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HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

THANK YOU. mind if i save your comment and refer people here next time i say “hey, napoleon was not that great?”

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PugJesus@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
By all means. Napoleon was certainly a complex figure. While he shows the dangers of autocracy and ambition, he also was, probably, a genuine believer in Enlightenment-era ideals, while many of the anciens regimes against him were positively feudal.

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- HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  it is nice getting good information from y’all who know history better than me. like, my minor prepared me to understand y’all, but not necessarily to figure it out on my own.
  
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  - PugJesus@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    In Napoleon’s own reflections written during his exile on St. Helena…
    
    War is becoming an anachronism; if we have battled in every part of the continent it was because two opposing social orders were facing each other, the one which dates from 1789, and the old regime. They could not exist together; the younger devoured the other. I know very well, that, in the final reckoning, it was war that overthrew me, me the representative of the French Revolution, and the instrument of its principles. But no matter! The battle was lost for civilization, and civilization will inevitably take its revenge. There are two systems, the past and the future. The present is only a painful transition. Which must triumph? The future, will it not? Yes indeed, the future! That is, intelligence, industry, and peace. The past was brute force, privilege, and ignorance. Each of our victories was a triumph for the ideas of the Revolution. Victories will be won, one of these days, without cannon, and without bayonets.
    
    His ambition and massive ego made him into a tyrant, but he was certainly in opposition to an older and worse feudal tyranny that had ruled Europe for centuries.
    
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    HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    yeah, sometimes people judge historical figures by their enemies and Napoleon is one of those. He was a tyrant but a lot of people think he was great because he fought against monarchies. like, a despot is still bad even if they have worse enemies is kind of my point.
    
    then we look at politics today and say “well they all bad” and fail to apply the same “critical” thinking about history.
    
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