Napoleon brought order to France. Good for him. But then he terrorized Europe from Spain to Moscow. And he ended his life exiled on a remote island.
So I really donn’t see all the adoration he gets today. Napoleon was a butcher, and a failed butcher at that.
But he definitely wasn’t a cheese-eating surrender monkey!
Yes, this seems to sum him up quite well. About his only "success" was the Louisian Purchase to the US. For that the French should never forgive him. Their loss, our gain.
My respect for him, however minimal, is tied more to the fact that he ended the Christian persecutions that Robespierre and his ilk started, largely left them alone. It’s for that reason alone I have any respect for him, certainly far moreso than Robespierre and his ilk. And make no mistake, he’s a military genius compared to Robespierre and his ilk.