Thematic Essay

Leaders may have an impact on society that will influence many more people and countries than they could have imagined. Leaders may help there country achieve unity, stability or economic success. They could also send it careening to a path of civil war and backwardness. Leaders like William the Conquer and Napoleon Bonaparte helped there countries in many ways.

William the Conquer had an impact far beyond what he did in Briton but this is where it starts. He was known as the Duke of Normandy who on the 14th of October in 1066 defeated the English army and became king of England. This changed the language the people spoke, which had been the Anglo-Saxon language, to what it is today. Napoleon Bonaparte also had a huge impact on France and other parts of the world which we can still see today.
William changed the economy of the English isles drastically in several ways. First he had a census taken of all the land ownership and to establish a tax base. Then he put all this data in to what we know as the “Doomsday Book”. He also instated a feudal system that gave the villages and manors autonomy and strengthened his control over the economy and the monarchy. Both of these led to a more stable and consequently better economy.

Napoleon also made his country, France, become great in only a few short years. Napoleon instated many changes like public schools which enhanced many of the children learning ability which in turn being able to get good jobs the children helped support the economy. Another change which he instated gave women the right to vote helped the country not economically but socially. This helped napoleon because it gave him the support he needed from the women he had just allowed to vote. Undoubtedly Napoleon would have stayed in power much longer than he did but after his defeat at Waterloo he was forced in to exile. All and all Napoleon changes helped the country of France when it needed it the most. Through his economic and social reforms he instated a new age in French society.

Leaders may have a positive impact on the society they lead or they may have a negative impact. Leaders like William the Conquer, creator of modern England, and Napoleon Bonaparte, the emperor of France, lead there countries in to a new age of prosperity and stability.