Napoleon Bonaparte--Hero, Villain, or Something In-between?
A Webquest by Amy Dohler, April 2001

Introduction

Have you ever wanted to be the one assigning grades? Well, here is your chance! At the end of this lesson you will grade one of the most famous men in history.....Napoleon! A child of the Revolution and a "military genius" at a time when France needed authority, Napoleon "rose from obscurity to mastery of France" in just a few short years.¹ It's what he did next that you need to evaluate!

The Task

You and your partners will research Napoleon's rule in France, looking for both positive and negative actions. You will evaluate his actions, and his intent, in three main categories--domestic policy, foreign policy, and ability to gain the trust and respect of his people. You will organize this evaluation into a report card format, grading both his effort and his achievement in each of these categories. You will then use this information to rate him, overall, on a hero--villain continuum and to provide advice for future rulers about what they should emulate and what they should change for their own periods of rule.

The Process

To accomplish this task, you and your partners will do the following:

• Together you will prescreen several of the sites from the Resource list that seem to provide significant information about Napoleon's domestic policies, foreign policies, and his ability to gain the trust and respect of his people. You should also note whether or not these sites provide opposing interpretations of the quality of his rule (i.e., favorable vs. critical). Don't spend too long on this, remember you are just looking for which sites seem most useful.
  
  
• Choose three of these sites to research (four, if you have four people in your group). Each of you takes one site. Record which sites each of you choose (i.e., Sally--#1, Frank--#5, etc.)
  
  
• Read the information available to you at your chosen site and in chart form, record the information you find regarding Napoleon's domestic policies, foreign policies, and ability to gain the trust and respect of his people. Mark all positive information with a "+" and all negative information with a "-."
  
  
• Share your findings with the rest of your group. Compile your information and together decide what grade Napoleon should earn for each category (domestic policy, foreign policy, and trust/respect of his people). Evaluate him both for effort and for achievement. Then provide reasons/proof for your arguments as well as suggestions for ways he could have improved. (see chart below)
  

Report Card:
Napoleon Bonaparte

• When your report card is complete, review your grades. Then decide where Napoleon should be placed on a hero--villain continuum (1 being villain, 10 being hero). Justify your ranking with at least 3 strong arguments.
  
  
• Finally, leave some advice for future rulers based on what you learned about Napoleon. This should be written out (complete sentences/paragraph form) exactly as you would want these rulers to read it.
  
  

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¹ Larry Krieger, Kenneth Neill, Dr. Edward Reynolds, World History: Perspectives on the Past, D.C.Heath and Company, 1997, 492.