POLEON’S FAILURES AND WEAKNESSES:,

Despite of his contribution, Napoleon also registered a number of weaknesses that made him un popular in France and Europeat large.

1. He imprisoned the Pope:

Napoleon abrogated the concordat by arresting and imprisoning the Pope. By 1808, there was a serious conflict between Napoleon and the Pope. The Pope refused the continental system initiated by Napoleon against Britain. Consequently, Napoleon occupied the Popal states and added Rome to French empire in 1809. This disappointed the Catholics in Franceand all over Europe hence, reducing on Napoleon’s popularity.

2. He became a dictator:

Napoleon adopted dictatorship in his administration in France. He centralized all powers to himself and left no room for democracy at high levels of administration. In 1804, he violated the constitution and declared himself an Emperor. There was no, election and parliament which deprived the French men of representative government. Worse of all, he revived the system of Letress de- cachet especially from 1810. Napoleon manipulated some codes to strengthen his dictatorship. He arrested and imprisoned his political opponents.

3. Liberal subjects:

In the field of education, napoleon is blamed for abolishing the teaching of revolutionary subjects like History, philosophy, political Science and literature. This is because these subjects sharpen the reasoning capacity of people which could make people expose his weaknesses. In other wards, Napoleon feared parliamentary debates and critics.

4. Girl child Education:

Napoleon’s Education system segregated girls in favour of boys. He commended that, “I do not think we need to trouble our selves with any plan of instruction for young females, Public Education is not suitable for them because they are never called upon to act in Public. Marriage is all they look to.” To him, women should be taught religion and morals to teach them to be submissive to their husbands. Napoleon believed that women should not play any Public role nor hold any Public office apart from the kitchen. This was against the principle of equality as demanded by the revolutionaries.

5. The Continental System:

The continental system that was designed by Napoleon to defeat Britainfailed and instead had negative consequences on Franceand Europe. The system blocked the British superior and cheap manufactured goods to European countries, franc inclusive. This made French men and European businesses men to close their businesses and industries. The end result was famine, inflation, unemployment industrial breakdown, and financial crisis hence, making Napoleon un popular in France.

6. Laws against women:

Napoleon used repressive laws that neglected the principle of equality and violated the rights of women. The code Napoleon made women inferior to men. Napoleon remarked that, “The Angel told Eve to obey her husband, it should be written in our code.” The Penal code provided for severe punishment for women who disobey their husbands. Women were to be under the control of their husbands and could not a quire or sell property without concern of their husbands. To make it worse, he permitted men to divorce their women for criminal offences.

8. Favoritism and Nepotism:

Napoleon practiced favoritism and nepotism in his domestic as well as foreign policy. The code also provided Napoleon with power and authority to appoint his family members and relatives to key positions of responsibilities in France and conquered states. E.g., his brothers, Louis Bonaparte, Lucien Bonaparte, and Jerome Bonaparte were made kings of Holland, Italy, and West Phalia respectively. This was not different from a hereditary system of appointment of Bourbons and betrayed Napoleon as a true son of the French revolution.

9. Censorship of the Press:

Napoleon suppressed and restricted the freedom of pres s through his police chief, Fouche. Napoleon’s view was that, “Liberty was not for the common people” Consequently, he limited the number of printers in Paris and their proprietors were made to swear an oath of obedience to the government. The number of legal newspapers was also reduced from 70 in 1800 to 4 by 1810. Those who defied the government orders and published anti government ideas were either hanged r imprisoned. This explains why the defeat of Trafalgar in 1805 was not published in any news paper till after Napoleon was overthrown. Thus, Napoleon denied the French men rights to information (press freedom) and undermined revolutionary principles of liberty.

10. Fighting endless wars.

Napoleon is blamed for his an endless wars in an effort to conquer Europe. Wars such as the Spanish ( 1808), and Moscow campaign ( 1812) cost Francethousands of soldiers and a lot of financial resources. This ambition also made Europeans join hands in series of coalitions that led to his defeat in 1815. Napoleon’s aggressive wars led to economic decline in France, heavy losses of lives, destruction of property and isolation of Francefrom the rest of Europe. That explain why some his soldiers deserted him because they were tired of fighting endless wars, hence, his failure.

11. Conscription into the Army:

Napoleon forcefully recruited the French men in the army just to raise the big army to fulfill his ambition of conquering the whole Europe. By 1812, he had passed a law that entitled all able bodied men to join the army. He resorted to recruiting young boys who were hurriedly trained and sent to the battle field. Such young boys could easily surrender of withdraw from the battle field.eg, about 80,000 surrendered to the allied powers in the eve of Moscow campaign. This was because they were forced to join the army. It should be noted that Napoleon’s army was heterogeneous which comprised of Belgians, Italians French, etc.

12. Decline of French Economy:

By 1815, the French economy had declined. Napoleonic wars drained the French resources and caused social, economic problems like industrial breakdown, unemployment, inflation, famine and starvation. Besides, the wars had isolated Francefrom the rest of Europe and such deteriorating economic situation made Franceun able to have proper financing of the army which affected their performance and led to Napoleon’s down fall.