The material presented was undoubtedly cherry-picked and there is a definite group of people who will vehemently disagree with anyone who presents anything positive or sympathetic to Napoleon, no matter how well documented.

No other European ruler of the period instituted the long-lasting reforms for their respective countries than Napoleon. That is fact and it is generally overlooked among those who only look for derogatory information on the Emperor.

What else is overlooked is that most of Napoleon's wars as head of state were defensive-he didn't start them beginning with the Amiens breach. What else is deliberately overlooked is that all of the major powers were expanding empires and that would inevitably end in fighting. Prussia and Austria both wanted to be dominant in Germany and Austria also wanted Italy. Russia wanted Poland, Finland, and the Dardenelles. Great Britain wanted Egypt and as many colonies as she could grab and a 'balance of power' on the continent, and that meant no French hegemony or expansion on the continent. Great Britain also launched a useless and expensive and failed expedition to Buenos Aires, attacked Denmark without provocation twice (and the second included a terror bombardment of Copenhagen which was deliberate), and was at least partially responsible for 40,000 Portuguese who died of sickness or starvation during and after the withdrawal to the Lines of Torres Vedras. And she also engaged in a useless war with the United States which caused considerable embarrassment at sea and on land in 1814-1815.