Bonjour,

Napoleon is such a well-known individual, but most of my memories about the man were that he was a French military leader. My biggest memory was that he lost the Battle of Waterloo (which was 200 years ago). But as we traveled around France, we heard many stories about the man and his accomplishments. His bigger accomplishments came as the political leader of France. He rose to prominence during the French Revolution. Among other things, Napoleon established a system of public education, he centralized state power at the expense of religious power, he emancipated many minorities including the Jews, he implemented many reforms and legal protections for the middle class, and he established the so-called Napoleonic Code which was a set of civil laws that have been adopted, at least in part, by dozens of countries around the world.

Here are some other things that our guides attributed to Napoleon.

1. Most of France’s main roads and many minor roads are lined with Plane Trees (Sycamores). Napoleon had these trees planted to provide shade for his troops when they marched in the heat.

2. Old Paris was much like the other old central cities in France that we saw. It had very narrow streets that were easy for people to block, stopping the entrance of invaders or the local authorities.

3. Napoleon removed much of old Paris and established what is seen today with its wide avenues and streets where his army could march and patrol without the hindrance of narrow streets.

4. Napoleon established the Les Invalides as a home for old soldiers. Napoleon is buried there.

5. One other thing that Napoleon instituted was the baguette, as the shape for French bread. He did this so that his soldiers could carry a loaf of bread in their britches. The French must have their bread.

As a sidelight to this last item, our Paris guide told us that “we must try a French hot dog”. We thought she was kidding, but we decided to search one out to see if she was serious. This photo is of a handful of French hot dogs. They bake a baguette with a hot dog inside and then cover it with enough cheese for about four large cheese pizzas. We never tried one but they look fantastic.

Voila,

Bill