I think you'd have to go back to Louis XIV to find a Frenchman in a leadership position 'who has any redeeming qualities'.
He made some good chairs.
I think you'd have to go back to Louis XIV to find a Frenchman in a leadership position 'who has any redeeming qualities' I'm kinda partial to Bonaparte, myself. He had to be stopped, but you also have to admire the run he had. Plus the three best military/naval historical novel series came out of the Napoleonic Wars.