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How do historians view Napoleon Bonaparte?

Was he a military genius who brought glory to France on battlefields across Europe? An emperor who improved France’s government and educational, banking and transportation systems? A reformer who replaced a hodgepodge of feudal laws with a single code, stressing civil liberties and equality, that became a model for other nations?

Or was he a power-hungry dictator whose wars left more than 3 million people dead? A tyrant who jailed his enemies, attacked the press and put his interests above all else? A proud, vain man who had artists paint him larger than life and who, when he became emperor, crowned himself?

Napoleon Bonaparte (nuh-PO-lee-un BONE-uh-part) died 200 years ago this week, a prisoner on a small island 4,000 miles from home. But scholars still debate the successes and flaws of this man,who conquered half of Europe before being defeated in battle, rejected by his people and forced into exile, with his empire destroyed.

Napoleon (known by only one name after becoming emperor) was born in 1769 on the French-owned island of Corsica. As a boy, he loved starting fierce snowball fights that could last a long time. At age 16, he graduated from a military school and became an officer in the French army.

A few years later, France experienced a decade-long period of turmoil called the French Revolution. High taxes, food shortages and few available jobs led to riots aimed at replacing the king with a government in which regular people could hold power. A new French Revolutionary Army sided with the protesters. Nearby countries did not, especially after French King Louis XVI (the 16th) was executed in 1793. This led to conflicts across Europe.

The revolution boosted Napoleon’s career. By age 26 he was a general. After fighting in Europe and Africa, he returned to France, plotting to seize power. A new government was declared in 1799, with 30-year-old Napoleon at its head.

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His first reforms were welcomed by many people. A national bank was created, taxes were cut, education was overhauled, and the freedom of religion was established. Most important was completion of the Napoleonic Code, which collected and made clear all of the country’s civil laws. The code spelled out individual freedoms, defined property rights and established equality for citizens before the law — although, back then, “equality” applied only to men.

With France the major power in Europe, in 1804 Napoleon declared himself emperor, a higher rank than king. He reintroduced the special benefits of the monarchy, granting titles of nobility to 3,000 of his favorite citizens, including family members. His court rivaled the late king’s in splendor.

And his empire continued to expand, with major victories over Austria, Russia and Prussia (northern Germany). Only Great Britain, with its mighty navy, remained a thorn in his side. In 1812, France invaded Russia, a former ally that traded with Britain despite Napoleon’s policy forbidding it.

The invasion was a disaster. Napoleon lost about 80 percent of his men. The crushing loss gave the rest of Europe hope that he could be defeated by them as well. Countries that had been his allies switched sides and joined in attacking France from all sides. Napoleon was also losing support at home. The French people were tired of war and the taxes that paid for it. They wanted peace, and in April 1814 Napoleon was forced to give up power.

He was sent to Elba, an island near his birthplace. Nine months later, he escaped back to France. With his enemies set to challenge him, he gathered loyal troops and marched east. On June 18, 1815, his army was defeated by British-led forces at the Battle of Waterloo in what is now Belgium. Four days later, Napoleon gave up his throne.

He was banished to the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, 1,200 miles off the coast of Africa. There would be no escape. He died there May 5, 1821.

In the early 1800s, Napoleon’s dream of a French empire in North America was fading. Needing money for his army in Europe, he agreed to sell the Louisiana territory to the United States for $15 million (about $350 million today).

It may be the best land deal in history. For less than 3 cents an acre, the United States gained rights to 828,000 square miles west of the Mississippi River. The purchase nearly doubled the size of the country and fueled further expansion. Fifteen states would be created, in whole or in part, from land that was part of the Louisiana Purchase.

Ask anyone what they know about Napoleon and they probably will say “He was very short.” Yet he wasn’t.

Napoleon was 5 foot 7 inches tall, an average height for a man in his day, scholars say.

We think of him as short because that’s how British cartoonists drew him. The British were not fans of the French, and they wanted Napoleon to appear as tiny as possible in their newspapers. Photography didn’t exist, so the cartoons are the way people then pictured him and still do today.


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Marylou Tousignant

The Washington Post

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Napol�on Bonaparte (1769-1821), steel engraving, published in 1868

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