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by ebonnafoux 217 days ago
> Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts

Napoleon kill the first French republic and actually reduce the size of territory control by France. Napoleon is IMO one of the most overrated historical figure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_%281815%29

1 comments

In terms of his impact on Europe and beyond, it's hard to find more influential people. There's a running joke on the History Matters Youtube channel: if you ask a question about European history post-Napoleon, there's a pretty good chance the answer starts with him.
He has a lot of impact it's true. But is he a figure to be inspired of ? I don't think so, his hubris kill more than 400k men (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_invasion_of_Russia).

One can argue that Hitler or Mao were also impactful people, but do we want to learn from them ?