From a position relative obscurity as the
scion of petty Corsican nobility, Napoleon rose to become Emperor
of most of Europe, and a primary symbol of his time. All over
Europe, monarchies were weakening, but it was still unclear what
forms of government would replace the old order. One possible
form was that of "enlightened despotism," which Napoleon represented:
he was a dictator, but he initiated beneficial reforms and had
a very liberal outlook, maintaining socially progressive views.
Yet Napoleon did not retain his power through his domestic policies
alone: a master strategist on the battlefield, and a master at
international negotiations, Napoleon repeatedly won both military
and diplomatic triumphs, and, though nonreligious, succeeded in
reconciling France and the Catholic Church in the Concordat of
1801.
A child of the Enlightenment and
a son of the French
Revolution, Napoleon was simultaneously a traditional
monarch, embracing all the pomp and formalities of the monarchic
customs, and a revolutionary, bringing sweeping–and lasting– changes
to the regions under his rule. In becoming Emperor, Napoleon made
all French citizens equal under the law, and initiated lasting
reforms such as the Napoleonic Code, which remains the basis for
many of the world's legal systems. The educational network of lycees (high
schools) and universities that he fostered remains the cornerstone
of the French educational system, and the French financial system
still centers on the Bank of France that he established. Moreover,
his central project of creating a single, unified Europe was itself
a revolutionary one: no one before him had seriously considered
the idea, much less gone so far toward realizing it. Although he
never did rule over a united continent, Napoleon left an eradicable
mark on European geography: in the end, despite the efforts of
the coalition of nations allied against Napoleon, Europe was only
partially restored to its pre- Napoleonic state.
Napoleon's legacy as a personality is just as great.
Few leaders from the eighteenth century remain as well known among
the public today. Although the first authors to write about Napoleon tended
to vilify the man–indeed, he had kept Europe in a nearly constant
state of war for two decades–his heroic reputation hardly suffered.
Napoleon's life of adventures, from his battles in Egypt to his Russian
campaign to his escape from exile in 1815 to raise another French
army, were the perfect material for novels, as Napoleon himself
once noted. Painters, too, upheld his heroic image, even polishing
it a bit: Jacques-Louis David created numerous paintings of him,
one of which famously shows Napoleon on the back of a rearing charger
as he leads his men across Alps via the Great Saint Bernard's pass.
(In reality, he rode a mule.) So, too, did popular accounts romanticize
his relations with Josephine de Beauharnais, often depicting it
as a passionate love affair, when, in reality, both of them had
lovers and Napoleon had their marriage annulled in order to marry
a younger woman. The Napoleon we think of today is the result
of so many portrayals in books and movies that despite being a
real historical figure, he is also partially a fictional character,
leading a vibrant existence not only in textbooks, but in imaginations.
