Napoleon and Europe revisited

This article outlines the main themes of my book Napoleon's Integration of Europe (1991). Napoleonic France and Europe constituted an inseparable whole, through the ambitions of the French political class to impose an administrative prism of rational, modernising reforms on what were perceived as less developed societies. Such a study implied a dual dimension: the ideals and practices of the Imperial administration, and their impact on the subject populations. Criticisms of the book are grouped into four categories which are addressed in turn: the importance attached to Napoleon's personality and role; the implications, for analysis and interpretation, of the choice of archival sources-prefectoral and civil administration rather than police or judicial records; the influence of the Napoleonic model of administration beyond France, particularly in Germany; the possibility of treating the Grand Empire with its dependent states as a single phenomenon. Finally, it is worth noting that in the decade since publication of the book the deeper legacies of the Napoleonic model have barely attracted the attention of historians.