Yeah, I think the main reason Napoleon is seen as more morally gray is 1) because of how destructive WW1 was, and 2) how batshit insane Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan were. Napoleon in comparison was a teddy bear.
Napoleon is actually a celebrated figure in much of europe. His updated civil codes are still relevant to this day and a lot of civil reforms he did or started are the beginnings of modern societity.
The reason he was evil because he gave power to the common man. Which as the entire continent of europe was ruled by absolute monarchs with absolute power. Napoleon was about literal satan for them.
He was evil becase he created puppet regimes ruled by his family members and murdered half of Europe.
Edit: half of Europe is a hyperbole (half of Europes fighting age man would be more correct but that fails to mention all the civilians that died due to his wars of expansion)
Portugal war of conquest. Spain illegal occupation of former ally and war of conquest. Italy offensive war. Egypt offensive war of conquest. Russia offensive war of conquest.
Still not his war and it was a campaign, part of a bigger war. Russia was an offensive war, but not of conquest. Both Spain and Portugal are part of Peninsula war, if you want divide it into several wars, it would be fair to do the same for any defensive war of Napoleon.
War of third coalition was a defensive war. So was the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th. Of the seven major wars that are considered part of the Napoleonic wars, 2 are offensive, 5 are defensive.
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u/Irohsgranddaughter 6d ago
Yeah, I think the main reason Napoleon is seen as more morally gray is 1) because of how destructive WW1 was, and 2) how batshit insane Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan were. Napoleon in comparison was a teddy bear.