Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France: Maligned Lone Hero of the Enlightenment or tyrannical despot?

May 2021 marks the bicentenary of the death of French Emperor and ethnic Corsican, Napoleon Bonaparte. A military and political genius and champion of the French Revolution, he has been much maligned by history as a dictator, and precursor for Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini and other modern despots by victorious British, Bourbon and other European monarchies. Napoleon’s achievements both on and off the battlefield changed the course of world history and ultimately, drove the reforms and changes that were to improve the quality of life and futures of countless nameless peasants and disenfranchised people across Europe and the New World. And yet, he is continuously described as “controversial”, racist, misogynist and an evil megalomaniac by biased historians viewing his life from their own narrow perspectives and political agendas.