Napoleon Op ed: The Tyrant What defines a hero, what defines a tyrant? Napoleon Bonaparte was a ruler of the French shortly after they rebelled against their king for being a weak and greedy ruler. Napoleon joined the military at a very young age and rose quickly through the ranks. Later in his life he fought in favor of the revolution and took dictatorship afterwards. Some might misinterpret Napoleon as a hero but when analyzing correctly, he is clearly a tyrant. Napoleon Bonaparte was a tyrant because his only intention in ruling was to receive power and he did this when the people were most vulnerable, after the revolution. Even though he fought for the rebellion, he later crowned himself king when he was ruling. This act was very controversial to the ideas of the revolution because the rebellion was about limiting the king’s power and giving more power to the lower class men. He unfairly took away the power from the lower class men for his own selfishness of obtaining absolute power. These people deserve more freedom for all they have fought and sacrificed for. He also fought in many wars and craved to expand his territory for his own selfish deeds not …show more content…
He censored and manipulated the press so the people would only read the good things about him and not the bad. This is unfair to everyone because they are being manipulated on their opinions by not being exposed to the truth and figuring out whether or not Napoleon is a good leader. He also reinstates slaves which demonstrates his view on power: that not everyone is equal and there are those above others with absolute power over them. This is much similar like the relation of a slave owner to his slave. In Napoleon’s case, the people were to chose their leader but how can they know all the qualities of Napoleon if he hid the bad ones from the press. Only a tyrant views power in such way and would restrict the people’s thoughts in order to give him