Napoleon Bonaparte Power Hungry Tyrant

Napoleon: The Power-Hungry Tyrant
The rich history of Europe is a beautifully created story ranging from romance, art, and prosperity, to bloody warfare, world powers, and deception. Certain rulers, whether monarchs, dictators, or a body of people in power, have shown clear traits of their true purposes. Possibly being either angelic, and looking out for the good of the world, or sinister, selfish, and searching for domination. The majority of dictators are frowned upon, however some were considered saviors, heros, legends to the people. Napoleon, however, is not one of these mythical people. Napoleon Bonaparte was a prodigious general of warfare, having gone to military school at the age of 9, and succeeding exceptionally. He won a series

of amazing victories at a young age, leading people to believe he was going to bring them great honor and success.

However, Napoleon noticed this, and chose to capitalize on it, thirsty for power. In the beginning, he was successful, so the majority of the population ignored his dictatorship, but the fall of his empire and his own sanity revealed his true goals. Napoleon was clearly shown to be a power-hungry tyrant through his fall, with his bloodlust and continental control, obvious ignorance to the French population and their revolutionary views, and the iron grip of his public image.
Napoleon’s legendary streak of victories and overall dominance of the battlefield shown through very clearly, but only appeared when he was calm and collected. During these moments, he showed very little sympathy to the soldiers he used as pawns to advance his reign and power over Europe. He manipulated the people, using words of flattery to raise their morale and send them off, which worked in the beginning. This was shown as he slowly lost his talent as a strategist, and became overconfident. Napoleon would do nothing but look for wars, battles, anything to prove his worth, which ultimately resulted in his downfall. He killed hundreds of thousands of people, whether his own

men, or his enemies, for the sake of increasing his power and influence on Europe. Gathering troops everywhere he could find them, whether in France, Italy, or any place he had conquered, expecting their full devotion. One clear example of this was his invasion in Russia, gathering over 600,000 men, few of which were loyal to him. He went in and was driven crazy by madness looking for battles, only to find the Russians retreated, using the scorched-earth policy. This was a strategy weakening Napoleon’s army, starving them of food and shelter, which he simply ignored and moved on, going deeper and deeper into Russia. Eventually, he got the one battle he had hoped for, which was of course a victory with his numbers. However, this just caused him to go further into Russia, which proved to be a grave mistake. Russia’s harsh winters came early, and he realized it too late. He tried to retreat, but his thinning army were dying fast at the hands of nature and the cossacks attacking them from every direction. Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated, and returned with less than 100,000 men, and after losing many more times, the generals finally stopped him. He throughout these times clearly proved he was obsessed with power, and could only desire more. He did not look for ways to improve France, simply to increase its power and land. (Joffrin 20)
Additionally, Napoleon would not listen to the general French people, overall focusing on conquering lands.

He ruled as a dictator, ignoring completely the ideas of democracy presented by the French Revolution, sacrificing political liberty, even going as far as to crowning himself emperor. He took advantage of their hope and desires, and achieved immense power by quickly working up the ranks. While at first it may have seemed all was well and going in a positive direction, Napoleon began to look for more opportunities for land rather than the benefit of his people. He was constantly seeking for power, land, and conquests of countries to increase his power alone. Sending an invasion force into Spain, wanting to get to Portugal to accept his foolish Continental System, he created anguish among the Spanish. Displeased, Napoleon dethroned the Spanish king and put his brother on the throne, which outraged the Spanish people. He looked down on them however, and thought nothing more of them than peasants, but then had to fight them. Napoleon disregarded their nationalism, and didn’t expect it at all, despite expecting that from his own people. His obliviousness to their loyalty reveals his true feelings about his subjects, which are virtually non-existent, as he did not care for them at all, and didn’t think much of them. Historian Charles J. Esdaile concludes: “What Napoleon wanted in the end was not the benefit of his subjects, but more men, more ships, and more money, to

obtain which he was prepared to stop at nothing.” (Esdaile 1) Napoleon’s views on his subjects are like a measure of his power and wealth, rather than humans that live in a society, desiring peace.
The most distinguished clue, however, is Napoleon’s intense focus on his public image. He requested many of his workers, such as his librarian, to analyze what the press and people think of him. If something displeases him, he demands that the publisher or speaker of such thing shall be told so, and threatened if necessary. For example, he requested a certain statesman to stop publishing news harming the nation, but rather attack England. If something were to blemish his public image, they would be silenced, whether they be actors, writers, journalists, anyone who he felt was attacking him. He could exile people at will, no questions asked, as it was done quietly and stealthily, with very little trial. Books published could be suppressed if he found them disagreeable, or harmful to his or the country’s glory. He would pay very close attention to even the most subtle clues, and once he banned priests praising his victories, thinking they would also exaggerate his defeats. Not only would Napoleon punish those who wrote about him, but he would commemorate himself, changing plays, commissioning paintings, erecting statues and monuments to himself, even going as far as to writing articles about himself, which he published anonymously. He was very deceptive when it came to manipulating the people’s perception of him, which may be a cause of the modern idea of Napoleon being an enlightened despot. One of his most effective creations of propaganda was attaching falsehoods to the truth. In paintings, he would appear to be more majestic, brave, intelligent, and powerful than in reality. On the outside, it only appeared as if he was an amazing leader, however the ideas were mere fabrications of truth, pointing towards his tyrannic dictatorship.
In conclusion, Napoleon is a very deceitful, egotistical dictator who thirsted for power endlessly, as shown through his ignorance to France’s subjects, desire for glory in battle and control of land, and obsession over public image. He had been a seemingly great leader, with a great background, and legendary stories going along with him, but with an obscured secret history of his atrocities and true goals. Coming from very obvious false propaganda, his true ideals were engulfed in lies. Napoleon was a classic dictator, however his influence may have shaped his appearance far more than others, convincing many that he was a legendary leader, with pure goals that evidently did not exist. He clearly has shown, as like all other dictators, he had one goal in his mind. To conquer as much of the world as possible, and be remembered for generations to come.