Was Napoleon a Dictator?

Question

What happened during Napoleons reign as First Consul, then as Emporer to make some people view him as a tyrant and dictator?

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

Answer 1

He was dynamite as vice president of the counsil, under Pedro they made many wild dreams come true.

Answer 2

Napoleon came to power in 1799. He was portrayed as a military hero by his propaganda. But actually his last campaign in Egypt was failure.

The key point to recognize is that France had grown totally sick of the chaos of The French Revolution, "the reign of terror." The country wanted order above all else. Napoleon provided this. He was not at all a democrat, but neither was he a Hitler or Stalin. Napoleon offered a conservatism that the French Revolution had lacked. He came to terms with the Church, which the Revolution had tried to destroy. Napoleon is known for his great law code, called of course Code Napoleon. Some consider this his greatest achievement. Because of his orderly mine, some consider him as an Enlightenment figure. This is plausible, because there were enlightened despots, that had come before him, such as Frederick the Great and Elizabeth the Great.

Leaders like Napoleon do not tolerate opposition. He never did, so in that way he was always a dictator. However, he could have remained in power had he not been determined to rule Europe, and this required ultimately defeating Great Britain. He was done in by putting his brother Joseph Bonaparte as king of Spain (the Spanish ulcer continued to plague him throughout his latter rule; the British effectively supported Spain). Bonaparte also tried to force Russia to support this trade restrictions to England, which caused a war with them. Napoleon's army suffered a devistating defeat in Russia. Later, defeats followed at Leipzig and Waterloo. His attempt to rule Europe basically caused these.

Napoleon, before his wars, might have been considered to have brought more efficient rule to France. However, he was always a tyrant and dictator.

Answer 3

Napoleon participated in a coup that overthrew the by then eventuastabilized government of France which was seeing relative peace inside the country as well as the acceptance of the Republican form of government in France by its neighbours. Napoleon then worked to gain as much power for himself until he became Emperor. Sure you can make arguments in his favour but you could also say Hitler built the Autobahn and put Germans to work again. The fact is Napoleon spread war throughout the European continent at a time where peace seemed possible. His humanitarian legal gestures and such don't comparet o the atrocities commited in many parts of Europe (just looked at what he did in Spain). Unless he had not been removed from power he doubtless would have continued his bloody military adventures till the end of his life.

Answer 4

Anything that I have read shows Napolean to be a French Hero. Things like the Napoleonic Code, Work programs for the people of France where the L'arc de Triumphe and other land marks in Paris were erected, and his military leadership set him apart as one of histories greatest figures. He instituted reforms in France that are still in place today. for instance, the idea of centralized government, higher education, a central banking system, and roads and sewers. He also codified Criminal and Civil law. He instituted a Code of Criminal Instruction, which sought to preserve personal freedoms and remedy abuses commonly found in european courts of the time.

I'm sure that the English and all of the conquered european nations would have seen him as a Tyrant.

Answer 5

He crowned himself emperor, had an huge community of secret police below the path of Joseph Fouche, close down numerous newspapers, intercepted letters and censored them, fought numerous wars that the human beings had little or no say in, and used conscription contained in the protection rigidity. He made conflict on the the remainder of Europe and beat them on numerous activities, making Napoleon a source of hatred and bitterness for those countries. This made him a dictator contained in the eyes of the the remainder of the international.

Answer 6

he was a dictator the reason some people view him as a tyrant is that he oppressed anyone who opposed him, for example he had duc d'Enghien arrested and killed even though he was in a foreign country where he had no legal right to do so. however most people condem napoleon for his foreign policy, for example his invasion of Spain was nothing short of treachery.

Answer 7

Yes, he told one of his staff officers that "They wanted me to be another Washington." However, he's not an evil dictator compared to others we've seen recently. He did lot of good things like help build vital infastructures like sewers and roads, helped fix higher education, and set up the Napoleonic code.

Answer 8

to his enemies,and to those people who really hates him he's a dictator but to those who believe in him, he's a sa viour and a hero- hmm... sounds familiar, ei!

Answer 9

Yes he was the worst of them all

Answer 10

yes