The Napoleonic legacy

[Diable Rouge]

Would appear to be universally negative, his dream of a French-led united Europe only resulting in the birth of nationalism. Certainly, his meddling in the various German and Italian states awoke race-consciousness and began the half-century process of unification. The Russian excursion only served to launch that nation as a first-rank European power, while the Peninsular Wars caused revolution and fragmentation in Latin America, and the Louisiana Purchase gave the fledgeling US the impetus leading to Manifest Destiny. Even in France, his checking of the Revolution has the abiding legacy of presidential leadership being preferred to parliamentary government, and thus individual grandeur trumping party ideology. Still, any shafts of positivity that could be grasped at?

[beak]

The Napoleonic legacy

And don't forget to join us after the break where our musical guest will be Tindersticks, performing songs from their latest album Across Six Leap Years.

[MsD]

The Napoleonic legacy

Diable Rouge wrote: Still, any shafts of positivity that could be grasped at?

Fnarr

[Mumpo]

The Napoleonic legacy

Bonerpart.

[Come along, Min]

The Napoleonic legacy

[Stumpy Pepys]

The Napoleonic legacy

Waterloo by Abba?

[matt j]

The Napoleonic legacy

Napoleonic Code and the overall system of state bureaucracy?

I mean you could argue over a lot of things, but the idea that people in government positions should be generally 'qualified' is probably positive.

[Geoffrey de Ste. Croix]

The Napoleonic legacy

"Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. Caussidière for Danton, Louis Blanc for Robespierre, the Montagne of 1848 to 1851 for the Montagne of 1793 to 1795, the nephew for the uncle. And the same caricature occurs in the circumstances of the second edition of the Eighteenth Brumaire."

[DCI Harry Batt]

The Napoleonic legacy

You really can't claim bureaucracy for Napoleon. Unless you ignore China. Which people do.

[matt j]

The Napoleonic legacy

TonTon wrote: You really can't claim bureaucracy for Napoleon. Unless you ignore China. Which people do.

Yeah fair point. Would the Europeans ever have taken to it without the similar establishment of empire?

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

The Napoleonic legacy

Well the romans were big on bureaucracy, and the byzantines raised it to new levels.

They were pretty big on bureaucracy in england even before the Normans. The most outstanding thing about england before the normans was how efficiently taxed it was, largely because they kept having to pay tribute to every village of vikings who came over and kidnapped their king.