William Tyler
Napoleon: General and Emperor
Summary
Napoleon Bonaparte is a figure larger than life. To the British, he became a bogey man. Mothers warned their children that if they didn’t go to sleep ‘Old Boney would get them’. Yet when Napoleon reached the shores of England, en route for St Helena, the Authorities were so worried by his popularity that they forbade Napoleon to land, fearing mass support for him.
To the French, he was the great hero who had restored France to her rightful place in Europe and who had taken the concept of la gloire to new heights. Yet today his legacy is much criticised in France on account of the number of deaths involved in his campaigns, his restoration of slavery in the Caribbean and his patriarchal laws. The commemoration of his death in 2021 was a rather muted and certainly disputed event in his homeland.
Napoleon remains a gigantic historical figure not only for his enduring and profound effect on France, but on a wider Europe too.
William Tyler
William Tyler has spent his entire professional life in adult education, beginning at Kingsgate College in 1969. He has lectured widely for many public bodies, including the University of Cambridge and the WEA, in addition to speaking to many clubs and societies. In 2009, William was awarded the MBE for services to adult education, and he has previously been a scholar in residence at the London Jewish Cultural Centre.
Because we didn’t kill people like that. There was no, well, you couldn’t just kill somebody. It is possible that he might have been put on trial, but we don’t put people on trial until we reach 1945. The Kaiser was never put on trial. We simply wouldn’t have put a sovereign on trial. If you mean the allies in general, no, there was no procedures for that, and if you mean Britain, certainly not. And if we had, he would’ve been found innocent, I think.
Well, you’d have to ask him why he needed a coronation.
Well, the French would answer because of the 6 million dead. I don’t think I did put a negative. I’m sorry if you read it in that way. It was attempt to be a balanced approach. But when I was giving the negative, I was telling you how the French think of it today, which I think is important. But don’t say when you get to France, “think of his great victories.” That doesn’t go down well. It really doesn’t.