cover of a German almanac designed by the journalist Andreas Rebmann in . The image of the French Bastille being stormed by the revolutionary crowd has been placed next to a similar fortress meant to represent the bastion of despotic rule in the German province of Kassel. Accompanying the illustration is the slogan: ‘The people must seize their own freedom!’ Rebmann lived in the city of Mainz and was a member of a German Jacobin group. Within the wide swathe of territory that came under his control, Napoleon set about introducing many of the reforms that he had already introduced in France.
Through a return to monarchy Napoleon had, no doubt, destroyed democracy in France, but in the administrative field he had incorporated revolutionary principles in order to make the whole system more rational and efficient. The Civil Code of – usually known as the Napoleonic Code – did away with all privileges based on birth, established equality before the law and secured the right to property. This Code was exported to the regions under French control. In the Dutch Republic, in Switzerland, in Italy and Germany, Napoleon simplified administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues.
In the towns too, guild restrictions were removed. Transport and communication systems were improved. Peasants, artisans, workers and new businessmen Fig. — Europe after the Congress of Vienna, .
ICELAND (DENMARK) NORWAY (SWEDEN) SWEDEN DENMARK HABOVER (G.B.) NETHERLANDS ENGLAND WALES IRELAND GREAT BRITAIN SCOTLAND FRANCE SPAIN PORTUGAL MOROCCO ALGERIA TUNIS EGYPT PALESTINE SYRIA CYPRUS MESOPOTAMIA ARMENIA OTTOMAN EMPIRE CRETE GREECE BULGARIA ROMANIA SERBIA HUNGARY AUSTRIAN EMPIRE AUSTRIA GALICIA BAVARIA SWITZERLAND PRUSSIA POLAND RUSSIAN EMPIRE SARDINIA CORSICA SMALL STATES KINGDOM OF THE TWO SICILIES GEORGIA PERSIA MEDITERRANEAN SEA ATLANTIC SEA enjoyed a new-found freedom. Businessmen and small-scale producers of goods, in particular, began to realise that uniform laws, standardised weights and measures, and a common national currency would facilitate the movement and exchange of goods and capital from one region to another. However, in the areas conquered, the reactions of the local populations to