Representing "Civ X"...

[Panag]

Originally posted by Wernazuma III


Don't worry, I'm sorry for being too aggressive towards a newbie.
And yes, Napoleon wanted to imitate the roman imperial arches. It was the time of a pseudo-renaissance, commbined with rising Imperialism - like Rome brought civilization to the barbarians, the French brought the modern ideals of the revolution (minus the democracy thing )to the rest of Europe, which still lived under the repressive ancien regime...

hi ,

indeed "napi" did a great deal of things for the people where he installed his own government , school's , freedom of speech (!) basic law , minimum wages , etc , ..... not to mention that where they came they put up a type of federal police , .....

we can argue about his mishaps and they way he did things but for europe it's a good thing in the end , ...

have a nice day

[Wernazuma III]

Originally posted by panag

hi ,

indeed "napi" did a great deal of things for the people where he installed his own government , school's , freedom of speech (!) basic law , minimum wages , etc , ..... not to mention that where they came they put up a type of federal police , .....

we can argue about his mishaps and they way he did things but for europe it's a good thing in the end , ...

have a nice day

Don't get me wrong, I basically agree with this, Napoleon really brought the age of reason to many parts of Europe which were stuck in absolutist regimes and medieval thinking.
I just felt that I have to add that today we wouldn't sign his mistrust in democracy, which, of course, was also understandable considering the experiences after the French revolution - Napi must have really felt the same what late Roman Republic politicians like Caesar thought, facing the incapability of Republican structures (not that Rome was a democracy before Caesar though). And furthermore I think that conducting his "mission civilatrice" with force and bathing in blood was not wise. When people aren't ready, you won't do any good, just get staunch fundamentalist opposition. The effect of Napoleon - the Restitution, even more severe censorships etc.
Forced change from outside is very dangerous. Like Americans today often feel they have to export their democracy and freedom to many parts of the world. While we can also discuss if the American model is really that good or not, most people will see that it's much more favorable than, say, Saddam's regime or even worse, the freaking Taliban, but still the question remains if it's a good idea to force a change for which people aren't ready... Change should come from inside where possible IMHO.