Napoleon On Machiavelli

When it comes to Napoleon reading,practicing,criticizing,and appreciating The Prince,we all know that the paper takes Napoleon's political practice(from his youth to his empire)as the index to explore how Napoleon thought about Machiavelli's polity theory in different periods.At the same time,find out why Napoleon changed from the republic to the monarchy.Machiavelli taught Napoleon that establishing a monarchy depended on the new prince's virtù;preserving a republic depended on the institutional order of the republic.He divided the members of the republic into nobility and private citizen,or distinguished citizens and ordinary citizens.They have different temperaments,pay attention to different interests and pursue different virtù.Their discord is the inevitable result of the republican freedom and strength,only if their conflict can be carried out under the republican legal system.Who should control the legal authority in the republic? Machiavelli learned his lesson from history,that the republic award power to the nobles and even the great men,it will go to corruption,until it fallen and extinction.If the republic award it to the people,they will have the power to govern,and they also protect the republican freedom.Because they are numerous and have a wide range of power,which can expand the law authority.However,Napoleon gave up Machiavelli's method after the independent war in Corsica.The Corsican believed that the people is of a fickle nature,the nobles is ambitious,and they both can not be relied on.The only way to successfully manage them is to become the prince of a new monarchy,which the country is established by his own military force and virtù.The nobility are new men promoted by the prince,the people are favored by the prince,and they are subject to the prince authority.Napoleon took advantage of the nobles,deceived the people,skilled at the nature of the lion and the fox,relying on his own virtù,overcome the fortuna,finally established the “the First Empire of France” in the European continent.Napoleon's empire was a mixture of the republic and the monarchy of Machiavelli's polity theory.He constantly improved the legal system of the republic,but placed legal authority under his personal authority.He constantly launched new wars and invaded new countries,but he lost the support of the nobility and the loyalty of the people.His empire soon crumbled.In a sense,Napoleon did not understood the true meaning of Machiavelli's polity theory.However,Napoleon's political practice certainly added a new explanation to Machiavelli's polity theory.