Editing Napoleon (section)

==Reforms==
[[File:Debret - Premiere distribution des decorations de la Legion d'honneur.jpg|thumb|400px|right|''First remittance of the Legion of Honour, 15 July 1804, at [[Les Invalides|Saint-Louis des Invalides]]'', by [[Jean-Baptiste Debret]] (1812)]]Napoleon instituted numerous reforms, many of which had a lasting influence on France, Europe, and the world. He reformed the French administration, codified French law, implemented a new education system, and established the first French central bank, the [[Bank of France|Banque de France]].{{sfnp|Bell|2015|pp=53-56}} He negotiated the Concordat of 1801 with the Catholic Church, which sought to reconcile the majority Catholic population to his regime. It was presented alongside the Organic Articles, which regulated public worship in France. He also implemented civil and religious equality for Protestants and Jews.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=37-40}} In May 1802, he instituted the [[Legion of Honour]] to encourage civilian and military achievements. The order is still the highest decoration in France.{{sfnp|Blaufarb|2008|pp=101–10}}{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=49-51}} He introduced three French constitutions culminating in the reintroduction of a hereditary monarchy and nobility.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=29-35, 51-53}}

=== Administration ===
Napoleon introduced a series of centralizing administrative reforms soon after taking power. In 1800, he established prefects appointed to run France's regional departments, sub-prefects to run districts and mayors to run towns. Local representative bodies were retained, but their powers were reduced and indirect elections with a high property qualification replaced direct elections.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=75-76}} Real power in the regions was now in the hands of the prefects who were judged by how they met the main priorities of Napoleon's government: efficient administration, law and order, stimulating the local economy, gathering votes for plebiscites, conscripting soldiers and provisioning the army.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|pp=24-25}}{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=76}}

An enduring reform was the foundation, in December 1799, of the [[Conseil d'État (France)|Council of State]], an advisory body of experts which could also draft laws for submission to the legislative body. Napoleon drew many of his ministers and ambassadors from the council. It was the council which undertook the codification of French law.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|pp=21-23}}

After several attempts by revolutionary governments, Napoleon officially introduced the [[metric system]] in France in 1801, and it was spread through western Europe by his armies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan |title=An Encyclopaedia of Napoleon's Europe |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |year=1984 |isbn=0-297-78394-7 |location=London |page=191}}</ref>{{sfnp|O'Connor|Robertson|2003}} The system was unpopular in some circles, so in 1812 he introduced a compromise system in the retail trade called the ''[[mesures usuelles]]'' (traditional units of measurement).<ref name="H&H2">{{cite web |last1=Hallock |first1=William |last2=Wade |first2=Herbert T |year=1906 |title=Outlines of the evolution of weights and measures and the metric system |url=https://archive.org/stream/outlinesofevolut00halluoft/outlinesofevolut00halluoft_djvu.txt |publisher=The Macmillan Company |pages=66–69 |location=London}}</ref> In December 1805, Napoleon abolished the revolutionary calendar, with its ten-day week, which had been introduced in 1793.{{sfnp|Palmer|1984|p=234}}

===Napoleonic Code===
[[File:Code Civil 1804.png|thumb|alt=Page of French writing|First page of the 1804 original edition of the [[civil code|Code Civil]]]]
Napoleon's [[Civil code|civil code of laws]], known from 1807 as the [[Napoleonic Code]], was implemented in March 1804. It was prepared by committees of legal experts under the supervision of [[Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès|Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès]], the ''Second Consul''. Napoleon participated actively in the sessions of the Council of State that revised the drafts. The code introduced a clearly written and accessible set of national laws to replace the various regional and customary law systems that had operated in France.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=41}}

The civil code entrenched the principles of equality before the law, religious toleration, secure property rights, equal inheritance for all legitimate children, and the abolition of the vestiges of feudalism. However, it also reduced the rights of women and children and severely restricted the grounds for divorce.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=27-28}}{{sfnp|Dwyer|2015a|p=577-78}}

A criminal code was promulgated in 1808, and eventually seven codes of law were produced under Napoleon.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=43-44}} The Napoleonic Code was carried by Napoleon's armies across Europe and influenced the law in many parts of the world. [[Alfred Cobban]] describes it as, "the most effective agency for the propagation of the basic principles of the French Revolution."{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=28}}

===Warfare===
{{Further|Napoleonic weaponry and warfare|Military career of Napoleon}}
[[File:Napoleon a Cherbourg bordercropped.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Photo of a grey and phosphorous-coloured equestrian statue. Napoleon is seated on the horse, which is rearing up, he looks forward with his right hand raised and pointing forward; his left hand holds the reins.|Statue in [[Cherbourg-Octeville]] unveiled by [[Napoleon III]] in 1858. Napoleon I strengthened the town's defences to prevent British naval incursions.]]
In the field of [[military organization]], Napoleon borrowed from previous theorists such as [[Jacques Antoine Hippolyte, Comte de Guibert]], and from the reforms of preceding French governments, and then developed what was already in place. He continued the revolutionary policies of conscription and promotion based primarily on merit.<ref name="Archer">{{Cite book |last1=Archer |first1=Christon I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lfSwAEACAAJ |title=World History of Warfare |last2=Ferris |first2=John R. |last3=Herwig |first3=Holger H. |last4=Travers |first4=Timothy H. E. |date=2008 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-1941-0 |pages=380–404 |access-date=5 December 2023 |archive-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207110506/https://books.google.com.pe/books?id=0lfSwAEACAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&hl=es&redir_esc=y |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|Flynn|2001|p=16}}

