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- In 1804 , Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France .
- He set out to conquer neighbouring European countries , dispossessing dynasties and creating kingdoms where he placed members of his family.
- Napoleon saw his role as a moderniser of Europe .
- He introduced many laws such as the protection of private property , and a uniform system of weights and measures provided by the decimal system .
- Initially, Napoleon was seen as a liberator who would bring freedom to the people .
- But soon the Napoleonic armies came to be viewed as an invading force everywhere.
- In 1815 , he was finally defeated at Waterloo .
- Many of his measures that carried the revolutionary ideas of liberty and modern laws to other parts of Europe had an impact on people long after Napoleon had left.
- The ideas of liberty and democratic rights were the most important legacy of the French Revolution .
- These spread from France to the rest of Europe during the nineteenth century , when feudal systems were abolished .
- Colonised peoples reworked the idea of freedom from bondage into their movements to create a sovereign nation-state .
- Tipu Sultan and Rammohan Roy are two examples of individuals who responded to the ideas coming from revolutionary France.
