Since all of “culture” was lying to me about Napoleon, what else are they lying about?

When I learned in the 90s that Napoleon was an ingenious romantic hero, I realized that the media in which I had been ensconced had been lying to me.

 

Since they were lying to me about something as tremendous as the greatest revolutionary leader of all time, they must have been lying to me about other things as well.

 

This project is the effort to unearth those lies. 

 

Why did they lie to us about Napoleon? 

 

These are the words of Napoleon that made me realize that he was a talent on par with the greatest minds who have ever lived. 

(I’m writing this from memory.)

”Not a day goes by without my loving you. 

“Not a night goes by without holding you in my arms. I curse the call to glory and ambition which wrench me from the soul of my life! If I fly from you with the speed of the River Rhône it is only to be again with you sooner . . .”

 

This screenshot below are the words of Caulaincourt on Napoleon. 

(Please enjoy Caulaincourt’s Memoirs of Napoleon below.)

https://youtu.be/PUvUdq551YU?list=PLeJCvClnhzjj-KIRi759Nt5dbonlGyJ1p

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Napoleon liked to attend masquerades dressed as a domino.

We’ve been listening to Hortense tear into Napoleon for hundreds of pages where he clearly has been failing to match her ultra high standards. 

 

Yet he was, for the most part, awfully sweet and tender with her - and he heaped diamonds on her. 

 

He pushed her to marry into his family and to take his name.

 

Napoleon somewhat encouraged the widespread rumor that he was actually the biological father of her sons. 

 

Napoleon designated Hortense’s son Crown Prince of France.

 

Napoleon gave Hortense the throne of Holland which she didn’t even want. Napoleon also decreed her Regent - the ruler in her own right. 

 

Napoleon cried and begged Hortense not to abandon him despite the fact that he divorced her mother. 

 

Napoleon told Hortense she was lucky he was taking paternal responsibility for her children. 

 

Napoleon told Hortense he expected she and her sons to join him in exile. 

 

Despite Hortense’s copious complaints and the fact that she did not join him in his exile, Hortense turned her home into a shrine dedicated to Napoleon’s memory and she raised her son to vindicate him. Which is exactly what Hortense’s son devoted himself to until he finally managed to take back France in Napoleon’s name.

 

It was very complicated. 

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Hortense’s son Louis Napoleon.  

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