'Napoleon's genius lay in the creation of his own myth.' Discuss.

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‘Napoleon’s genius lay in the creation of his own myth.’ Discuss

“Napoleon dominated the imagination of the 19th century to an even greater extent than Hitler dominated that of the 20th”1. Historians such as Goethe have gone as far to claim “his life was the stride of the demigod”2. The central debate must be then are these perceptions of ‘greatness’ justified due to Napoleons military achievements or are they a product of Napoleonic propaganda and his ability to create a sustainable myth that would surround him throughout his career and infiltrate into the centuries to come. I will argue that Napoleon saw image and perception essential to his process of centralising power and gaining complete control of France and eventually Europe, so therefore his genius inevitability lay in his ability to master the art of propaganda.

While image and the manipulation of media sources are a common feature of twentieth century society, this was not the case when Napoleon was actively seeking to gain political supremacy in France. “Napoleon Bonoparte was the first non-monarch to realise the limitless possibilities of propaganda”3. Napoleons rise to power in France was unparalleled and “from as early as 1796, Bonaparte actively fostered the creation of his public image, transforming an unknown Corsican general into a political force of rivalling the government of France”4. In this sense the creation of a positive public image enabled Napoleon to gain the popular support he needed, as Napoleon had actually achieved very little by this time, but people perceived him to be the ‘saviour’ of France. It was during the formative period that Napoleon learned his craft as a propagandist and honed his skills as a manipulator of public opinion.

Napoleon had created a propaganda structure during the Italian campaign of 1796 and then built upon this “through conscious manipulation of dispatches, correspondence, medallions and especially of the press, Napoleon created for himself the image of revolutionary hero5”. It was his ability to exaggerate his successes and taking advantage of every opportunity to keep his name associated with victorious and heroic action. Napoleon owned two influential newspapers at this time the l’armie d’Italie and La France Vue De L’Armee and “without these news sheets, Napoleon might not have returned from Italy so overwhelmingly famous”6. These papers largely reached the different classes of French society and relayed the events of the Italian campaign back to them, but from the perspective of Napoleonic dominance.

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Napoleons style was often unique and focusing on his 14 April 1796 dispatch “one discovers that Bonoparte’s talent for dramatic and descriptive writing lay in emphasising the decisive nature of his victories”7. His style was simple, it was forceful, dramatic and achieved its purpose of gaining the attention of the French public.

It was not just the use of the popular press that enabled Napoleon to return from Italy so overwhelmingly popular amongst the French public. “Napoleon supplemented his efforts by carefully timing the arrival of his captured art or “trophies of conquest”8. This essentially acted to amplify ...

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