Introduction
The period of the French revolution was celebrated with a lot of enthusiasm and it can be perceived to have laid the groundwork and the birth of the new world socio-political order. This is an arrangement that is still analyzed by historians and social scientists alike as unique and diverse, and at the same time controversial to the avenues and trend, which had been in France before that time.
The French Revolution has indeed been seen as very complex, because its repercussions had spilt over effects to Europe and even the world over. Writers and political analysts wrote tremendously about the French Revolution both in 20th and 19th Century with the likes of Emile Dukheim launching their study of sociology based on the political and industrial turmoil the French Society underwent during that point in time.
Indeed, this point is emphasized by Nelly when she argues that, whereas the causes that characterized the French revolution cannot be authoritatively established, scholars and thinkers alike do recognize that the underlying impacts of that event spilled over into other parts of the world other than in France itself.
Notably, before the revolution, France was considered as a backward nation. This is because the notion was that it had not a so well balanced situation since the economic and intellectual development was not congruent to the social change.
This is perhaps the reason why studying the likes of Lazare Carnot who played a key role in the Revolution remains very core; since, based on his tactics and organizational competence, many governments and nations wanted to mimic his strategies especially based on his military successes that were interwoven in economic relating to technological advancement as well as cultural factors.
Indeed, the French society was undergoing a lot of industrial and political turmoil, to the extent that the intermediaries especially those against the aristocracy of the day began to push for change; this is how complex the revolution was. Lazare Carnot, who was a staunch republican, is regarded as one of the men who voted for the execution Louis XVI.
Scholars of history have since posited that his desire was to see France emerge from turmoil to insurmountable success and France to be strong enough to defend itself, together with its ideals against the nations whose intentions were to destroy it.
Summary of Carnot’s Life and Role in the Revolution
In summary, Carnot role and the impact of the revolution can be broadly looked at in a number of ways. One is in his execution of Louise XVI and his motive to realize a French society, which was strong to battle it out with other nations in terms of ideals, economic stability, as well as cultural independence.
Second is to examine him in the context of how he restructured the French Army mass conscription and bringing together of different regiments together with volunteers, and new recruits blended with war veterans or those who were already considered experienced enough.
Historians have since asserted for instance that this arrangement brought in the much-needed impetus, enhanced manpower, and facilitated speedy gaining of experience by the new recruits who later became instrumental in the war. Third is the fact that Carnot exhibited his war aptitudes in the field and in essence practically aiding the wining of various battles.
Fourth is to view him in the part when he was a member of various committees. For instance, while he was a member of public safety committee, he got involved in the fight with Maximillein Robespierre, and later surviving the fall of his regime and cronies alike.
The fifth way is to examine when he was at his highest position as the President of the Directory. During this time, he was strongly opposed to ‘imperial honors’, causing him to have a friction, leading to eventual fall out with Napoleon Bonaparte. Later, he took over the Defence of Anterwep. The sixth way would be to examine the retuning emperor campaign for 100 days. Finally, there is need to scrutinize his life in exile, which he later spent in many European cities during which he wrote memoirs.
Carnot’s Educational Biography and Career: Summery Reflection
Lazare Carnot graduated from the School of Engineering in Mezieres in 1773.
He wrote a book titled Essai sur les Machine en general in 1778, which was based on engineering and mechanics; indeed, he submitted it for a prize competition. Interestingly, he failed to honor “an invitation to enter the Prussian service and in the same year period, he was elevated to the level of captain”.
It was in 1787 that Lazare Carnot got into the Dijon Academy, effectively becoming a member of the academy. Later on, he served in Legislative Assembly, the National Convention, and “director of the Army of the North after April 1793” before becoming the “leading member of the Committee of General Defense and a member of the Committee of Public Safety”.
The year 1797 is considered a very eventful year for Carnot, as it was the year when he published his book, which became famous. Although however everything indicates that there will be a “new turn in the culture of mathematics, the author deems it opposite to publish this monograph”.
It was in 1780 that Lazare Carnot came back to France following the installation of Napoleon Bonaparte as the First Consul; and surprisingly enough “he became Napoleon Bonaparte’s minister of war for a period of five months and he was promoted further to rank of lieutenant general”; however, Carnot is best known as geometer.
Lazare Carnot survived and maintained his position of power through the time of the French Revolution. This was from the time of the inception of the war to its ending during the bringing down of the greatest Charlatan of his time, Napoleon Bonaparte. This period was between 1789 and 1815.
Socio-politically, Lazare Carnot is regarded to have started a number of instrumental reforms ideal for France at that time and arguably for the generation that were to follow. These included his proposition on mandatory public Education for all the French Nationals. He was also involved in writing of the French Constitution together with others such as Thomas Paine, the writer of common sense.
