Napoleon: Good or Bad?

[Norsklow]

Vive l'Empereur!

[Wamitoria]

He resides in a gray area, which is more than can be said for most 19th century dictators.

[Avarnica]

Am I the only one know whos about him commiting acts of genocide?

Bad.

[Camelza]

Am I the only one know whos about him commiting acts of genocide?

Bad.

he did not commit acts of genocide,that's just a painting of some Spanish dissidents being shot

...we're talking about the same century when 7-year-olds in Britain worked for 2 days strait in coal mines,relax.

[Alaje]

I love Napoleon, he's one of my favorite historical figures. He was basically the impersonation of an "enlightened dictator". Bonaparte had, in my opinion, a great social platform. I do however disagree with alot of his economic policy, especially the "Continental System".

[Gauntleted Fist]

He was an okay kind of guy. I wouldn't have a beer with him because he'd probably end up ordering me killed, but he was p cool.

[Schwabenreich]

Think he was relatively progressive as far monarchs of his period go. Most of his evils were a result of his success rather then an example of him being more evil then his contemporaries. Though I have not studied him much so I could be wrong.

[Paixao]

In my mind, Napoleon, is the very definition of a 'beneficial dictator'. He was unquestionably good for France. He brought security, peace and even prosperity to France after a decade of revolution and upheaval and introduced a code of laws that is - for the most part - still used by many nations around the world.

His downside lay in his treatment of the rest of Europe and the non-French. He was a good man who got greedy, you might say.

However, there was one man better than him: Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington.

What!? That backwards, ultra conservative oppressor of the masses? He may have won a battle against Napoleon (ONE!) but he was a beyond awful politician...

Napolean Beats him hands down.

[Ereria]

I love Napoleon and his ideals. He was so great. He is my third most favorite general after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and Suleyman the Magnificent

[Rio Cana]

This is what the Spanish civilians thought of him when his troops were in Spain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s9vPWDJkh0

[Maurepas]

Good for France(comparatively speaking), bad for everyone in France's path.

[Britannic Realms]

Any enemy of Britain is a bad leader in my eyes.

[New Sapienta]

Good, as in he was a great general.

As a person, he did create vast systems of civil codes we use till today, but he did kind of cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands.

[New Sapienta]

Any enemy of Britain is a bad leader in my eyes.

Then you should get your eyes checked.

[Terio]

Any enemy of Britain is a bad leader in my eyes.

I'm pretty sure every single country in the world would have a bad leader in that case

[The Huskar Social Union]

Overall i would say he was good, great military leader, I'd say a decent politician, and had a lot of respect and admiration from french people and some of his enemies too and was responsible for a lot of the civil laws and foundations we still use today. Although a lot of people died in the Napoleonic era due to the wars.

And he is also a fascinating man to study. Viva L'Empereur!

[Saluterre]

I generally like him. He, Ataturk, and Caesar are history's great left-nationalist authoritarians. I'm generally opposed to authoritarianism, but their regimes absolutely contributed to general progress. He unified the country broken by a idealistic yet overly violent and factionalistic revolution hijacked by opportunists and still managed to uphold many of the revolution's liberal ideals. He stood up to the rabble of inbreds who controlled Europe at the time, and, for better or for worse, eventually lost. Also:

I would say bad. Not only did he imprison two Popes, but he spread liberalism throughout Europe, with deadly consequences, and destablized the entire region. As for his establishing new schools, those were to influence the youth with liberalism and make them accept his authority, while rejecting the authority of the Church.

So yeah. Great man.

EDIT: Idiotic spelling errors made by moi.

[Katyuscha]

Before Napolean came along , France was a shit country to be born in. France had,nt been cool since the Frankish Empire and Napolean came along and basically said "Hey, let's not" and the French people were like "Ok, that sounds good" and they counquered a bunch of shit.

[Norsklow]

Vive l'Empereur!

[Ereria]

Btw, guys making fun of Napoleon's height, he was actually 4 cm longer than average person in France, but people thought he was short because when he stood with his at least 1.90 cm long Grenadiers, he looked short. This made the Brits make fun of Napoleon for is height to make him look stupid or something.

[New Istria]

Neither, no leader is 'good' or 'bad'. They merely advance their own interests in the way they feel is best.

Which can have good and bad results. So in a way every leader can be either "good" or "bad."

[Oterro]

In my mind, Napoleon, is the very definition of a 'beneficial dictator'. He was unquestionably good for France. He brought security, peace and even prosperity to France after a decade of revolution and upheaval and introduced a code of laws that is - for the most part - still used by many nations around the world.

His downside lay in his treatment of the rest of Europe and the non-French. He was a good man who got greedy, you might say.

However, there was one man better than him: Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington.

u wot m8

Mister ''Britain is land to be bought and only the people who buy it should be allowed to have a say in how it's ran''?

[Seleucas]

My French grandfather would say that he was too good to speak ill of him, and too bad to speak well of him. I, personally, like that he ended the craziness of the French republic, even if he did carry on its aggressive foreign policy. I don't like that the US acted as his co-belligerent and picked a fight with Great Britain during the time period, but that's not exactly Napoleon's fault.

[New Istria]

Of course, Corsica is boring as hell, so Napoleon joined the French Army as soon as he could. He originally wanted to be in the cavalry, but his superiors told him that the Army didn't use Shetland ponies. Unfortunately, Napoleon didn't realize that they were insulting his height until they were out of the room, so he couldn't deliver a snappy comeback. He next tried the infantry, which turned out to be a bust as well, as everyone assumed he was a drummer boy and wanted to put him up front with the other drummer boys where he would make for a convenient target.

That left the artillery. Napoleon took to it immediately. Something about firing those big, long, powerful cannons just made him feel better about himself. Plus, it takes a lot of cajones to insult a man for being short when he's aiming a 6-foot-long gun right at your crotch. Thanks to this newfound love of bossing people around, he was soon promoted to Captain of his brigade. Next, he invented several brilliant strategies, including his clever "trying to figure out what the other guy is going to do ahead of time", the devious "skipping the wine and cheese parties, getting off your lazy butts and fighting the goddamn battle" and the most cunning and revolutionary strategy of all, "not surrendering."

Because of his ingenious tactics, Napoleon rose to the top of the French military.Napoleon's ascent was helped by the fact that most of the people who outranked him found themselves beheaded during the Reign of Terror.Since rampant fear and paranoia tend to get a little tedious after a while, the members of the French government (the ones who still had their heads, at least) asked Napoleon to use the French Army to restore order, because few things can calm out-of-control political situations like the judicious use of military dictatorship.

When one politician pointed out that Napoleon could use this opportunity to seize power for himself, he was quickly rebuked by his colleagues. After all, it wasn't like the French people would allow themselves to be represented in world affairs by a little person, right?

Absolutely brilliant!

[Czechanada]

Without Napoleon, we wouldn't have Napoleon: Total War.