I've been reading and watching a lot on Napoleon lately (thank you for the recommendations on my last post). But I find myself genuinely conflicted, and I'd really like your views, because I'm not sure he was...well...a...good man.
The achievements are real, I get that (a brilliant strategist, for example). But a few things I can't set aside: he reinstated slavery in 1802, reversing its 1794 abolition (at the exact moment Britain was moving the other way). He ordered the execution of thousands of Ottoman prisoners of war at Jaffa who had already surrendered. The Russian campaign killed around 400,000 of his own men, driven substantially by his own pride and miscalculation. He systematically used the press to inflate his success (even when he failed(?) like in the middle east area). It seems very Machiavellian.
Maybe I should think that ...'greatness' and 'goodness' aren't the same thing. Am I weighing this wrong?
Genuine intrigue and honesty from me here... Just wanting to learn.