What Did Napoleon do?

"As long as genius that grandly dares- and fails- has power to lift the mind of man to high endeavor, so long will Napoleon be worthy of his page in the records of history. " (George Gordon Andrews- "The Lost Voices of Napoleonic Historians"). Napoleon was an extremely influential man of the 1800s in Europe. Most people remember him for his negative and positive impact on the social, economic, and political systems in Europe.  He has made his impact in many different ways, many of which are further explained here.

Napoleon influenced Europe's political system in more ways than one. Political influences are those that deal with the government.The first way he influenced it was when he redrew the map of Europe. The finished map showed that British remained outside of his empire. This is a political influence because it had to do with Napoleon taking control of many of the countries in Europe including Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Austria, and many more. By redrawing the map, he created a negative and positive influence on the world, but more specifically in Europe. Obviously, it was good for Napoleon because he was redrawing the territory that he took control of. Also, it is impressive to draw a map of the world, the way people thought the world looked like was influenced because of him. On the flip side, it was negative because he was taking over the land that people already claimed and they were losing what they owned to Napoleon. All of the countries would now be under one control, and may not be the best thing for so many people to be under one control. Another example of how Napoleon influenced the political system is that he reorganized the government in Egypt when he invaded it. Also, while invading, he invented the Institute of Egypt. This is a political influence because it has to do with Napoleon changing the government and inventing something to change the study of ancient Egypt. Many people would agree that this is a positive influence because Napoleon is bettering the government in Egypt by reorganizing it. He also changed the way people looked at the way people looked at ancient Egypt forever. He invaded Egypt and did something beneficial with it. The last and final reason why Napoleon influenced the political system is that he intended to overthrew the Directory, and the give members resigned. The Directory was the system of government in France at the time. Since this issue is dealing with the government in 1799, it is a political influence. This influence is negative because members of the Directory resigned their position and because of Napoleon, the Directory no longer existed. France no longer had a system of government after Napoleon.

Napoleon also influenced the economic system of Europe just as much as he influenced its political system. Influences in the economic system have to do with things that deal with the economy and money. Napoleon built roads and canals, encouraged new industry, and controlled prices to help the economy in Europe prosper. This is one of his positive impacts because by doing this, the economy is Europe was doing well after being poor for so long. Napoleon helped Europe out by doing this. Also, he spread artwork around Europe by taking precious artworks from Italy. This can be seen as a negative and positive influence. It may be negative because he took things from Italy, which would have been bad for Italy. But, this may be seen as a positive thing because Napoleon was able to spread artwork to other places of the world, which spread new ideas. Another example of his influence is idea to sell the Louisiana Territory. This sale was worth multimillion dollars, and doubled the size of the United States, the land it was sold to. This is a positive influence to the United States because it lead to the expansion of the land in America. This also negatively influences France because they lost the land they they owned in another part of the world.

Finally, Napoleon influenced the social system of Europe in many ways. Social influences are those that deal with the people. One way he influences the social system was by having the French Directory using him to accomplish their goals. This means that Napoleon was a smart man and that the government of France wanted him to help them further their goals. He made a positive influence on the members, and they now want him to help them do what they need. But, you should not use someone to further your goals, which makes part of this influence negative. Since it has to do with the people in France, it is an influence in the so social system. Another thing Napoleon did he established a meritocracy. This meritocracy said that all people were to be rewarded based on their skills, rather than the social class that they were born into. This is a positive influence on the social system because how well people should do should not matter if they were born into a good or bad class. If a poor man has the potential to do well, he shouldn't be restricted because he was born into a low class. By Napoleon creating this system, he gives everyone the potential to do well, no matter what class they belong to.

Napoleon's decisions in his years of ruling had a big influence on Europe, especially the social, economic, and political systems. Although the influences were both positive and negative, they still impacted these three systems greatly. He essentially influenced the way peoples lived they're love in the 1800s because of all the things he did to Europe.