Napoleon dominated Europe from about 1800 to 1815. He was the dictator of France and conqueror of much of Europe. His years in power marked the second part of the French Revolution, which began in 1789.
The French Revolution, which resulted in the death of the French monarch and his queen, was a threat to all the kings and emperors in Europe. After 1815, the victorious powers (Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia) vainly tried to turn back time by returning Europe to its pre-1789 era. They sought to extinguish revolutions, secure monarchy everywhere, and restrain the fervent nationalism that had been unleashed by France.
Another result of the Napoleonic era is that the world became more secular. At his coronation, Napoleon snatched the crown from the pope and put it on his own head. Also, the Papal States were weakened.
Napoleon is best remembered for his extraordinary military prowess. In order to finally defeat him at Waterloo, the allied powers had to emulate Napoleon in some ways. For example the allies also resorted to mass conscription. As a consequence, armies became much larger, and the battles became much bloodier. Warfare was no longer carried out by a small cadre of professional troops. In this way, Napoleon's military campaigns presaged the world wars of the twentieth century.
Evaluating Napoleon and his legacy is problematic. His brilliance was matched by his ruthlessness, and countless thousands of French soldiers died during his wars.
Napoleon had a profound influence on Europe. After France's defeat, European leaders convened at the Congress of Vienna and redrew the map of Europe. Europe enjoyed a time of significant peace due to the Continent being ruled by a balance of power. Britain realized that it was in its best interest for this balance of power to exist. It was not until the formation of the modern German state in 1871 that this balance shifted. While there were nationalist and peasant uprisings against the nobility in the years following Napoleon's collapse, these were put down violently in order to avoid another situation in which another Napoleon could come to power. Napoleon also made the rest of Europe and the United States reexamine their warfare tactics. Napoleon was successful through his use of mobile artillery units and cavalry. Linear warfare (soldiers lining up and firing at each other) would still dominate the battlefield for the next fifty years after the fall of Napoleon, but more emphasis was placed on getting improved firepower in place faster in order to take advantage of one's enemies.
Napoleon had a profound influence on the world as well. He sold the Louisiana territory to the Americans, and this allowed a fledgling country room to grow. Napoleon also tried to play the Americans against the British, and this may have partially led to the War of 1812. Napoleon's battles are still studied today in order to examine what morale and logistics can do for an army.
Napoleon impacted both Europe and the world in a number of ways. When thinking about Napoleon’s impact, we have to realize that he did not necessarily intend to have the impacts that he did. Instead, much of his impact came about inadvertently or even in response to his actions.
One of the biggest impacts that Napoleon had was that he caused a major backlash against his ideas and against the prospect that a single country could dominate Europe. After Napoleon’s fall, the leaders of the countries of Europe got together at the Congress of Vienna. They changed the borders of the various countries of Europe in hopes of creating a large number of countries with relatively similar levels of power. This would make it harder for any one country to dominate Europe again. Another reaction to Napoleon was the move towards more conservative governments in most of Europe. The leaders of the European countries were worried that the ideas of the French Revolution would spread to their own countries. Therefore, they enacted laws and set up systems that made it harder for liberal ideas to take hold in Europe. This led to such things as the failed revolution in Germany in 1848.
Another major impact that Napoleon had came about when people actually followed his ideas. Perhaps the most important of these was nationalism. Napoleon relied on and promoted the idea that French people should feel proud of their country and should feel connected to it. He used this nationalism to help create his huge and dedicated military force. This influenced people in other countries, leading to the rise of nationalism in those countries. The forces of nationalism helped to bring about, for example, the later unifications of Italy and Germany.
Napoleon also introduced the idea of liberalism and the laws of the Napoleonic Code to many European countries. The ideas of liberalism inspired many people to want to change their countries' systems (for example, in the German revolution mentioned above). The Napoleonic Code improved the legal systems of many European countries.
Around the world, Napoleon had less of a direct impact. He did indirectly impact the Americas in important ways. When his armies conquered Spain and Portugal, they disrupted those countries’ ability to rule their colonies in Central and South America. This helped cause the wars of liberation in those areas in the 1800s. In addition, Napoleon sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States, thus making the US much larger and eventually much more powerful. The nationalism that Napoleon fostered also had its impact in other countries of the world, eventually leading many colonized countries to rebel against their colonial rulers.
Napoleon did not affect Europe and the world in the ways that he probably intended. Even so, he did have a significant impact on Europe and on the world as a whole.