Napoleon

Napoleon did more than the impossible during his lifetime. He took over almost all of Europe, and almost never lost a battle while doing this. He had unbelievable leadership talents, in the way that he could get his men to fight and do what he said, no matter how incredibly ridiculous or insane. For people not to consider him one of the, if not most, powerful and extraordinary man ever, would be ridiculous. Although he had his faults, and weakness in his character, the things he did overpower that. He should be remembered as an amazing country and military leader. Napoleon said in his Memoirs, “…..I shall be considered an extraordinary man: my elevation was unparalleled because unaccompanied by crime.” Obviously he was not modest, and very boastful, which is an example of weakness in his character.

Although Napoleon did all of these unbelievable things, they way he took over was very tyrannical, and he cannot be considered a hero because of this. He took over by seizing the legislative groups and dispersing them by force with his troops. He then later made him self emperor of France. He took away many of France’s rights, mostly freedom of speech and expression rights, to prevent a revolution against him. He did what he wanted, without other people to control his actions. This enabled for much of the success of his life to happen, but also contributed problems.

Overall, Napoleon was a tragedy to France and most of Europe. At his height, he was the greatest thing that ever happened to France. France had gained a lot of land and their economy was becoming better. But by the end of his reign, all of the land had been lost, and the debt to other countries was immense. Also, he caused so many deaths over his campaigns, which would make his reign a tragedy in the end.