The debate was a great idea to start out with, I learned so much more than i really expected, i read about napoleon but i didn't really pay attention to what he stripped away from women at the time and his rule when he was away fighting wars. At first i had a mind set that napoleon was a horrible ruler for France and that he crushed the spirit of the revolution, but being a pro and listening to my team come up with points during the debate, really second guessed my feelings towards napoleon as a ruler and as an enlightened ruler. I still feel though that the society at one point with Joseph Fouché in charge, who created a secret police and harsh system, the citizens were living in fear.
Overall though i believe that napoleon was a good ruler at the time that France needed to help them get out of the economic hole they were in and become one of the powerful countries in Europe again. Even though he wasn't the best in equality, he did make a private banking system for France and a code of laws that all equal men fall under. i do believe that stripping the rights of women was no a spirit of the revolution, but the goal of the revolution was to change the government for the better of the people and get the king and queen out of power.
Nice work Sebi! I agree with you. In the beginning of our reading, I thought that Napoleon was a great leader and almost everything he did was good for France. However, by the end of the reading, I was having second thoughts about Napoleon. Yes, women's rights weren't good and his defeat by Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria ended up putting a monarch, Louis XVIII, back in power in France. I was lucky to be in a group with you, Stephen, Savannah, and Aidan on the pro-Napolean side because the ideas expressed changed my mind again (Napoleon was a good leader). This group made some very powerful and strong points, proving that Napoleon, indeed, represented the goals of the French Revolution and how women's rights weren't even a goal of the revolution. Napoleon was the best option for France in a time of turmoil and I think our group did an excellent job proving our points.
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