Napoleon Bonaparte Tyrant

Born in 1769, Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the most famous people of French history. Being immersed in the military from the age of 9 and on, it is no wonder that he became one of, arguably, the best military leaders of all time. But, the question comes about, was Napoleon a hero or a tyrant? Along with the many good things that Napoleon did to help the people of France after the French Revolution, came some very, very bad things. In no time he went from being loved and adored by the people of France to being absolutely loathed. Some people argue that even with all the bad things that he did, Bonaparte was still a hero, but how can somebody who did so many terrible things still be a hero? Napoleon was a tyrant because of his belief in equality for only half of the
To many people it is seen as a great thing of equality for all the people of France but, while it declared “all” people equal it forgot one important group of the French society, the women. Before Napoleon, women were treated well and had some rights in France, they were not allowed to vote yes, but they had some rights. Napoleon comes in with his “equality” code and completely strips the women of all the rights that they had. He was very religiously tolerant in his code but he excluded a huge part of society. It would be one thing if the women hadn’t had rights before he came in but power savvy Napoleon completely disrespects the women of the time by not even acknowledging them as people and stripping them of the little rights they had in the first place. The Napoleonic Code makes no distinctions between all males, but excludes women in its law (Whitman, James). A tyrant is defined as “a sovereign or other ruler who uses power oppressively or unjustly” (“the definition of a tyrant”). With the Napoleonic Code Napoleon uses his power to unfairly and unjustly oppress the French women of the