24th of November 2011

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jacques-Louis_David,_The_Coronation_of_Napoleon_edit.jpg

Today in Social Sciences, at the beginning of the lesson Paqui has asked who wanted to do the journal and I've volunteered. Afterwards, Paqui has shown us a powerpoint about some things of the previous class. Then, she has shown us the next point of the unit: The Napoleonic Era (1800- 1815). Later, Paqui has explained it and copied the scheme on the blackboard. In 1800-1802 on the Three member consulate, Napoleon was the First Consul and until1804 he was elected First and Only consul for life ( because they thought he was a good ruler). The main decisions he took were:

- The reestablishment of public order and stopping counter-revolution and popular revolts.

- Administrative reforms: prefects, Napoleonic Code, educational reform.

- Concordat with the Pope: he agreed to peace with the Pope and Catholic religion came back as the official religion in France.

In April of 1804 it was approved the conversion of France into an Empire and in December of that year, Napoleon crowned himself as Emperor. Paqui has shown us a huge painting of this moment which is exposed on the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The Empire was formed by territories conquered by Napoleon (Low Countries, Milan...), territories controlled by Napoleon such as Spain, Grand Duchy of Warsaw, etc and the allies (Austria, Norway and Denmark). There were territories that didn't accept Napoleon's rule such as Great Britain, Portugal and Russia. He decided to order the Continental Blockade: Prohibition of having commercial realtions like buying and selling with Great Britain althought Portugal didn't follow this and Napoleon decided to invade it. As Spain was a France ally, he signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau with Godoy (prime minister of Spain) to allow the French troops to cross Spain towards Portugal. The Peninsular war was started when the people of Madrid revolted against French soldiers. Later he decided to invade Russia and these two decisions meant the end of the Empire in 1815.

Today we've learnt some new words:

· Ally: Aliado

· Continental blockade: Bloqueo continental

When Paqui has finished explaining this, she has asked us a date to do the exam of this unit. Almost all have voted for the 12th of December but some people disagreed and Paqui has become angry because they were talking in Spanish. Finally, Paqui has given us two exercises for homework (12 and 13 from page 22).

Bye bye!