[[Corps]] replaced divisions as the largest army units, [[Self-propelled artillery|mobile artillery]] was integrated into reserve batteries, the staff system became more fluid, and cavalry returned as an important formation in French military doctrine. These methods are now referred to as essential features of Napoleonic warfare.<ref name="Archer" />

Napoleon was regarded by the influential military theorist [[Carl von Clausewitz]] as a genius in the art of war, and many historians rank him as a great military commander.<ref name="Archer" /> Wellington considers him the greatest military commander of all time,{{sfnp|Roberts|2004|p=272}} and [[Henry Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland|Henry Vassall-Fox]] calls him "the greatest statesman and the ablest general of ancient or modern times".{{sfnp|Roberts|2001|p=59}} Cobban states that he showed his genius in moving troops quickly and concentrating them on strategic points.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|pp=46-47}} His principles were to keep his forces united, keep no weak point unguarded, seize important points quickly, and seize his chance.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=90}} Owen Connelly, however, states, "Napoleon's personal tactics defy analysis." He used his intuition, engaged his troops, and reacted to what developed.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=93-94}}

Napoleon was an aggressive commander with a preference for the offensive.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rothenberg |first=Gunther E. |title=The Napoleonic Wars |last2=Keegan |first2=John |date=2000 |publisher=Cassell |isbn=978-0-304-35267-8 |series=The Cassell history of warfare |location=London |pages=35 |language=en}}</ref> Under Napoleon, the focus shifted towards destroying enemy armies rather than simply outmanoeuvering them. Wars became more costly and decisive as invasions of enemy territory occurred on larger fronts. The political cost of war also increased, as defeat for a European power meant more than just losing isolated territories. Peace terms were often punitive, sometimes involving regime change, which intensified the trend towards [[total war]] since the revolutionary era.<ref name="Archer" />{{sfnp|Bell|2015|pp=10-13}}

===Education===
Napoleon's educational reforms laid the foundation of a modern system of secondary and tertiary education in France and throughout much of Europe.<ref>{{cite book |author=Clive Emsley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L7sbBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 |title=Napoleon: Conquest, Reform and Reorganisation |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-317-61028-1 |page=52 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018173545/https://books.google.com/books?id=L7sbBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 |archive-date=18 October 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> He synthesized academic elements from the ''[[Ancien Régime]]'', [[Age of Enlightenment|The Enlightenment]], and the French Revolution.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=L. Pearce |year=1956 |title=Science, Education and Napoleon I |journal=Isis |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=369–382 |doi=10.1086/348507 |jstor=226629 |s2cid=144112149 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/226629 |access-date=5 September 2017 |archive-date=3 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171203115348/https://www.jstor.org/stable/226629 |url-status=live}}</ref> His education laws of 1802 left most primary education in the hands of religious or communal schools which taught basic literacy and numeracy for a minority of the population.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=34}} He abolished the revolutionary central schools and replaced them with secondary schools and elite lycées where the curriculum was based on reading, writing, mathematics, Latin, natural history, classics, and ancient history.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=58-59}}

He retained the revolutionary higher education system, with ''grandes écoles'' in professions including law, medicine, pharmacy, engineering and school teaching. He introduced ''grandes écoles'' in history and geography, but opposed one in literature because it was not vocational. He also founded the [[École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr|military academy of Saint Cyr]].{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=60}} He promoted the advanced centres, such as the [[École Polytechnique]], that provided both military expertise and advanced research in science.<ref>Margaret Bradley (1975), "[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00033797500200381 Scientific education versus military training: the influence of Napoleon Bonaparte on the École Polytechnique] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230504023854/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00033797500200381 |date=4 May 2023}}". ''Annals of science'' (1975) 32#5 pp. 415–449.</ref>

In 1808, he founded the Imperial University, a supervisory body with control over curriculum and discipline. The following year he introduced the baccalaureate.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=59}} The system was designed to produce the efficient bureaucrats, technicians, professionals and military officers that the Napoleonic state required. It outperformed its European counterparts, many of which borrowed from the French system.<ref>{{harvp|Roberts|2014|pp=278–281}}</ref> Female education, in contrast, was designed to be practical and religious, based on home science, the catechism, basic literacy and numeracy, and enough science to eradicate superstition.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=60-61}}

=== Nobility and honours ===
In May 1802, Bonaparte created the Legion of Honour whose members would be military personnel and civilians with distinguished service to the state. The institution was unpopular with republicans, and the measure passed by 14 votes to 10 in the Council of State.{{Sfnp|Conner|2004|p=49}} The Legion of Honour became an order of chivalry after the empire was proclaimed in 1804. In August 1806, Napoleon created an hereditary imperial nobility including princes, dukes, counts, barons and knights. Eventually the empire had over 3,000 nobles and more than 30,000 members of the Legion of Honour.{{Sfnp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=358, 398-99}}{{Sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=50-51}}