The story of how the scion of a obscure Corsican family became ruler of France at the age of 30, its first Emperor at 35 and in less than 15 years conquered half of Europe in the Mediterranean world is an extraordinary one. Was Napoleon the last of the warrior kings, the first of the modern dictators, or a Byronic hero pursuing an essentially personal ambition by lonely individual courage and genius? Was he the saviour or the destroyer of the ideals and achievements of revolutionary France? Napoleon is popularly remembered for his exploits on the field of battle. This book modifies that view. The author argues that his greatest conquest was not Europe but the French Revolution. His lasting monument is not the Arc de Triomphe or the Flags at the Invalids, but the laws and institutions in which he adapted the ideas of 1789 to the traditions of the monarchy, and enabled France to survive three invasions and a century and a half of political unrest.