Control Of The Grand Empire

Question 1

What is the inner empire?

Answer 1

‘Greater France’ (pays réunis - Nice, Savoy, Piedmont, Ligurian Republic) and nearby allies (pays allies - Belgium, the Netherlands, the Rhineland, western Germany, Switzerland and northern Italy). This was largely well run and the inhabitants were obedient, if not enthusiastic about being ruled by the French.

Question 2

What is the outer empire?

Answer 2

Satellite states and conquered territories. These areas were much less keen on French rule and French officials were hugely unpopular.

Question 3

What were the aims for the administration of the empire?

Answer 3

1. Ensure the entire empire was run along the same (i.e. French) lines.
2. This meant destroying privilege, applying the Napoleonic legal codes and introducing a centralised bureaucracy, prefects, tax collectors, customs officers, gendarmes etc.
3. Departments were set up in territories which became part of ‘Greater France’.
4. ‘Outer Empire’ adopted the majority of afrench systems, with some local variation.

Question 4

What were the methods of administration of the Empire?

Answer 4

1. To appoint capable men from within the territories (to give them a stake in the new regime) and experienced French officials.
2. All but the most sensitive posts (highest offices in finance and justice) could be filled by locals as well as French men - meritocracy.
3. Gendarmerie (units of military police) were established in French territories across Europe to reinforce the authority of the central government across the Empire and to deal with lawless regions, such as the Apennines in Italy and the Rhineland in Germany.
4. Regular army relied upon to enforce law and order in satellite states (eg. Spain, southern Italy) who resented what they thought as an oppressive paramilitary force.
5. Strict central control: Napoleon insisted that local rulers report back to him regularly and all major decisions would be made by him.

Question 5

What areas were ruled by Napoleons family?

Answer 5

1. Kingdom of Westphalia (north-western Germany) ruled by brother Jérôme. Code Napoleon, religious toleration and abolishment of feudalism were introduced.
2. Kingdom of Naples and Spain ruled by brother Joseph. Not able to establish stable French rule in either (although did bring Spanish Inquisition to an end).
3. Kingdom of Holland ruled by brother Louis. Failed to introduce conscription and allowed the Dutch some limited self-government (not strong centralised French control)
4. Kingdom of Italy ruled by stepson Eugène Beauharnais. Established the Code Napoleon, abolished feudalism, improved education.

Question 6

What was the aim of Napoleons economic policies?

Answer 6

To put France first.

Question 7

What did Napoleon do in his economic policy?

Answer 7

He made colonies pay for the ‘privilege’ of being ruled by the French to ensure maximum economic benefit for the Empire:

1. Rigorous tax collection system, following simplification of local taxes (eg 100 separate taxes in Naples replaced by a single tax on land and industry.
2. ‘Booty’-seizure of land from the Church/dispossessed sovereigns or aristocrats/art treasures (particularly in Italy).

Question 8

What economic policy did states under French control have?

Answer 8

They were given preferential treatment in terms of the development of their economies - they benefitted from the ‘free trade’ zone within the ‘inner Empire’ and the introduction of the Continental system.

Question 9

What benefits were there to the free trade zone within the inner empire and the introduction of the continental system?

Answer 9

1. Belgian textile industry boomed due to French ban on British cotton.
2. Mining industry in the Rhineland grew rapidly.

Question 10

How did satellite states fare in terms of economic policies?

Answer 10

They fared less well:

1. Loss of land made it difficult for some states to support themselves (e.g. Poland).
2. Requirement that all raw silk to be sent to Lyons (centre of the French silk industry) caused the rapid decline of that industry in Piedmont and Lombardy.
3. All of Italy’s rice crop had to be sent to France.

Question 11

Where benefitted from the single market?

Answer 11

Places where large-scale commercial farming had already developed because they could sell their crops across the Empire without having to account for internal customs duties.

Question 12

Who did not benefit from the gains of the single market?

Answer 12

Many small-scale subsistence farmers did not benefit.

Question 13

Why did the impact of the French blockade and tariff system of 1810-11 have a detrimental effect throughout the empire?

Answer 13

There was no opportunity to trade with other European countries, once markets within the Empire were saturated. There was no opportunity to develop alternative buyers for manufactured goods. In addition, internal trade was affected due to the heavy taxes the French imposed.

Question 14

What external factors caused economic problems?

Answer 14

1. British industrial supremacy (she had been the first country in the world to industrialise, a process that had started in around the 1750’s, so she had half a century’s advantage over France’s industries).
2. Europe was still a mainly rural/agricultural economic area with markets operating locally, not continentally.

Question 15

What was Napoleon’s social policy aims before 1808?

Answer 15

To spread French cultural values (i.e. Enlightenment/revolutionary ideas of liberty and equality, religious tolerance, democracy etc.)

Question 16

What was Napoleons aim for his social policy after 1808?

Answer 16

As pressures on the Empire (financial and military) increased, there was less emphasis on spreading French cultural values.

Question 17

Was was imposed under the Concordat?

Answer 17

In 1801, the concordat stated that:

1. Religious toleration imposed.
2. Ending of the tithe (giving one tenth of annual income to the Church).
3. Parish priests became civil servants.
4. Saints’ days and religious festivals no longer recognised.

Question 18

What happened as a result of the Concordat in 1801?

Answer 18

Whilst secular elements of the Empire welcomed these developments (e.g. German industries), they also inspired peasant revolts in strongly Catholic areas, such as Spain and Italy, particularly after Napoleon’s seizure of the Pope in 1809. There was also resistance to the extension of toleration to Jews.

Question 19

What was involved in the ending of feudalism?

Answer 19

1. Until 1808, wherever the French established control they would abolish feudal rights (as had happened in France as a result of the August Decrees in 1789).
2. Tax exemptions for certain social groups were ended.
3. Special legal rights (e.g. Seigneurial courts) were abolished.
4. The Civil Code was imposed, giving all parts of the Empire the same legal structure and all of its inhabitants the same protections under the law.
5. Serfdom was abolished in the Grand Duchy of Warsaw in 1807.

Question 20

What was a problem in the ending of feudalism?

Answer 20

Many formal nobles were given/allowed to keep positions of power and influence in the local communities.

Question 21

What was imposed in relation to conscription?

Answer 21

The basis of conscription was Jourdan’s Law of 1798:

1. All men aged 18-40 had to register for military service (although men over 30 were not actually called up).
2. Eligible for discharge after 5 years (although this rarely happened, except for medical reasons).

Question 22

How was the policy of conscription changed?

Answer 22

1. As demands of military campaigns increased, boys of 15 were being called up by 1813 and officials took a much harsher line in enforcing conscription (previously 25% of conscripts had managed to avoid service).
2. 1806: the Grand Duchy of Berg was asked to provide 5000 men for the Grand Armée -this represented 10% of the population.
3. 1806: Westphalia sent 600,000 men (25% of the population) - 38,000 were killed or wounded.

Question 23

What was the impact of conscription?

Answer 23

It sometimes led to resistance and opposition, especially in rural areas (where leaving the land to go off and fight was a bigger concern than those living and working in urban areas) - e.g. Spain, the German Tyrol, Naples and Venice.
As French armies lived off the land, peasant families living near the routes of marching armies had to deal with the seizure of their crops and animals by the troops.