Subject = European History Essay Example For Students

Subject = European History Essay title = Caesar and Naopoleonpapers = NapoleonBonapartes success as a military leader and conqueror can also be seen inanothergreat leader, Julius Caesar. Both Napoleon and Caesar achieved great glorybybringing their countries out of turmoil. It was Caesar, that Napoleonmodeled himselfafter, he wanted to be as great, if not greater than Caesar. Looking to the past, Napoleonknew what steps to take in order to achievesuccessNapoleon devoured books on the art of war. Volume after volume ofmilitarytheory was read, analyzed and criticized. He studied the campaignsof historys mostfamous commanders; Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Frederickthe Great and his favoriteand most influential, Julius Caesar (Marrin 17). JuliusCaesar was the strong leader for the Romans who changed the course ofhistoryof the Greco Roman world decisively and irreversibly. Caesar was able tocreatethe Roman Empire because of his strength and his strong war strategies(Duggan 117). Julius Caesar was to become one of the greatest generals,conquering the whole of Gaul. In 58 BC, Caesar became governor and militarycommander of Gaul, which includedmodern France, Belgium, and portions ofSwitzerland, Holland, and Germany west of theRhine. For the next eight years,Caesar led military campaigns involving both the Romanlegions and tribesin Gaul who were often competing among themselves. Julius Caesarwas a Romangeneral and statesman whose dictatorship was pivotal in Romes transitionfromrepublic to empire (Duggan 84). Caesars principles were to keep his forcesunited; to be vulnerable at no point, tostrike speedily at critical points;to rely on moral factors, such as his reputation and thefear he inspired,as well as political means in order to insure the loyalty of his allies andthesubmissiveness of the conquered nations. He made use of every possibleopportunity toincrease his chances of victory on the battlefield and, inorder to accomplish this, heneeded unity of all his troops (Duggan 117). From the time that he had first faced battle in Gaul and discovered hisown militarygenius, Caesar was evidently fascinated and obsessed by militaryand imperial problems. He gave them an absolute priority over the more delicateby no less fundamental task ofrevising the Roman constitution. The needin the latter sphere was a solution which wouldintroduce such elements ofauthoritarianism, which were necessary to check corruptionand administrativeweakness (Grant, Caesar 61). The story of all his battles and wars has beenpreserved in Caesars writtenaccount, Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, originallypublished in 50 B.C. For thisperiod, Caesar is the only existent sourceproviding first-hand descriptions of Britain. While no doubt self-servingin a political sense when written, Caesars account isnevertheless regardedas basically accurate and historically reliable (Frere 68). Caesar wasappointed dictator for a year starting in 49 B.C., for two years in 48B.C.,for ten years in 46 B.C. and finally dictator for life in 44 B.C. Taking overasDictator for life, enabled Caesar to gain unrestricted power. He wasable to run a strongmilitary and even though he was considered only a dictatorhe wrote laws that actuallymade him have the same powers as a king. Theconspirators saw the problem that hadarised and so they planned the murderof Caesar on the Ides of March. Caesar was killedand there was another triumvirate(government ruled by three) formed. Caesar was astrong military leader thathad showed strength and courage to take over the town and hewas able to forma civilization that was strong militarily and politically (Grant, Caesar187). Savion Glover Essay Paper Research PaperNapoleon and Caesar took their struggling nations out of turmoil andgavethem order, and for that the people loved them. Caesar put an end tothe Gallic and Civilwars that Rome was involved in, with that, he enteredinto power . Napoleon took Franceout of the French Revolution by overthrowingthe then government, the Directory. Napoleon instated a new government theConsulate and crowned himself first Consul andthree years later, Consul forlife, Caesar became all powerful when named dictator for life. Both men knewin order to be a successful leader, they had to have the full support of themilitary. Power and territory were increased, because there armies were always thebiggestand responsible for putting down any revolts that might occur. Caesar introducedpropagandaand Napoleon followed his lead. Favorable accounts were written whichprovedto give them a political edge, and the support of the people. Caesar was afriendof his people and gave many lands to his soldiers and to the poor,he built bridges, roadsand waterworks. Napoleon was also civil in the beginningof his reign, abolishingserfdom, passing laws and granting universal malesuffrage. Both men were well likeduntil they abused there powers and privileges. They fell for the same reason, too muchpower. Caesar was murdered becausehis role as dictator came to close to being a kingand Napoleon did not knowwhere to draw the line and his army eventually turned againsthim. NapoleonBonaparte was able to rise to power because of another great generalthatcame before him, Julius Caesar. Napoleon was a success because he looked tothepast, and emulated Caesar; he built up his army, conquered most of Europe,became adictator for life and eventually fell from power, because like Caesar,he did not knowwhere to draw the line. BIBLIOGRAPHYCarlyle,Thomas. The French Revolution Complete and Unabridged. New York:RandomHouse, Inc., 1837. Castelot, Andre. Napoleon. New York: Harper ; RowPublishers Inc., 1971. Duggan, Alfred. Julius Caesar A Great Life in Brief. New York: Borzoi Books,1996. Ellis, Peter Berrsford. Caesars Invasionof Britian. New York: New YorkUniversity Press, 1978. Frere, Sheppard. Britannia: A History of Roman Britain (3rd edition). London:Routledge Kegan Paul, 1987. Grab, Walter. The French Revolution The Beginning ofModern Democracy. London: Bracken Books, 1989. Grant, Michael. JuliusCaesar. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1969. Grant, Michael. Caesar. Chicago: Follett Publishing Company, 1975. Herold, J. Christopher. TheAge of Napoleon. New York: American HeritagePublishing Co., Inc., 1963. Herold,J. Christopher and Marshall B. Davidson. The Horizon Book of The AgeofNapoleon. New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., 1963. Lawford,James. Napoleon The Last Campaigns 1813-1815. New York: CrownPublishersInc., 1977. Marrin, Albert. Napoleon and The Napoleonic Wars. New York:PenguinBooks, 1991. Weidhorn, Manfred. Napoleon. New York: MacmillianPublishing Company,1986.