What a historian thinks about Napoleon is a massive reflection on the historian. The role of propaganda in the crafting of the story of Napoleon can never be denied. Many historians of Napoleon have been paid to distort his story.
As I grew up in the United States, I was greatly influenced by English propaganda and even while I was producing plays about Napoleon, I couldn’t see Napoleon’s true character correctly as I was just so indoctrinated to see him as a “tyrant”.
Now I am broadcasting the memoirs of people who knew Napoleon one after another and I am harassed every single day. I keep a record of this pattern of behavior at this site. The internet has made it easier than ever for people to manipulate “reality” from behind masks.
I say this not to engender sympathy but to say that if 200 years after the physical life of Napoleon, the honest truth is being suppressed to this degree - the truth about Napoleon is a really important topic.
My view of Napoleon has changed as I’ve changed. Essentially, it doesn’t really matter what historians think about Napoleon. As it is difficult to understand their motivations. To find out about Napoleon, I’d listen to the stories of those who knew him. The memoirists are really showing themselves in their memoirs but through that filter nonetheless, we always see the same Napoleon.
He was courageous, passionate, strict, cultured, funny, generous and a true patriot to France.
The memoirs can be found here: