Napoleon’s Empire Collapses

By

Lucas

Research Outline

I. Introduction - (Brief comment leading into subject matter - Thesis statement on the reasons why Napoleon’s empire collapsed)

II. Body – Napoleon’s success and the process of the downfall, the reasons why the empire collapsed A. Napoleon’s story 1. Napoleon’s success a. Napoleon rose through the army b. Napoleon defeated Coalitions and became the emperor 2. The process of the downfall of the empire a. Many Coalitions were held against Napoleon b. Napoleon was force to abdicate, but he became the emperor again c. Waterloo Napoleons Last Battle B. The reasons of the downfall of the
“Talleyrand, who was Napoleon’s foreign minister, said: “During the period when he was willing to accept the truth, I was loyally frank with him, and indeed, remained so later…but from the moment I saw him initiate the revolutionary enterprises, which resulted in losing France, I left the ministry… After Tilsit, however, he was no longer in a mood to listen to anyone.”(Schom) In summary, although Napoleon had positive characteristics, he kept those characters in an unreasonable way and he did not amend his negative characters. As a result, both kinds of characteristics led to his empire’s downfall.

Napoleon’s domestic affairs and policies Napoleon was a remarkable politician; his early policies made his empire achieve its incredible height. But after his great success, he began to make nonsense policies because he wanted to expand his power widely and strongly. As a result of Napoleon’s endless wars, he needed much money to support his army. As we know, the best way for government to have more income is to increase taxes. “In 1799, Napoleon issued a new Taxation, which had begun modestly, was forced sharply upward, taxes on family income(call “hearth taxes”), food, salt ,stamps, licenses for various businesses, and indirect taxation reaching unbearable levels”(Schom). Moreover, Napoleon ruled that people who were above sixteen years old must pay a “personal tax” while a separate land tax rose to twenty percent. Taxes were