Napoleon - General and Politician

Napoleon is to blame for everything - this is the title of a German feature film from 1938 and I could also use this as the motto for this publication on Napoleon Bonaparte. For 40 years now - in other words since my youth - I have been studying the person and the era of the small and yet so great Corsican who has fascinated me like so many people - a fascination that is still going on. Whether you have a positive or negative attitude towards him he certainly leaves very few people indifferent. France's Messiah who was to end (in the sense of complete) the Revolution was by no means born under peaceful stars on 15 August 1769 and this warlike constellation which shaped his entire life lasted until his death. The debate about how he should be judged lived on even after his death and has flared up again on the 200th anniversary of his death on 5 May 2021 - albeit not with the same intensity as before.Napoleon owed his success to the roles he was able to play. On the one hand he was an arbiter between the old and new worlds. Standing above the parties he wanted to bring about unity his unity and so he became Emperor of the Republic. Europe could only defeat him by constantly forging new coalitions against him which was not easy. Napoleon constantly exploited the dynamics of political opposition in his favour. He was very inventive and intelligent had an excellent memory and mastered the most diverse fields of knowledge: Military strategy mathematics geography history religion law philosophy literature and economics. He was well versed in almost all branches of knowledge and professions and created a unity at the centre of which he stood. His confidence in this unity led him to distribute Europe's thrones among the members of the Bonaparte family. Napoleon himself who came from lower nobility married Marie-Louise a Habsburg princess in the hope of securing the future of his own dynasty but this hope was ultimately in vain.The Corsican was unable to realise his dream as Europe rose up against him after the downfall of his Grande Armée in Russia in 1812. And as his power began to wane confusion and disorder ensued. Napoleon himself fell victim to his excessive ambition but this was by no means the only cause of his downfall. His nepotism war weariness and even the treachery of his subordinates played a role as did the efforts of his united enemies and the decline of his own strength and health....