Napoleon gave France able military leadership. Under Napoleon, French armies won many victories, especially against Austria, Prussia and Russia.
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France thus established direct or indirect control over large parts of Europe, including present Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain and parts of Germany and Poland.
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However, Napoleon’s plan of invading Britain by sea failed when the British admiral Horatio Nelson defeated the French and their Spanish allies in the Battle of Trafalgar (1805).
Napoleon unified the regions that he conquered by establishing uniform administration and codes of law in these regions. Napoleon’s troops spread revolutionary ideas of liberty and freedom.
Thus, the reforms and ideas generated by the French Revolution were introduced outside the boundaries of France. The people of the conquered regions welcomed these reforms and ideas. These ideas in turn inspired them to unite and resist French military occupation of their lands.
Political and administrative unification under Napoleon prepared the ground for unification movements in some parts of Europe after Napoleon’s fall from power.