Was Napolean the heir of the French Revolution, the great consolidator of its reforms, or did he distort and even abandon its principles?. How radical and how lasting was his achievement in France and the Grand Empire more widely?. This book offers a synthesis of the central issues raised in that debate and critically assesses findings of historians during the past. Beginning with Napoleon's inheritance, and ending with his legacy, the author balances the conflicting evidence for continuity or changes, for the conservative or innovatory effects of Napoleonic rule, over the whole passage from the Revolutionary upheaval to the height of his Empire. He deals in turn with the civil and military foundations of the Napoleonic state, and looks beyond France to include the wars of conquest and the treatment of the annexed lands and subject states.