Before the French Revolution King Louis XVI was the sole leader of France and after the revolution Napoleon was the sole leader of France, so did anything really change?
To gauge the importance of historical events over the long-term, historians often look beyond the roles of elites and individuals at the apex of society and instead examine economic structures, demography, and other indices that show real shifts in the daily life and society. In the case of the Revolutionary era and Empire, there were major shifts caused by both the abolition of seigniorial privileges and the breakup of large estates owned by the nobility and the church. While this did not lead to social leveling in the countryside as the auction of these estates tended to go to relatively prosperous individuals, it did change the economic character of the French countryside. The Empire's continental blockade coupled with the British blockade of French maritime trade led to various efforts to create alternative foodstuffs and luxuries that were no longer available in France. Industrial production of crops such as sugar beets and export crops for the internal market of the Empire such as wine increased dramatically under Napoleon's watch. The geographic center of the French economy also shifted because of the Continental System as it favored an inner core around northeaster France and the Rhone valley, which reoriented trade away from the Atlantic and towards the Central Europe. The coastal cities in the meantime suffered from the loss of trade and often were relatively impoverished. This economic reorientation, sometimes called the Maggiolo Line, became one of the basic geographic divisions in France throughout the nineteenth century, with the Southwest being more Catholic and traditionalist and the Northeast being more liberal and republican.
The political initiatives of the state also had an enormous impact on France. Much of Napoleon's legal and social reforms were predicated on an attempt to create a stable hierarchy and order in France. The Napoleonic Code’s stress on equal inheritance led to a greater a much slower rate of population growth than other areas of Europe. The Concordat with Rome created a situation in which local priests were employees of the state and were still vital for education in the provinces throughout the early nineteenth century.The chaos of the revolution meant that one of Napoleon's main goals was to restore order. This meant a firm commitment to metalism and a sound currency. For the countryside, this ensured that only some families truly benefited from the breakup of noble estates (mostly by being in the right place and being of the right social position) and the mass of French peasants now had to pay rents according to a market economy that was very inflexible compared to the ancien regime. In many ways, what we now picture the French countryside (quaint stone farms, small towns, excellent wines and bread) is a byproduct of the Revolution and Empire’s long shadow.
For the new elite, the Napoleonic period did have an impact despite the Bourbon Restoration's preferences for reliable individuals who were opposed to both the Revolution and Napoleon. One of the consequences of the Napoleonic system of coupling financial rewards with titles was that the corpus of the Napoleonic aristocracy was well-placed to marry into the old nobility of Restoration France. The result was a blending of the old and the new elite social groups within France. Additionally, one of the foundations of the Napoleonic system was meritocracy (at least in theory) so there was a strong component of educated professionals within lower and middle strata of the Napoleonic aristocracy (the Barons and the Knight). These individuals were well-placed to expand their wealth and prestige during the Empire and became part of the foundation for the leading families of France during the nineteenth century. Although the Empire was infamous for its stifling court culture, Paris became an important social meeting place for these individuals and habituated them to the salon culture of the Restoration. Those elite individuals that could not marry into wealth or transition into the new state apparatus became some of the founding members of the various secret societies and Bonapartist political parties.
Sources
Bergeron, Louis. France under Napoleon. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981.
Broers, Michael. Europe Under Napoleon London: I. B. Taurus, 2014.
Natalie, Petiteau. “The Nobility of the Empire and the Elite groups of the 19th century - a Successful Fusion.” Napoleon.org. http://www.napoleon.org/en/reading_room/articles/files/nobility_empire_elite_arsenic.asp#ancre3