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France 24
France 24
Politics
Joanna YORK

Moderniser, warmonger, despot: Napoléon’s complicated legacy

Napoleon Bonaparte Ridley Scott France Europe Joaquin Phoenix FRANCE 24 Paris
A statue of French emperor Napoléon Bonaparte in Casone Square in his birth city of Ajaccio, Corsica, photographed on March 15, 2021. © Pascal Pochard, AFP

The historical French leader has captivated imaginations around the globe for centuries as the subject of books, films, songs and poems. As a new biopic directed by Ridley Scott is set to further embellish Napoléon Bonaparte's legend, the reality of his legacy is more complicated.

In France, Bonaparte goes by two nicknames: “the Eagle” among those who laud him as a military genius and force for modernisation throughout Europe, and “the Ogre” by those who see him as a warmongering megalomaniac with a callous disregard for human suffering.

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