Napoleon: the transition from enlightened despots to modern dictators.

<Tab/>An absolute monarch or ruler of a people can be what one considers an enlightened despot, or a ruler that makes good laws and promotes human happiness with them. It has been said about the great conqueror and emperor Napoleon Bonaparte that he is the last of the enlightened despots, but others say he is the first of the modern dictators. There is substantial evidence to argue both sides in …showed first 75 words of 645 total…

…showed last 75 words of 645 total…be followed by the people. Napoleon set up a very fair legal system for his own people as an enlightened despot would do, yet he forced this system, however good it was, onto other nations that he conquered, as a modern dictator would. As you can see he has solid characteristics of both an enlightened despot and a modern dictator, he is most accurately referred to as the transition between enlightened despots and modern dictators.