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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   27552 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 27, 2023

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IMO it's futile to try and pronounce a definitive judgement of the man and his deeds when, as you noted, he's so distorted by controversy and propaganda.

He may have been controversial 200 years ago, but these days very few people care enough about those events to pass value judgements. Not even in France:

When it comes to how France should remember Napoleon, the most common response is “he should be marked as a notable historical figure in a neutral or balanced fashion”, at 49%. One in eight (13%) say he should be celebrated, while only 2% say he should be condemned – although a further 8% say he should not be remembered at all.

This is, of course, the natural course of historiography both popular and academic. Few care enough to pass strong value judgements even on more recent figures like Wilhelm II. It is only those events that have developed into Manichean foundation myths, such as the Civil War and World War II, which grow more black and white over time, and each generation is regarded as reprobate by the next one for being too nuanced.

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