Napoleon

Emperor Napoleon was not a man but a phenomenon! He was a rare combination of the visionary and the executor. Normally a dreamer does not have the executive faculty and the pragmatic man does not have the vision! But Napoleon had both.

The 20th century can be divided into the pre-napoleolinic era and the post- napoleonic era. Before Napoleon, Europe was a feudal society dominated by the Church and the barons. The majority of the people were a suppressed and poor lot.The society was primarily agrarian and there were frequent wars for supremacy. The French revolution inspired by the writings of Voltaire,Robespierre.Mirabeau and Danton overthrew the monarchy and set up the Republic. This naturally caused a great divide between France and the rest of the European powers who feared a threat to their very existence. They immediately joined ranks and the nascent Republic was threatened. At that point Napoleon arrived on the scene! He immediately organised the army,assuming supreme powers over France. He realized that if the Republic was to be saved. France would have to meet the challenges posed by the other European powers head-on. He immediately decided  decided to invade Italy.He defeated the Austrians and reached Rome.Now he decided to seize the British colonies in Asia and invaded Egypt.After defeating the Egyptians he returned to Paris and declared himself Emperor of France.He initiated treaties with Austria,Spain and Portugal who conceded all his demands.Napoleon's invasion of Russia was his undoing-the combined might of England and Russia was too much for the French armies and they were roundly defeated. Napoleon was imprisoned and exiled where he died at the age of 52.
Napoleon had consolidated the Revolution and Europe was never the same after him! The idea of liberty,equality and fraternity was firmly established in Europe and the powers of the Church and the Monarchy were drastically curtailed.