Comment on Vive la révolution! Vive l'Empereur!
PugJesus@piefed.social 2 weeks agoBy 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.
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.
PugJesus@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
In Napoleon’s own reflections written during his exile on St. Helena…
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.
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.
PugJesus@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Yep. One of my ‘favorite’ Napoleon moments is when he falsified the already-vastly-in-favor plebescite to make him Emperor to an even more ridiculously-in-favor degree for the sake of his own ego.