Napoleon was often described as "the son of revolution" Why would this be true?

Question

Did his domestic policies preserve the Revolution? What were the major accomplishments of his domestic policy?

These two questions go with the one above, I need a really great answer fast and a long answer!

Answer 1

I suppose it would be both accurate and inaccurate to call him the 'son of the Revolution'. This name implies that it was the revolution which created Napoleon... and though he almost certainly would not have risen quite as high without it, he was already a very well-known and respected general in his own right before the coup which made him (at first) the 'First Consul'.

He also certainly did enact many of the reforms that the Revolution wanted. He constructed a public education system that the Church was not permitted to wholly control. He straightened out the legal system, making it more clear and fair (his reforms are arguably STILL the basis for the French legal system). He abolished serfdom and expanded libarties allowed to the common people. And with all these changes, it is perhaps easy to see why those who drove the Revolution might have seen Napoleon as a good representative of their ideals.

Still... there were many things he did that were not quite so popular. He ended up re-establishing the monarchy with himself the hereditary Emperor. The censored the press. He gave relatively few of those aforementioned liberties to women. And he ended up more or less establishing a state religion and using it to bolster his own power as well. Not terrific things. These kinds of actions caused his rule to be plagued by assassination attempts and counter-revolutions.

So although I'm sure he tried to come across as the 'son of the Revolution' for a while, I suspect the label was never really quite accurate. Instead, it would probably be better to say that the Revolution was the 'stepping-stone of Napoleon'.

Answer 2

He was very patriotic, and led the French to a new revolution.