The constitution among others entailed provisions of the declaration of the duties of the citizens. This declaration entailed among others, that all citizens of France are entitled to both education and military service training and that this should encompass those that are within the age ranges of 21 to 25.
Regardless of the fact that Carnot was of noble birth, he championed for a system where recognition of citizens was to be based on intelligence and their abilities and not merely based on birth; this was revolutionary. It is argued that it was on this school of thought that Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power in France, since also Carnot elevated him to be a general from captainship.
Houghton Mifflin Company notes that one f the greatest success stories in favor of Carnot by denouncing French government were of military nature. Indeed, was it not for Carnot, “the modern waging of war with mass armies and strategic planning would not exist”.
Being a military engineer that he was, he developed policies in favor of fortresses and strategies, which were largely defensive by nature. It was only as a result of the regular invasions that he changed tact and opted for attacking as his strategic Planning method. The strategies that he developed were within and largely informed by his intelligence and military genius.
Therefore, he managed to coordinate maneuvers and put in an organizational competence, leading to major turning of the wave of war right from 1703 to 1794. By him incepting this idea, the background was grounded on the fact that he was shrewd in making his army divided and deployed in a number of units.
This would ensure that they speedily move and attack from all angles in the end, and not have a head-on collision with the adversary. He had thought earlier that attacking the enemy directly would lead to same defeats as it has happened before when he had not been elected to the Community of Public Safety. Indeed, the tactics he employed were victorious in many fronts and were largely superior to the traditional methods that had been applied previously by a number of European Armies.
Perhaps, Carnot strength was to be found in his leverage of training the conscripts in the art of war and to deploy the new recruits together with soldiers who had enormous experience and this ensured sharing of ideas on how to wage war against an enemy. Beyond this, he discovered a political strategy, which had advantages.
This was to disconnect and disrupt an adversary communication links between enemy countries of England and Austria. While at that, he kept on attacking England. Noteworthy is the fact that his military styles were finally employed in initiating and eventual overturn of Robespierre. Considering various viewpoints of Carnot, he should be understood in a number of dimensions.
The Biography and his role and Impact in Details
Creation of the Republican Concept
Noteworthy, Carnot’s role in bringing about political change is characterized by the economy. Even though France was not a balanced country in terms of having a clearly distinguishable political economy, the idea only came to being by Carnot’s merging the ideas of Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) and Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683).
Paoli notes that Leibniz economics was based on technological advancement being formal training that would usher in success in all countries. For him, this called for reorganization of the society, facilitate success and to bring about Cultural Revolution. His view was tailored around what he called ‘social reproduction’ and not on simple accounting. Of course, Carnots and his co-contemporaries used this knowledge to their advantage.
For Colbert, his ideas were also resounding for Carnot, being the first ‘statesman’ to develop the idea of planned economy, and established the French Academy of sciences, putting in Research and Development Department, he was certainly influential to Carnot. Further, he liked all the departments to Technological Development.
Carnot combined these ideas: strong political economy and cultural independence to understand how to destroy enemy states at that time, the British with the aim of creating insurmountable unsolvable crisis.
Carnot and his Leibnizinism
Lazare Carnot was trained by the American, Benjamin Franklin, who had fought so hard against Feudalism in America and Europe. Here, it is noteworthy to mention that he went to a school operated by Oratorian Fathers and studied the works established by Leibniz and later went to Méziers where he learnt military engineering. It was between 1783 and 1784 that “Lazare Carnot came into contact with Franklin’s Parisian circles, and began the fundamental political endeavor”.
Paoli notes that “Carnot defined himself as Leibnizian in a broadest sense” when he wrote his essay “Essay on Machines” in which he profoundly asserts that the progress of society is just a good as its technological advancement.
It was also during this time that Carnot assisted some of his friends and the ‘Montogolfier’ brothers in an experiment of aerostatic balloons, something that had tremendous appeal against those that believed that man could not influence nature especially going against gravity as a law. He was to later bring in a notion, which fundamentally challenged the principles of thermodynamics and energy conversion. Beyond that, he refuted the claim on “ecology movement for solar energy for new ‘diffuse’ sources of energy”.
The struggle for a republic during the Revolution
Carnot, Franklin and their followers played a big role as far as the revolution is concerned. The role of Carnot in the making of the first republican army, which had the potential of dealing effectively with other countries’ forces that were liaising with French royal class and considered a lot capable and superior. Paoli notes that the revolution had two broad motives in fighting for power right from its inception.
One was the American influence, which entailed the likes of Thomas Paine, and this did not focus on the creation formation of regime change, rather it was wired to encompass implementation of an economic as well social policy changes modeled the same way the American one was. Carnot thus came in to protect the real spirit of the revolution among the French masses. He was against the faction which wanted to ensure Orleans were on the throne, which having not achieved its goal was split down the middle into two.
