What the world owes to Napoleon

It's interesting you all seem to agree he was a brutal conqueror and that he caused thousands of deaths etc. Well, it's not true... Everything before 1799 should not be blamed on Napoleon because he was a general then and didn't have influence in any French decisions on the larger scale. For instance, he was the commander of the army of Egypt, but he was sent there by the French government, so it was not his decision. Same goes with Italy. Therefore, he shouldn't be blamed for that. The Napoleonic Wars had started in 1803, 4 years after Napoleon became First Consul. However, The Napoleonic Wars were started by BRITAIN (and the English blame him for everything (as it's seen in this forum) and they still own Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Cornwall, not to even mention the 'Channel islands' just by the French coast that are all still occupied by the English) by breaking the Treaty of Amiens. The British declared war on Napoleonic France and not the other way round. Later, Austria attacked France and French Ally Bavaria. France was then attacked by Russia, Prussia and many others. In 1808, he did attack Iberia because the Spaniards and Portuguese betrayed him. In 1812, Russians betrayed him, so he attacked Russia. He declared war only twice and it was later in the war and his enemies attacked him dozens on times and started the Wars in the first place. He was usually the first one to seek for peace. His enemies were the attackers, the aggressors, the invaders and therefore they should be held responsible for all the deaths.
 
It's interesting you all seem to agree he was a brutal conqueror and that he caused thousands of deaths etc. Well, it's not true... Everything before 1799 should not be blamed on Napoleon because he was a general then and didn't have influence in any French decisions on the larger scale. For instance, he was the commander of the army of Egypt, but he was sent there by the French government, so it was not his decision. Same goes with Italy. Therefore, he shouldn't be blamed for that. The Napoleonic Wars had started in 1803, 4 years after Napoleon became First Consul. However, The Napoleonic Wars were started by BRITAIN (and the English blame him for everything (as it's seen in this forum) and they still own Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Cornwall, not to even mention the 'Channel islands' just by the French coast that are all still occupied by the English) by breaking the Treaty of Amiens. The British declared war on Napoleonic France and not the other way round. Later, Austria attacked France and French Ally Bavaria. France was then attacked by Russia, Prussia and many others. In 1808, he did attack Iberia because the Spaniards and Portuguese betrayed him. In 1812, Russians betrayed him, so he attacked Russia. He declared war only twice and it was later in the war and his enemies attacked him dozens on times and started the Wars in the first place. He was usually the first one to seek for peace. His enemies were the attackers, the aggressors, the invaders and therefore they should be held responsible for all the deaths.

yes, you could also claim Brittain started WW II by the blockade of Germany
 
It's interesting you all seem to agree he was a brutal conqueror and that he caused thousands of deaths etc. Well, it's not true... Everything before 1799 should not be blamed on Napoleon because he was a general then and didn't have influence in any French decisions on the larger scale. For instance, he was the commander of the army of Egypt, but he was sent there by the French government, so it was not his decision. Same goes with Italy. Therefore, he shouldn't be blamed for that. The Napoleonic Wars had started in 1803, 4 years after Napoleon became First Consul. However, The Napoleonic Wars were started by BRITAIN (and the English blame him for everything (as it's seen in this forum) and they still own Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Cornwall, not to even mention the 'Channel islands' just by the French coast that are all still occupied by the English) by breaking the Treaty of Amiens. The British declared war on Napoleonic France and not the other way round. Later, Austria attacked France and French Ally Bavaria. France was then attacked by Russia, Prussia and many others. In 1808, he did attack Iberia because the Spaniards and Portuguese betrayed him. In 1812, Russians betrayed him, so he attacked Russia. He declared war only twice and it was later in the war and his enemies attacked him dozens on times and started the Wars in the first place. He was usually the first one to seek for peace. His enemies were the attackers, the aggressors, the invaders and therefore they should be held responsible for all the deaths.

How to characterize Napoleon was the final exam question in one of my most important European history courses. My answer then and what seems to be the consensus among scholars is that he was closest to an enlightened despot, as in the autocratic rulers of the Enlightenment period.

He certainly started a lot of wars of conquest, although one should point out that the first wars he fought were to get invaders out of France, invaders who wanted to intervene in French affairs by reinstituting the monarchy, as they indeed did after they finally got rid of him.

Contrary to the way the British and some other Europeans want to characterize him, he was no Hitler or Stalin. Nor, however, was he a Republican hero of the Revolution or a boy scout.
 
The Louisiana purchase doubled the size of the United States, regardless of why Napoleon did it.
imo that action goes against the behavior of a Conqueror.
He must have been desperate for cash in order to sell that humongous amounts of land.
I guess land expansion, was not his ultimate goal after all.
 
Napoleon was the ruin of the latin rule of the world, he let the barbarians beasts out of its cage.
 
The massacre and pillage of Jaffa in March 1799 could be one of the darkest sides of Napoleon history. Upon the surrender of the city, French solders went on a killing and rape spree for two days. Etienne-Louis Malus, a doctor who had accompanied the army, re called what he saw: “The soldiers cut the throats of men and women, the old and the young, Christians and Turks ... father and son one on top of the other (on the same pile of bodies), a daughter being raped on the cadaver of her mother, the smoke from the burnt clothes of the dead, the smell of blood, the groans of the wounded, the shouts of the victors who were quarreling about the loot taken from a dying victim”.
The surrendering Ottoman garrison of Jaffa most of them Albanians were taken prisoners. Their numbers were between 2400 and 4000. Napoleon gave the order to execute them. To spare ammunition bayonets were used.
 

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