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Napoleon: French Revolution
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From this moment Napoleon was, by the most unquestionable of titles, emperor of the French. No other act was necessary to sanction his right and consecrate his authority. But he wished to restore in France the ancient forms and recall those institutions which divinity itself seems to have inspired. He wished to impress the seal of religion itself upon the opening of his reign. The head of the Church, in order to give the French a striking proof of his paternal affection, consented to officiate at this august ceremony. What deep and enduring impressions did this leave on the mind of Napoleon and in the memory of the nation!
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At the time of the French Revolution, Napoleon was a lowly army cadet. The revolution opened the army to promotion on the basis of talent - in the old regime, you became an officer through noble birth, patronage or by bribing officials. As a military genius with ruthless ambition, Napoleon rose rapidly in the revolutionary armies. France was being attacked on all sides as the kings of Europe feared the revolution would spread, and that its ideas of liberty and equality would appeal to their own subjects. It was a time of great opportunity for an ambitious young army officer.
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In his first Italian campaign (1796-1797) Napoleon effectively brought the entire peninsula under French control... establishing his military reputation. He then forced the Austrians to let him redraw the map of Italy at theTreaty of Campo Formio, in October 1797. Napoleon acted on his own initiative throughout, the Directory trailing behind. Campo Formio confirmed the existence of Napoleon’s first political creation, the Cispadane (later the Cisalpine) Republic, carved out of the former Austrian-ruled provinces of northern Italy. Aided by the pro-French minority of Italian “patriots” Napoleon made himself president of the new state, giving it a constitution based on that of France, but with a much stronger one-man executive. Napoleon was seldom an innovator at any time in his career, and “sister republics” were not new, but the Cisalpine was the first such to emerge as the work of a single general.
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In 1798, to strike at British trade with the East, Napoleon led an expedition to Ottoman-ruled Egypt, which he conquered. His fleet... was destroyed by British admiral Horatio Nelson in the Battle of the Nile, leaving him stranded. Undaunted, Napoleon reformed the Egyptian government and law, abolishing serfdom and feudalism and guaranteeing basic rights. The French scholars he had brought with him began the scientific study of ancient Egyptian history. In 1799 he failed to capture Syria, but he won a smashing victory over the Ottomans at Abū Qīr (Abukir). France, meanwhile, faced a new coalition; Austria, Russia, and lesser powers had allied with Britain.
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On Robespierre's fall, Napoleon was arrested for conspiracy because of his friendship with the younger Robespierre but the charges were dropped and he was released. In 1795 he helped defeat Parisian counter-revolutionaries and the following year he was appointed commander of the Army of Italy. Two days before his departure for Italy he married Joséphine, widow of a guillotined general. When Napoleon's position in Italy was secured he advanced on Vienna. In 1797, Austria signed the Treaty of Campo Formio by which France obtained Belgium, the Ionian Islands and Lombardy. The Directory (1795-99), fearing Napoleon's power and ambition, hoped to keep him away from Paris by giving him command of the Army of England.
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The Corps de Napoleon was established in 1980 to give Jefferson Parish an excitingly different approach to Mardi Gras. From its inception, the Corps de Napoleon's goal has been to honor the French heritage of New Orleans and the surrounding parishes. Unlike other organizations who chose Greek or Roman mythological figures as their namesakes, the Corps de Napoleon instead looked to France for its roots and selected Napoleon, France's greatest hero.
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French Revolution