Carnot, because of his membership to the committee in charge citizen’s safety, had to belong to Robespierre function, but as he profoundly asserts, he was opposed to it for its ‘cruelty and tyranny.’ It was after a number of intimidative plans by the authorities that Carnot and those that believed in his thought (his student friends at the Meseires School of engineering) were elected to the Legislative Assembly.
Thus, it was also the time that they attempted to craft a political movement that defined the politics of France for the years that would follow. The dilemma then became that a line was drawn between republicans. These were operating separately either in fight or defense of the feudal lord ideology which considered man to be a ‘laborer and just a beast’.
Carnot and the Education of the Citizenry
The role of Carnot here became very important in the sense that he was elected to the new Legislative Assembly and to the committee responsible for public/civic education. Here, he was largely responsible for the reconstruction of the French Education and pedagogical arrangement.
Even though the likes of Danton, Marat and like minded were opposed to Carnot’s ideas including supporting a statement that ’the republic has no use for scientists’ as stated some judges then. Carnot still pushed on; it was in fact such remarks as those of judges that provoked the ‘permanent revolution’.
Carnot Organizer of victory
It was in 1792 that Carnot and his friends organized to cease power with the motive of stooping the ‘destruction of France’. He employed a military model that borrowed from the republican political loom to the skill of war. It entailed combination and application of various disciplines that he had experience in including `science, technology, and a victorious military strategy’.
Scholars and historians particularly have since argued that his tactic were incredible because he successfully brought them into play in the middle of anarchy, economic collapse, as well as foreign invasion.
In his earlier writings, Carnot emphasized the concept of the art of war in which he reiterated the relationship among defense works, and the restructuring of the economy and mass employment of modern technology. Beyond this, he brings in the significance of using cultural autonomy as a very good tool in war and societal reconstruction.
Due to the fact that he was a renowned tactician and who viewed war with global lenses, he was flexible and very resonate in his approach to the extent that he sought out some strategies from to iron out `aspects of military deployment’ Guibert even though they clashed in 1784.
He at one point took a tour to rearrange the forces and having realized how bad the situation had been, he connected to what he called `the stupidity of the revolutionaries’. He thus planned some actions to be taken to correct the situation. When Carnot ascended to power, he brought in great scientists who he used to reconstruct the military supply and logistics.
They were mathematicians, chemists, geometers, and engineers all of which came from Métiers. They eventually, five years later, managed to overturn the military situation. The French army also became great to the extent that it became a model to be copied by many countries the world over. Scholars have argued that it was a time when the great Nicolo Machiavelli was realized.
Carnot Thermodian Coup d’ Etat
Robespierre tried going after and trying to execute Carnot. This was during the period between September of 1793 and April 1794 when Carnot had made success stories regarding the military conditions in France.
However, Carnot having been provoked decided to deploy his army with the purpose of eliminating the partisans of Robespierre without killing anyone. It was after this that he gained his total freedom as he deemed fit. While this was an opportunity, which he used to consolidate the fragile bases of the French Republic, he however, did not capitalize on this to eliminate his rivals who interestingly were to get him out of power later in 1797.
Hanson reckons that Carnot always thought not in terms of short-lived plans, but by plans whose impacts would be felt in a long time. For instance, in September of the same year, he established the Ecole Polytechnique, a school that created the best of European Scientists and was to be an assailable legacy/model for the world during the 19th Century.
In 1984, Carnot made an evolutionary speech, a speech that was largely against Napoleon Bonaparte. In his speech, he explicitly emphasized that Bonaparte should have chosen America and George Washington models rather than choosing Rome and Julius Caesar.
Carnot’s view was embedded in the idea that, to create a Europe with lasting peace, it was important to factor in republican regimes or monarchies characterized with republican economic systems. This, according to him, would mean the disbandment of the feudal lords system or the feudal oligarchy, and what he called ‘the worst tyranny that ever existed’ and regardless of the fact that the English tried to interfere with Carnot’s ideas he still pressed on.
When Robespierre had fallen, those who expedited soft landing for the English Oligarch tried to oppose Carnot, and in 1795, a group of individuals led by Barras and Talleyrand, had formed a command pedestal for those called ‘Themidorians’.
This group later in 1797 tried to eliminate Carnot when the army devoted to him was away. Surprisingly, Barras still went ahead to publicize some information that Carnot was trying to commit treason, information that was false. Due to this misled information, Carnot became frightened and escaped to Switzerland having barely survived death.
Regardless of the fact that Carnot’s plan was on peace, his seeking refuge in Switzerland was a great relief to the monarchists, as well as English and French agents. It was however not easy to scrap out the institutions and the ideologies he had built over the years.
