Napoleon is smart—smart enough not to play much of a role in the initial rebellion. It's only after the animals have rebelled that he takes a leadership role. When we meet Napoleon, we learn that he is "a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar … not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his way" (Chapter 2 page 2). In other words, despite being his silence, he gets what he wants.
That’s not to say that Napoleon is in any way interested in democratic elections. He prefers to operate through cruelty and treachery. For example, Napoleon's first eyebrow-raising act comes when he unleashes his private dog army on Snowball. When Napoleon takes nine puppies from their parents and begins raising them himself, no one knows why until
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And there's no such thing as forgive-and-forget on Animal Farm, after these false confessions, "the dogs promptly tore their throats out" (Chapter 7 page 25).
Napoleon's preferred method of execution is to have his dogs tear out throats. Aside from being callous and repugnant, this was Orwell's way of getting in a reference to Stalin. Napoleon forces the animals to tell lies about themselves before they die and he makes them afraid to speak the truth—he robs them of free speech. Hence, tearing out their throats.
Almost as soon as Napoleon and Snowball seize power, Napoleon starts squirreling away the cows' milk all for himself. And then the pigs start sleeping in the humans' beds. And then they start drinking whiskey and having rowdy parties. By the end of the novel, Napoleon and Squealer wear human clothes and walk around on two legs. To make sure all of this isn’t questioned by the other animals, Napoleon keeps shifting the Commandments to make them say what he wants them to say. Squealer explains that the commandment didn't say that you couldn't sleep in a bed, only that you couldn't sleep in a bed with sheets. And it's not that you can't drink alcohol—you just can't drink it to