Napoleon Bonaparte in Greatcoat, 1812-15

Many, inside and outside of France, consider Napoleon the epitome of French achievement and a bit of a paradox. While he subjugated much of Europe, he also established the Napoleonic Code granting “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” (first promised during the French Revolution) to much of his country. He destroyed the first French republic by force, yet led the construction of the modern French state with the creation of an innovative education system and the founding of the Bank of France. The French writer and historian, François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand, was a contemporary and monarchist who despised Napoleon, but later grew to admire him. His final judgement on Bonaparte read, “Living, he failed in the world. Dead, he conquered it.”