History Memes

Explanation: Napoleon Bonaparte is a figure who often evokes very divided reactions, maybe even as much today as when he ruled. He was indisputably a military genius, and a man of immense intelligence and charisma. He was also a weapons-grade twat in his personal life, and a thin-skinned despot in his political life.

He was a monarch who considered himself an enemy of the anciens regimes of Europe. A legal reformer who nonetheless altered the constitution as it suited his needs. A ruler who ran a meritocracy in France that damaged the old aristocracy, who yet fell prey to nepotism in appointing his family as monarchs elsewhere in Europe.

His reflections, written in his final exile at St. Helena, are very fascinating, and show a remarkably sharp mind. Yet power and ego are corruptions that blind intellect to the virtues it should pursue. A shame it took both being shattered for him to see that.