en since Roman times. Through his military strategy prowess, Napoleon was able to come out as the victor in battles even if he was largely outnumbered. He quickly defeated almost every country from Spain to Russia. Although he did not add every country to France, he established many puppet monarchies that were loyal to him. To complement his influence around France, Napoleon also set up a series of alliances that loosely attached Russia, Prussia, and Austria to his empire.Although Napoleon's empire was great and powerful, it was extremely unstable due to Napoleon's lust for power and pride. He had too much power, for all his alliances and puppet governments were held together only by him and would deteriorate once he began to stumble. Napoleon believed that he could no be defeated. When the British decisively defeated his navy, he tried to stop their imports from coming in but only hurt his empire in doing so. Although Napoleon was at last defeated by the Grand Alliance, it was only accomplished because of his army's weakness after the Russian campaign. Napoleon tried attacking Russia but instead of meeting an army, he met the all-powerful weather of Russia. His army was decimated. Napoleon's lust for power had caused his downfall.Overall, Napoleon was one of the greatest men ever to rule a great empire. Both a military and political genius, he conquered most of Europe in only five years. He also introduced the ideas of meritocracy and equality for all before the law. Although Napoleon had a great lust of power that eventually brought his downfall, overall he was one of the greatest conquerors. He was only struck down by two obstacles: the Russian weather and lust for power. ...
