Second, times make heroes, not heroes make times. The law of history shows that whenever there is a great change in society, it is an era in which heroes come forth in large numbers and great historical figures are bound to be created. Napoleon was great because of the French Revolution, a great event that shocked the world. Current events gave him an opportunity, and he did seize it. As Engels pointed out, "Napoleon, a Corsican, happened to be the military dictator needed by France exhausted by the war." Without Napoleon, his role would be played by another person. " Therefore, we must put him in the history of the French Revolution in order to better understand him.
Third, we must look at the mainstream and dominant aspects, and we cannot replace the whole with one side. Historical figures, especially great historical figures, have complicated life experiences. So it depends on whether he moves against the historical trend or conforms to the trend of the times in this great historical trend. Judging from the impact on society and the times, we can't look at the problem according to individual subjectivity.
Fourth, Napoleon commanded about 60 battles in his life, more than the sum of the famous military commanders Alexander, Hannibal and Caesar in history. The Napoleonic War, which lasted for about 20 years, mainly resisted foreign aggression in the early stage and national oppression in the later stage. However, the war has become obviously aggressive, with the nature of plundering other peoples and annexing other countries' territories, which has brought great disasters to the people of Europe and France.
In a word, the evaluation of Napoleon should put him in the history of the French Revolution and comprehensively examine all his activities. In this way, we can see that Napoleon, as a military strategist and politician of the emerging bourgeoisie, suppressed the rebellion, shattered the repeated armed interference of the "anti-French alliance" in Europe, disrupted the feudal order in Europe, promoted the awakening of people in various European countries, and stabilized the social achievements of the French Revolution. This is the main aspect of his activities and his main achievement. Of course, a great historical figure can't be perfect. Everyone has his shortcomings, mistakes or crimes. Napoleon, as a bourgeois strategist and politician, was even more so. Engels once pointed out: "Napoleon's biggest mistake was to marry the daughter of the Austrian emperor and form an alliance with the old counter-revolutionary dynasty." At the same time, it is pointed out that Napoleon's main mistake lies in "falling in front of orthodox principles"
Looking at all the activities in Napoleon's life, the activities he led played a certain role in the development of society and human history at that time, and he was a historical figure who should be affirmed.
Napoleon was an excellent strategist. He personally participated in more than 60 battles in his life, and many battles he commanded are still of great significance in military history until today. However, his campaign broke the balance of power in Europe, leading other European powers to form anti-French alliances seven times, and finally defeated Napoleon completely. At the Vienna Conference after Napoleon's defeat, the new European order and balance were quickly rebuilt.
Although Napoleon was all-powerful for decades, his achievements were short-lived. After his abdication, France and its territory quickly recovered their former appearance. Napoleon's military career did not have a significant impact on later European history. The only thing that can make him go down in history is the Napoleonic Code, which is the embryonic form of legal systems in many modern democratic countries.
In addition, Napoleon was also the first person who put forward the idea of the United States of Europe and tried to realize it by force. Although he himself did not successfully realize this dream, today's Europe is moving towards the goal of integration.
Napoleon's birthplace, the statue of Napoleon in ajaccio, Corsica.
Napoleon brought glory to France * * and China, and the people of France * * and China always loved this French soldier (interestingly, he always thought that France * * and China were not his motherland before 18 years old). After his body arrived in Paris on February 1840, 900,000 Parisians braved the cold to meet him. Years later, Napoleon also won the respect of his opponent. 1855 Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland took the Crown Prince (later Edward VII) to the old disabled soldiers' hospital, and the queen asked the prince to "kneel at the grave of the great Napoleon".
The French Revolution was originally a national war, and it was indeed such a war. These wars are revolutions and alliances to defend the great revolution and oppose the counter-revolutionary monarchy. However, Napoleon established the French empire and enslaved Europe for many years, which has formed a vital national strength. The national war in France turned into an imperialist war, which in turn triggered a national liberation war against Napoleon's imperialism.
2 The real mystery of the rise of the United States
The United States attached great importance to education as early as when it was a British colony. By 1775, the population of 13 British colony was only 2.6 million, but following the example of universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, nine colleges such as Harvard and Yale were established, and the educational environment was even better than that of Beijing today. Primary education in the colonial period was quite developed. Several northern colonies, represented by Massachusetts, paid special attention to universal education. 1647, the authorities issued a decree, stipulating that a town should have a primary school as long as there are 50 households, so town schools emerged in the north. This kind of local authorities' intervention in education has gone beyond the principle of running a school in the metropolitan country of England, and laid the advantage of national quality in one fell swoop!
