A Russian Ridicules Napoleon NYPL, Slavic and Baltic Division

Unquestionably, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) was the dominant personality in this period. A poor, petty noble from the island of Corsica, he was trained as an artillery officer in France on the eve of the revolution. Impressive victories in the Italian campaign of 1796–97 and the highly dramatic, albeit unsuccessful, expedition to Syria and Egypt made him so popular that he seized power from the weak and corrupt Directoire in November 1799. As First Consul he initiated institutional reforms and innovations that consolidated the basic social and economic gains of the revolution; however, rejecting democratic political values, he instituted an efficient bureaucratic and authoritarian regime. Creating an educational system open to talent, he reinvigorated the state apparatus by attracting the sons of the bourgeoisie and peasants.

Napoleon crowned himself emperor in 1804. By constantly waging war to become master of Europe, he overextended himself and was ultimately defeated at Waterloo (1815). He died a prisoner of England on the island of St. Helena in 1821. For many, however, he was the architect of France's glory and the carrier of the message and innovations of the Revolution of 1789. His legend became a powerful force for liberalism and nationalism.