The Conqueror and the Code

Napoleon fought around sixty battles and lost only a handful, conquering most of Europe along the way — but his most lasting achievement was a legal document, not a military victory.

• Rose from Corsican obscurity through merit and revolutionary chaos
• The Napoleonic Code of 1804 still influences law in over seventy countries
• His Russian invasion began with 600,000 soldiers and returned fewer than 100,000
• The modern European state — centralized, bureaucratic, governed by written law — is his true legacy