Napoleon Bonaparte: Hero or monster?

Published: 20 Nov 2009

Napoleon Bonaparte: Hero or monster?

Background: Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

Napoleon Bonaparte rose to prominence as an artillery officer, and later general, during the chaotic aftermath of the French Revolution (1789-99). Following a coup d’etat he became ruler of France as First Consul of the French Republic from 1799 to 1804, self-appointed Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, and was briefly restored as Emperor in 1815. Ever self-aggrandizing, Napoleon also appointed himself as the King of Italy, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine.

Over the course of little more than a decade, the armies of France under his command fought almost every other European power and acquired control of most of continental Europe by conquest or alliance. The disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812 marked a turning point in his career and in French fortunes. In the War of the Sixth Coalition (1812-1814), an alliance of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and a number of German States, finally defeated him and drove him into exile on Elba. He staged a comeback known as the Hundred Days but was defeated at Waterloo on June 18 1815 and exiled to St Helena, a British possession in the South Atlantic.

In domestic policy, Napoleon is best known for presiding over the Code Napoléon (or Code civil des Français), a set of laws which replaced the 360 local codes of the Ancien Régime. He also created the French system of lycées - selective secondary schools - to train the future leaders and administrators of France. Other reforms include a tax code, road and sewer systems, the Banque de France (the country's central bank) and the Légion d'Honneur, which is still the highest decoration in France.

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