I disagree.

Frederick the Great's taking of Silesia, a large territory, certainly defines Prussia's ambitions in Germany as early as 1740 which sparked a major war. Frederick's 'treatment' of Saxony was one of the most extreme examples of the devastation of a country in Europe, probably surpassing anything during the Napoleonic period. The partition of Poland by Austria, Prussia, and Russia in the 1790s is another example of the expansion of European empires before the French Revolution.

Napoleon continued this European practice during the Napoleonic Wars with the addition of introducing liberal reforms such as the Code Civil, the abolition of feudal rights and serfdom (at least in western Europe), basic civil rights, religious freedom, equality before the law, etc.

Further, in most of the German states, at least the major ones such as Bavaria, Saxony, Wurttemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Baden, Napoleon generally left their internal affairs alone. They were not client states, but allies.