In this world, there is hardly an educated person who doesn't know the American Declaration of Independence: "All men are created equal, and the creator endowed them with some inalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." When we listen to the greatest voice in human history with boiling blood, please don't forget that there is another great thing in the United States, that is, the Constitution advertises the cultivation of national citizens through education. In order to popularize education, they first adopted Lancaster tutorial system in Britain. 18 18 Lancaster himself was also invited to the United States to preach the tutorial system. British education can't meet the educational requirements of this new country. 1843, Horace? Horace Mann (then director of education in Massachusetts) visited Germany and introduced the teaching system in Prussia at that time. At the same time, he vigorously promoted the ideas of European educators such as Rousseau and Pestalozzi, and primary schools across the United States began to adopt the most advanced teaching system in Western Europe.
After the Civil War, American higher education developed faster, and there were more than 200 newly established universities in this period! While learning from the academic model in Europe at that time-Berlin University, John F? At 1876. Hopkins University, establishing a university research institute, devoted to advanced academic research; On the one hand, according to 186 1 and 1890, the Congress allocated land in various states to fund large-scale agricultural (industrial) industrial (art) colleges, and soon cultivated a large number of professionals suitable for industrial and agricultural development, from which the world-famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell University came. When the College of Workers and Peasants was first established, it was once ridiculed as "Muniuwa College" because there were many poor students studying in it, and it was far ahead of Europe in the popularization of higher education. Facts have proved that the poor people's desire for wealth is much higher than that of rich children! This has created a group of high-knowledge talents who dare to take risks and innovate for the United States. When their desire for wealth was ignited, it was a volcano, a tsunami and the climax of the second industrial revolution!
After the civil war, the public middle school was originally a four-year comprehensive middle school, which required students to pursue further studies and obtain employment. At this time, the number of students has increased dramatically year by year, while the number of scholars preparing for promotion has decreased while the number of people preparing for employment has increased. Therefore, vocational preparation is gradually taken as the main responsibility, and the curriculum is changed accordingly, and natural science and practical subjects are strengthened, which is a remarkable feature of American middle schools. Public middle schools gradually take career preparation as their main responsibility, and the curriculum has changed accordingly, and natural science and practical subjects have been strengthened, which is a remarkable feature of American middle schools. Moreover, 1880 MIT founded an industrial middle school, and 1888 Minnesota founded an agricultural middle school. Since then, a large number of vocational middle schools have emerged. Europeans don't like vocational middle schools because of secular ideas, while Americans who believe that "all men are created equal" don't have this historical burden. Vocational middle schools have trained a group of industrialists and inventors, and the Wright brothers, the inventors of the first airplane, are one of them.
According to statistics, from 1870- 1940, the population of the United States tripled, while the number of middle school students increased by 90 times. The slogan at that time was: "Secondary education opens the door for all school-age youth". By 19 18, there were more than 20,000 high schools in the United States, while in China, a country with a population of1200 million, 198 had only a little more than10,000. It can be seen that the high efficiency, high technology and high output of the United States depend on science and technology and advanced education. Today, the method of basic education in the United States has been improved several times on the basis of Dewey's educational method. The slogan of education is "No Child Left Behind", and each state spends 40% of its tax revenue on education. In the 1980s, it monopolized about 70% of the patented inventions, won more than 70% of the Nobel Prize in Natural Science, and ranked first in the total number of Olympic medals.
"206 1 Plan" is a curriculum reform project for primary and secondary schools in 2 1 century, which was initiated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in conjunction with the American Academy of Sciences, the Federal Ministry of Education and other 12 institutions. It represents the trend of curriculum and teaching reform in American basic education. To this end, the United States mobilized more than 800 scientists, entrepreneurs, teachers and educators from universities and primary and secondary schools to participate in this grand project to rebuild the wisdom of young people. They summed up the profound changes and future development trends in science, mathematics and technology after the war, absorbed the achievements of educational reform in the United States since the 1980s, and created new Americans in 2 1 century.
A country in peacetime is qualified to talk about who is the first!
conclusion
The rise of great powers depends on science and technology, and the contest between countries is, in the final analysis, the contest between national quality and talents. To put it bluntly, the overall national quality of China is not the same as that of developed countries, because it is difficult to accept other people's educational ideas. The British historian Toynbee studied 2 1 civilizations that appeared in history and then died out one after another. The conclusion is that the cause of death of these civilizations, without exception, is not homicide, but suicide. They lost the vitality of innovation and were eliminated by history.
1876, when the United States celebrated its independence 100 anniversary, it held an international exposition in Philadelphia, with 37 countries participating. At that time, the Qing government also sent an exhibition group. At this Expo, Britain exhibited the latest steam locomotives, the United States exhibited high-power motors and generators, Germany exhibited precision machine tools for processing guns, and China exhibited 27 sets of ear scoops and embroidered shoes made of pure silver.
This is the gap of the times!
A country in peacetime is qualified to talk about who is the first!