Is Napoleon a totalitarian leader? On the issue of “pseudoscientific” discussions in historiography

Abstract

The article is devoted to the disputes that occur in historical research and especially in the media around the name and legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte. The author of this article focuses on “near-scientific” discussions related to the idea of Napoleon as a totalitarian leader, the predecessor of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century. Despite the fact that these “discussions” sometimes do not have a scientific character, they have a great public response, because they are actively heated by the media. Based on the analysis of the works of Anglo-Saxon and French authors, the article traces the origins of ideas about Napoleon as a totalitarian leader, and also analyzes the reasons for the appearance of such “theories”.

Keywords

• napoleon bonaparte
• historiography
• totalitarianism
• adolf hitler
• mass media
• thierry lentz
• jean tulare