Leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon who became general and later emperor of France, is without doubt one of the greatest military and political leaders of all time. He has dominated people’s imaginations and become an icon mostly associated with his exceptional tactical brilliance, political power and ambition. His accomplishments has made him extremely famous to this day and promoted him to the legendary status. To understand how he reached this status, Napoleon’s leadership should be examined through leadership theories. Fred A.Jr.Manske states in his text “What is Leadership?” that leadership mainly involves creating a vision and making the followers committed to this vision. Sidney Hook in his text “The Eventful Man and The Event-Making Man” adduces that a real leader must be able to alter the course of history with his exceptional abilities and make a significant impact on history. Hughes-Ginnet –Curphy assert in their text “Leadership and Values” that values are very crucial for the leadership process as the values determine how the leader approaches to issues. Kirkpatrick and Locke contend in their text “Leadership: Do Traits Matter?” having some traits such as persistence and intelligence can greatly contribute to leadership. When Napoleon and his life is examined, it can easily be deduced that Napoleon demonstrates similar attributes .Gemma Betros talks about intelligence , persistence and ambition of Napoleon in her text ”Napoleon The Man” and affirm that these attributes cause him to emerge as a great leader Another author Rafe Blaufarb emphasize Napoleon’s ability to inspire in his text “Napoleon: What Made Him Great?” and argue that the way he energizes his troops is very important part of his leadership style. Algis Valiuna...

... middle of paper ...

...for leadership Kirkpatrick and Locke state that certain level of intelligence is vital for formulating suitable strategies and tactics and making correct decisions.(41)Napoleon’s extraordinary military victories all of which are masterpieces of art of warfare is indicate his exceptional intelligence. In majority of these battles Napoleon defeated numerically superior enemy forces with negligible casualties. Battle of Austerlitz which is widely regarded as a greatest victory of Napoleon is being taught at military academies. About that Harvey affirms that “French republic is being rescued from military collapse by wonderful genius of Napoleon who baffles all reasonable calculations.”(31)Such impossible victories almost gave Napoleon the permanent control of Europe. Without doubt Napoleon’s leadership is greatly reinforced by his persistence and intelligence.