First modern dictator? There have been dictatorial regimes throughout history many much worse then Napoleon who really wasn't all that much more authoritarian then the canonized Queen Elizabeth who had Catholics put to death along with various other dissenters. Napoleon advocated religious liberty.
Queen Elizabeth certainly had her faults but it should be remembered that she was reacting to very real plots against her and the Northern Rebellion-before that she did have a policy of religious tolerance. She is still one of England's greatest monarchs and could have whipped Napoleon in a fair fight : )