Explain why Napoleon was a hero in France and how he rose to power.

Answer: When royalist rebels marched on the National Convention, a government official told Napoleon to defend the delegates. Napoleon and his gunners greeted the thousands of royalists with a cannonade. He also drove the British Fleet out of Toulon. Napoleon encouraged loyal emigres to return and he allowed peasants to keep lands they got from nobles or the church. He also established the Napoleonic code, which granted equality, religious toleration, and abolished feudalism.