In the 1990s I wrote how Napoleon came across as a sort of anomaly when one compares him with the Holy Roman Empire’s emperors which I inserted into the book The Great German Nation (2007). But so were Mussolini and Hitler. Careful analysis found that he ‘ticked the boxes’ when it came to him qualifying as a successor to the Roman system.
In this article I attempt to:
– Demonstrate that Napoleon was a sort of Roman Emperor with some links to the Holy Roman Empire which inspired his legitimacy. In some ways he breaks the mold, but in others he fulfills the Roman-Beast continuum;
– Explore his similarities to the various aspects of the Roman, Holy Roman and the German Empires of both world wars and therefore his Biblical Beast-like credentials.
First of all, a little background to the Dictator – which is a mere outline of the vast amount of historical data and hundreds of works available.4
He was born in 1769 on the island of Corsica of nobility (his family was conferred Noble status) – that same year Corsica was made a province of France). At the age of 9 he was sent to the Royal Military School, Brienne and by 1785 he had graduated as a second lieutenant. Thereafter he involved himself in readings in geography and history which added to his body of knowledge and intellectual prowess. His mother not only gave birth to a future emperor, but also to 3 kings and a queen and 2 princesses (ibid, p. 7).
““Men of genius are meteors destined to be consumed in illuminating their century”, wrote the then as yet unknown Napoleon in 1791, but it was not until his first military victories as commander in charge in Italy that Napoleon started to think of himself as one of them.” (M. Prutsch, Caesarism in the Post-Revolutionary Age, p. 22).
By 1793 he became a Brigadier-General in the French army and in 1795 Chief of the Army of the Interior. In 1797 he gained enormous popularity due to his commanding of the French army in victory over the Austrians.
“I am of the race that founds empires” he claimed (Andrew Roberts, Napoleon the Great, p. 4).
Although he was exiled to the island of Elba, he managed to escape back into France in 1815, raise a new army and attempt to take back his empire. But in June of 1815 the armies of Wellington resoundingly defeated him and he was exiled to the small island of Saint Helena in the south Atlantic. He died in frustration in 1821 while the British Empire continued to expand and grow in power and prosperity.
This 44 page booklet is free and can be downloaded here: Napoleon
