What were Napoleon's biggest political mistakes?

Answer 1

Napoleon made quite a few bad blunders. First of all, he executed the Duke of Enghien on charges of aiding Britain. This shocked the European royals, including Russian Tsar Alexander I, who vowed to destroy Napoleon. His attempted blockade against Britain was completely unenforceable and failed. Finally, he made the mistake of attacking Russia, which resulted in devastating human losses, and eventually his defeat.

Answer 2

ChrisNahrgang:

(This is my answer to the entire AP Euro question, Chap 18 Ques 2)

Louis XVI failed to control the politics of France like previous monarchs had. He isolated himself and his family at Versailles, but unlike previous monarchs, wasn't surrounded by the aristocracy, who had moved to the cities. He ignored the quarrels of prominent political and financial persons in the government, and when he tried to intervene to have a say in the situation, people refused to recognize his authority. He let people that the French people disliked pledge support to him, and allied himself with aristocrats that had fled France. Ultimately, it appeared that he was trying to bring back the Old Regime. If he had not made all of these mistakes, the French Revolution would have probably never happened. If he made himself into an image of authority, no one would have questioned his ideas, and would've trusted him to repair France's economy. For these reasons, the entire existence of the revolution was originally based on the king's incompetence, whether its advocators disliked him or not.

Hope this helps!

-ChrisNahrgang

--beep123--

He had a lot of mistakes:

1. He put France is BIG debt because he sent money to support the American Revolution. Also, he spent a lot of money hosting extravegant parties.

2. He took advise from his wife, Marie Antoinette of Austria. The people didn't really like her in the first place, and she wasn't the best person to ask for advise anyways.

3. During the storming of the Bastille, King Louis XVI and his family fled. He was caught by the people. His action showed the people that they couldn't trust him anymore.

4. He basically kept the old regime so that he can have power and the support of the nobles. In doing so, he made society a very unequal place.

--beep123--

riot. x x

some of his mistake swere the fact that he was in SERIOUS debt, and his stupid desicions were acc influenced alot by his wife (whos name i cant remember. she was spanish) and he lost the trust from French citizens.

we're learning about this in class ATM :/

Peace out,

riot. x x