"Called by many the most enlightened of despots and a true son of Voltaire, he believed in talent and valued loyalty. A skeptic and a pragmatist, he sought to keep the absolute authority of the ancien régime without the wasteful trappings of the old nobility. With this aim in mind he carefully reintegrated the Catholic Church, seeing it as a tool to unify and control the population. A man who did not look kindly on independent thinkers, Napoleon put a ban on political clubs and did not hesitate to banish those who opposed him."
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I see there are many books about Josephine and her relationship to Napoléon, any advise on reading?
With this aim in mind he carefully reintegrated the Catholic Church, seeing it as a tool to unify and control the population.
Indeed a political tool, he himself controlling the church and telling the church what to preach, this led him into confrontation with the Pope. Boney should have a sort of church of France.
Hmmm. The piece has four paragraphs and one of them is exclusively about Napoleon and his character with no mention of women at all…