brother.
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It’s like going to see the matinee of a
big Broadway show, and instead of getting
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the big star, you get some understudy.
at any rate, this is important because people
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began to think of themselves as, for instance,
German in part because they didn’t want
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to think of themselves as French.
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Napoleon’s goal was to colonize the entire
continent, and he mostly succeeded, but Spain
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was still unconquered and thwarting his Continental
system when in 1807 Napoleon struck with an
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army of some 100,000 men.
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Spanish and Portuguese royals both left their
capitals.
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Napoleon installed yet another brother (Joseph)
as king and resistance swelled—with help
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from the British and Arthur Wellesley, who
would later become the Duke of Wellington.
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And you can see the effects in art.
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Jacques-Louis David painted triumphant moments
in Napoleon’s career, including his self-coronation
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as emperor.
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But Spanish painter Francisco Goya depicted
Napoleonic rule as a reign of terror.
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His “Third of May 1808” shows a French
firing squad mowing down peasants and clergy
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alike.
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Goya remained a chronicler of Spanish resistance
and French barbarism, as tens of thousands
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of French troops had to occupy the conquered
kingdom because of Spanish hatred of the conquerors.
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Let’s go to the Thought Bubble.
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1.
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Despite ongoing problems, Napoleon became
determined to conquer and absorb all of Russia,
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2.
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especially since it had opted out of his Continental
System.
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3.
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He built an army of some 600,000 to 700,000
men from across his lands
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4. and began his invasion in June of 1812.
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5.
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Having trudged hundreds of miles, troops were
exhausted and overcome by the heat,
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6. and the Rusians refused to engage in battle.
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7.
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Instead, they retreated, practicing so-called
“scorched earth tactics” by burning and
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destroying any resource
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8.
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including food and livestock that could be
of use to the invaders.
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9.
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Finally at Borodino, the two sides engaged
in what was ultimately a costly victory for
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the French,
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10. who lost 30,000 men, while the Russians
lost 45,000.
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11.
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But the French were thousands of miles from
home territory, and so reinforcing and resupplying
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their army proved difficult.
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12.
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Foreign recruits, who were not as loyal to
Napoleon, began melting away as winter approached
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and conditions worsened.
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13.
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The remaining 100,000ish invaders marched
on from Borodino, some 70 miles from Moscow,
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14.
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but on reaching their destination, they found
the city consumed by fire
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15.
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—shelter and other necessities were once
again in short supply.
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16.
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Still Napoleon waited for Tsar Alexander I
to surrender and agree to terms.
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17.
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But when the surrender failed to materialize,
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18.
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Napoleon led his depleted, starving, and frostbitten
army westward to Poland.
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19.
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Many had died; many other soldiers had deserted,
and more French troops would be killed by
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the Cossacks as they retreated.
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20.
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Only 40,000 of Napoleon’s soldiers reached
Poland alive in 1813.
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Thanks Thought Bubble.
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So, the European powers took note of the Emperor’s
bedraggled forces and formed a coalition that
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included Russia, Austria, Prussia, and Sweden.
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In 1813, their armies, backed by British financing,
defeated French forces at Leipzig.
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This battle was waged because Napoleon refused
to accept the allies’ terms, which initially
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allowed him to continue to rule France.
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In early 1814 he abdicated and headed for
exile on Elba, an island in the Mediterranean.
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A year later, he escaped, returned to France,
gathered an army, and confronted the powers
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once more, finally surrendering on July 15,
1815 after being defeated at Waterloo.
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Napoleon was living in exile on the distant
island of St. Helena when he died on May 5,
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1821--thirty two years to the day after the
meeting of the Estates-General that set the
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French Revolution into motion.
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Consider all that had happened in those 32
years, and you’ll understand why this period
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of French history is seen as so important
to world history.
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Decades after his death, Napoleon’s remains
were lavishly returned to France, placed in
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the Church of the Dome in the heart of Paris,
and eventually re-encased in a grander sarcophagus
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under the church’s golden dome itself.
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Why?
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Remember that under him, French achievements
were massive in terms of education, commitment
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to science, standardization, modernization
of the economy and administration, and opening
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the door to opportunity for ordinary people.
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Well, ordinary men.
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French museums were packed with loot from
across Europe and Egypt plundered by Napoleon’s
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armies.
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In fact, those museums are still packed with
that loot.
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And there were also the unforgettable early
military victories and the revival of French
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cultural glory that led to the imitation of
French things throughout the world.
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Muhammad Ali, ruler of Egypt, who had been
part of the effort to drive Napoleon and his
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forces from the country, would begin programs
in direct imitation of Napoleon’s.
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And t he creation of a truly citizens army,
entranced by the heroism of its leader, also
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endured, while his lightning attacks remained
a model to future military innovators.
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The Napoleonic Code was imitated worldwide.
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As Napoleon’s body was re-entombed in splendor
and pomp, one worker expressed France’s
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general worship of the dictator: “I’ve
got the emperor in my guts.”
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For better and for worse, we still have Napoleon
in our guts.
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Thanks for watching.
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I’ll see you next time.
