Napoleon was close to winning Waterloo, then a fresh army arrived. On St. Helena, Napoleon admitted that there was no way he could’ve reigned all that long in the midst of the European autocrats who controlled that turf. The story of Napoleon is fascinating because we can see what would happen if that class of rulers were challenged. What would they do? Through listening to one memoir after another, a person can learn all the methods through which the sovereignty of the people is systematically destroyed.
The memoirs are available here.