Napoleon was a far more complex figure than you give him credit for, and reducto ad Hitleram is a very poor rhetorical tactic anyway. While I wouldn't hold him

Napoleon was a far more complex figure than you give him credit for, and reducto ad Hitleram is a very poor rhetorical tactic anyway. While I wouldn't hold him up as some kind of perfect hero, his legacy in a lot of parts of Europe, from east to west, was one of a progressive reformer who brought a powerful civil law code with him[0]. [0]: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n24/edward-luttwak/a-damned-nice-thing http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n24/edward-luttwak/a-damned-nice-th...