Napoleon had grandiose foreign policy ambitions across Europe and the Americas.
In the political realm, historians debate whether Napoleon was 'an enlightened despot who laid the foundations of modern Europe' or 'a megalomaniac who wrought greater misery than any man before the coming of Hitler'. Bonaparte Crossing the Alps, realist version by Paul Delaroche in 1848 Legacy and evaluation Harsh criticism The Third of May 1808 by Francisco Goya, attacks Napoleon by showing Spanish resisters being executed by his brutal soldiers. The large and steadily expanding historiography in French, English, Russian, Spanish and other languages has been summarized and evaluated by numerous scholars.
Napoleon Crossing the Alps, romantic version by Jacques-Louis David in 1805įrench emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) has a highly polarized legacy-Napoleon is typically loved or hated with few nuances.
