Europe Under Napoleon

Napoleon Bonaparte dominated the public life of Europe like no other individual before him. Not surprisingly, the story of the man himself has usually swamped he stories of his subjects. This book looks at the history of the Napoleonic Empire from an entirely new perspective – that of the ruled rather than the ruler. Michael Broers concentrates on the experience of the people of Europe – particularly the vast majority of Napoleon's subjects who were neither French nor willing participants in the great events of the period – during the dynamic but short-lived career of Napoleon, when half of the European content fell under his rule.

Napoleon Bonaparte dominated the public life of Europe like no other individual before him. Not surprisingly, the story of the man himself has usually swamped the stories of his subjects. This book looks at the history of the Napoleonic Empire from an entirely new perspective- that of the ruled rather than the ruler. Michael Broers concentrates on the experience of the people of Europe- particularly the vast majority of Napoleon's subjects who were neither French, nor willing participants in the great events of the period- during the dynamic but short-lived career of Napoleon, when half the European continent fell under his rule. In a new edition of a highly acclaimed book, Broers weaves together a myriad of regional experiences to produce a social history of the Napoleonic Empire with a truly panoramic scope.

Napoleon Bonaparte dominated the public life of Europe as no other individual before him since Charles V in the 16th century. Not surprisingly, the story of the man and his life has usually swamped those of the time and the place. This book is an effort to redress the balance. It is an attempt to see the Napoleonic Empire from an entirely new perspective: that of the ruled, rather than the ruler. Michael Broers concentrates on the experience of the peoples of Europe - particulary the vast majority of Napoleon's subjects who were neither French nor willing participants in the great events of the period - during the dynamic but shortlived career of Napoleon when half the continent fell under his rule.

Two hundred years ago, Napoleon was at the apogee of his power in Europe. This broad ranging reassessment explores the key themes presented by his extraordinary career: from his rise to power and the foundation of the imperial state, to the final defeat of his grand vision following the doomed invasion of Russia. It was a period of almost uninterrupted war in Europe, the consquences of victory or failure repeatedly transforming the political map. But Napoleon’s impact reached much deeper than this, achieving the ultimate destruction of the ancien regime and feudalism in Europe, and leaving a political and juridical legacy that persists today.

Broers seeks to unravel the different strands of modern European political culture at a crucial but neglected stage of their development by analyzing and comparing the major political ideologies of the period within the context of their times.

Histories of the Napoleonic period are almost exclusively biographies of the man, or political-military accounts of his wars. But such wars were only the first stage in a far more ambitious programme; the establishment of a rational state which would force the pace of modernising society. Through an examination of the experiences of French domination, Napoleon's Integration of Europe explores the implications of such a project for France and its relationship with the rest of Europe. It examines the problems of ruling a progressively expanding empire, as seen through the eyes of a trained corps of bureaucrates who were convinced that their scientific methods would enable them to understand and govern the mechanisms of society. However it also looks at the populations subjected to French rule, at the nature of their resistance and adaptation to the principles of the Napoleonic project. This book is the first overall comparative study of Europe in the Napoleonic years. It is a study not only of an early exercise in imperialism, but of the conflict that is aroused between the rationalising tendencies of the modern state and the spatial and cultural heterogeneity of individual societies. As well as a history of France, it is also a history of Italy, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Poland and Spain at a crucial moment in the history of each nation state.

Creating a French Empire and establishing French dominance over Europe constituted Napoleon's most important and consistent aims. In this fascinating book, Alexander Grab explores Napoleon's European policies, as well as the response of the European people to his rule, and demonstrates that Napoleon was as much a part of European history as he was a part of French history. Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe: - examines the formation of Napoleon's Empire, the Emporer's impact throughout Europe, and how the Continent responded to his policies - focuses on the principal developments and events in the ten states that comprised Napoleon's Grand Empire: France itself, Belgium, Germany, the Illyrian Provinces, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland - analyses Napoleon's exploitation of occupied Europe - discusses the broad reform policies Napoleon launched in Europe, assesses their success, and argues that the French leader was a major reformer and a catalyst of modernity on a European scale