But it was also Napoleon. All his life, he was either on the battlefield or on his way to the battlefield. Although it has made great achievements, it has also greatly consumed France's national strength and brought heavy disasters to Europe.
You know, France won the first two anti-French wars and achieved extremely brilliant results:
Stabilized the revolutionary achievements and annexed Belgium and the left bank of the Rhine;
Italy and Holland were brought into their sphere of influence and became vassals of France.
It also formed alliances with Spain and Denmark, and basically controlled the coastline of Western Europe.
On the enemy side: Britain suffered heavy losses and had to stop fighting and sign the Amiens Peace Treaty; Austria was disabled, Russia and Britain fell out, and Prussia was weak.
It can be said that the European continent has ushered in a long-lost peace. After the victory, France took the throne of European hegemony and became a veritable European power.
Napoleon himself gradually changed from the famous "general Bonaparte" to the "first ruling" of France, ruling France.
Napoleon's talented military strength made him invincible on the battlefield. In the first or second anti-French war:
Expedition to Egypt and Italy, defeated the British-Austrian Coalition forces with weak forces in Toulon and other places. These successive victories made Napoleon's prestige in France soar and established the myth of Napoleon's invincible.
After three or four anti-French wars, Napoleon led France to win more with less:
Forcing the Habsburg family in Austria to dissolve the Holy Roman Empire and end the Millennium Empire; Prussia bowed to its knees and sent the queen to make peace; Russia was devastated and returned to the land of bitter cold to lick its wounds; Britain also returned to the island of Great Britain to survive, relying on the navy to protect itself.
These victories made Napoleon feel invincible, and the whole of Europe could not stop him.
After defeating the anti-French alliance for the fifth time, Napoleon was honored as Napoleon the Great by the French, just like Caesar and Alexander thousands of years ago. If you want to stop at a good time, this is the best time.
However, in the face of Russia flirting with Britain, Napoleon, who was extremely confident, ignored domestic opposition and insisted on an expedition. As a result, it was finally defeated by the cold, and none of the troops who returned to France were saved, which laid the foundation for the subsequent failure.
Napoleon's actions of restoring the status of Catholicism as the state religion in France, closing the political club to crack down on dissidents, being crowned emperor again, and sealing the nobility could not reflect his ambition.
At that time, Napoleon sent his relatives to various vassal States as kings, and showed his ambition incisively and vividly.
Napoleon used the slogan of liberating all ethnic groups in Europe, but what he did was to let Bonaparte rule the whole of Europe.
However, Napoleon won the throne and enfeoffed his relatives to rule the vassal States, not by blood and traditional theocracy and marriage, but by Napoleon's personal prestige and a series of military victories.
Therefore, in order to maintain his legitimacy, Napoleon must constantly expand his military strength, win victory and improve his personal prestige.
If Napoleon loses his victory and prestige, then other officers may take his place, because Napoleon broke the tradition of emphasizing bloodline and theocracy in France in the past.
Although the war is cruel, it can meet the interests of all walks of life in China and win their support, and so is Napoleon's expansion.
Officers and nobles: Military exploits can make them get promotion and honor, and booty and some small-scale plunder can also make them rich.
Ordinary soldiers: meritorious military service is the only way for them to move the social class. If they want to climb up, they can only do so. Moreover, Napoleon and his officers were mostly from the bottom, and they were willing to promote ordinary soldiers to become officers.
Bourgeois: The war made it gain huge economic benefits, such as all kinds of weapons, ammunition and uniforms needed by Napoleon's army. The factory owner made a fortune by providing these materials. Napoleon's expansion allowed these capitalists to annex the industries of their foreign counterparts at extremely low prices.
Ordinary people: the victory of the war will greatly satisfy them, immerse them in the vanity of European hegemony, and be superior to other countries and full of pride.
It can be said that the promotion of interest classes, the struggle for European hegemony, Napoleon's own ambitions and other motives pushed France and Napoleon to the battlefield.
Although Napoleon was a natural commander-in-chief, the implementation of his strategy and tactics could not be separated from the excellent staff officers, brave officers and loyal generals trained by Bourbon Dynasty.
When Napoleon's ambition exceeded the actual strength of France, he insisted on an expedition: those brave comrades withered in the cold of Russia, and the flowers of the French army watered by more than ten years of war also withered.
Therefore, Napoleon lost, lost nothing, and never went back to heaven.