Napoleonic Period
When Napoleon Bonaparte took power in 1799, he called Carnot back to France and made him his Inspector of War, where he was in charge of army training and deployment besides having the authority to reconstructing the French Army all the way in Germany. Interestingly, Carnot resigned from the position a year later, based on lack of congruency of ideas between the two. Napoleon Bonaparte was very much concerned with the ideology of monarchy, and had inconsistent republican views that Carnot held very dear.
Beyond that, he had a less tactical approach to war. It should however not escape his mind that during his short-lived period in office, he still endeavored to map out what he felt as the road that reforms should follow, particularly as far as education matters were concerned. Education in his view should have followed republican approach.
Also, Carnot persisted in implementing his reform agenda of enhancing the authority of the army in France, and went ahead to form ‘corps’ of telegraphers and incepted the idea of forming a unique special unit-that of naval infantry, an idea which Bonaparte was vehemently opposed to, and Carnot had quit government.
The following years between 1800 and1804, Lazare Carnot dedicated himself to putting his scientific ideas into writing and it was during this time that he produced his works in geometry and machines. Some of his works soon became the basis for republican views as far as Science was concerned. It was also during this period that he found himself alone ‘opposer’ of Napoleon rules.
At this time, he was determined and worked together with other like-minded individuals to form a common thread in scientific reasoning and methodology. This opened a window of opportunity to the formation of Prussia Institutions akin to those that were on France, and University in Berlin was created.
It was not until 1814 that those that followed Carnot’s teaching ganged to the extent that the empire under Napoleon collapsed. However, since Carnot saw this as a threat to stability in France he returned to governmental service even though he was already 60 years of age. He was at this initiative appointed Governor in charge of the City Of Garrison of Anvers.
He was to defend, with marked intelligence, the town that it was not subdued by any adversary. Interestingly, the Prussians were so impressed by the way he defended the to the extent that they refused to kill him even when they were ordered to do so by King Louis XVIII.
Napoleon appointed him Interior Minister when he returned from exile, and Carnot formed the Council of Industry and Welfare, bringing together the men who belonged to the Committee in Charge of Defense. This program is viewed by historians and political scientists to have ushered in grounding on economic scientific workings that were technology based and this became the lenses through which the countries industrial innovations and capacities were anchored and encouraged.
The French Army was to face defeat later in the same year because of Napoleon stubbornness to heed to Carnot’s advice. Napoleon tended his resignation and Carnot once again took the place of the president of the Assembly of France.
He organized the army, but Fouche ‘committed treason against Carnot’ and stalled his plan to protect that Capital. Louis appointed Carnot to the position of the Interior Minister for his role as a ‘thank you’ for his efforts. Regardless, Fouche soon drew a list of those to be exiled as he was asked to do so by Louis and Carnot was first the in the list.
Carnot and his Exile in Magdeburg
Because of his name in the Fouche’s list, Carnot was forced to flee to Magdeburg, a place that accommodated him adequately and he formed a good rapport with the inhabitants. His spirit was soon to be anchored since he found a number of personalities who subscribed to republican scientific orientations.
It was not surprising that the “German republicans sought to build in Germany a republic which would be based on the ideas of Franklin and the French”. This made Germany and Prussia to be ahead educationally, and England was towing behind. Among the other exploits during this time was that Franco-German scientists soon established a number of colleges and created a journal called Crelle’s Journal.
Death of Carnot
Carnot passed on in 1823 in Magdeburg. At this time, there was decay in France whereas Prussia was making headways. Perhaps that would not have happened had his ideas been fully embraced in France.
Conclusion
The French revolution had significant influence in the lives of leaders who lived at the time of its occurrence. France, having been seen as inferior to its rival European countries, was trying to redeem and rediscover itself, more so following the mediocre nature of leadership by the then political leaders, who made the country fall into turmoil both socially and economically.
It is for this reason that some great revolutionists such as Lazare Carnot fought protracted battles to engineer change in the country. Carnot’s political ambitions began early in his life; indeed, during his education life, he had written various books and later joined the army. The French revolution however, had a significant bearing and influence in the life of Lazare Carnot, especially given the fact that during this time he was the minister of war in the government of Napoleon, the then leader of France.
However, the actual effect of the revolution on Lazare Carnot can be assessed by looking at the roles he played during the time of the revolution. In this case, it is good to assess his role in execution of Louise XVI, his role in French Army, the various public committees he served in, the highest position held, and lastly, his actions while in exile.
Nevertheless, his prowess, both in democratic front and in war made various leaders during his life to embrace him and incorporate him in their armies, and surprisingly enough, he never failed them. Indeed, sometimes he became even more powerful and critical to the leadership especially during the rule of Napoleon, thus necessitating his exile to neighboring countries.
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