As a child of the Enlightenment and a son of the French Revolution, Napoleon was at the same time a traditional monarch, taking on all the display and paperwork of the monarchic traditions with a revolution bringing wide and long term changes to the regions under his rule. In declaring himself as an Emperor in 1804, Napoleon made all French citizens equal under the law and initiated fixed reforms such as the Napoleonic Code, which remains the basis for many of the world's legal systems. The educational system of lycees or high schools and universities that he promoted remains an important aspect of the French educational system. There is also the French financial system which still focuses on the Bank of France that he established. Besides, his crucial plan of creating a single, unified Europe was a revolutionary one. No one before him had seriously taken in consideration his idea, although he never did rule over the European continent. Napoleon left a mark on European geography. In the end, despite the efforts of the coalition of nations allied against Napoleon, Europe was only brought back to its pre- Napoleonic state.
Napoleon's history as a personality is just as great. Few leaders from the eighteenth century remain as well-known among the public today. Napoleon had kept Europe in a nearly constant state of war for two decades but his name as a hero hardly suffered. Napoleon's life of adventures, from his battles in Egypt to the Russian campaign then his escape from exile in 1815 to raise another French army and later on was again exiled, this time to distant Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died in 1821.
His relations with Josephine de Beauharnais his first wife, often show it as a passionate love affair when in reality both of them had lovers and Napoleon had their marriage annulled in order to marry the 18-year-old Austrian archduchess Marie Louise.
During his rule, Napoleon conquered most of Europe dictating alliances which allowed him to control the continent. Great Britain was never defeated and was the focal point of opposition. One of the most important effects of Napoleon's success in conquering Europe was the rise of modern nationalism. The French army spread the ideas of liberalism and nationalism which caused people to rise up against the French. All citizens united in order to protect their land from the French invader which caused the downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte.