Steven Fisher's Reviews > Napoleon the Great

The Code Napoleon was based on the idea that laws must be based on common sense and equality rather than on custom, societal division and the rule of kings.
The Napoleonic Code was used by many nations who wanted to move towards modernization through legal reforms. It has been called one of the few documents to have influenced the whole world.
In 1797 Napoleon launched an expedition to seize Egypt with the aim to cut off British trade routes to India. Perhaps knowing of the countries rich heritage Napoleon brought along scientists, engineers and scholars popularly known as savants in his campaign. The resultant work would later lead to the publication of a 23 volume Description de l’Égypte (Description of Egypt) published between 1809 and 1829. But eclipsing this was the discovery of the Rosetta Stone by Captain Pierre François Bouchard during demolition of a wall in Rosetta. Written in hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek, Rosetta Stone eventually proved to be the cipher that cracked ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs leading to understanding of ancient Egyptian history and birth of the entire field of modern Egyptology.

This is what made Napoleon Bonaparte Great.