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Napoleon was a great general: One of Historys' great commanders. Much of his achievement in the time between 1796 & 1815 is down to one single factor, he is a great leader. His leadership qualities are outstanding in both the military sense & in the governance of the new republic. The Code Napoleon is still, in many ways, a main part of French law. He revolutionises warfare: It wasn't called it then, but the Blitzkreig is a Napoleonic facet, the breaking of the enemy line by a battering ram, a mass colunmn, which disrupts the enemy dramatically. The manouvering before Ulm in 1805 is well executed and mystifying to the Austrian defenders: Austerlitz follows and the Austro/Russian force is crushed, then follows Jena/Auerstadt & Prussia is humbled, in 1806. And this then sets the tone of the mastery of continental Europe at the start of the 19th century. If generalship is what drives you then Napoleon is as good as any really, given that warfare is a means of influencing the lives of others in the most basic way. The destruction of the enemy is what he does devastatingly, as well in the years to come, of his own forces. The comparison with Wellington is striking in this way, but of course Wellington was commanding an army, Napoleon was an Emperor! What if Blucher doesn't arrive at Waterloo ? & all else is conjecture.....

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17y ago

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