"What was Napoleon’s goal?" Topic

"What did Napoleon want to achieve? This question is less about Napoleon's goal in particular military campaigns than it is about his broader ambition. Did Napoleon have a lifelong aspiration or overarching aim? Was he pursuing a series of specific objectives? Or was he simply responding to circumstances, with no particular goal in mind?

It can be hard to know what our own motivations are, let alone those of someone who died over 200 years ago. Napoleon talked about the difficulty of trying to determine one's intentions. He said that, when writing about him, even people who worked with him would "have to state not so much what really existed, as what they believe to have existed; for which of them ever possessed the entire general conception of my mind? … However…they would have the advantage over me: for I should very frequently have found it most difficult to affirm confidently what had been my whole and entire thoughts on any given subject." (1)

The task of deciphering Napoleon's goals is complicated by the fact that he was a master of propaganda who played a prominent role in writing and editing his own story. From an early stage in his career, Napoleon used letters, military dispatches, and other means to exaggerate his triumphs and conceal – or blame others for – his failures. His writings and reported remarks are voluminous and contain many contradictions. During the final years of his life, when he was in exile on St. Helena, he dictated memoirs that portrayed his actions and intentions in the best possible light. He often tried to give a consistency to his aims that might not have been present at the time. This means that we cannot necessarily take Napoleon's word for what he was trying to achieve, especially when that word came after the fact. We can, however, look at things that Napoleon said earlier in his life about his goals and ambition. We can also look at what some of the historians who have tried to answer this question have said…"

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Armand

Ahh keep his head on his shoulders?

As he himself once said "I lose one battle and I am lost, if you kings lose you are still Kings" Or something to that effect.

Also maybe to play off other countries as well as his Marshals?

To crush the enemy.
To drive them before him.
And to hear the lamentation of de vimmin!

I suspect Napoleon's ultimate objective changed over time.

As First Consul, he seems primarily concerned with securing the gains of the Revolution while establishing France as the dominant power in Europe.

After Austerlitz, however, success bred greater ambition. I think his assuming the title "Emperor" makes his ambitions clear.

Each victory made another seem possible. By 1812 he appears less like a statesman pursuing defined political goals and more like a gambler convinced that one more victory would solve every problem.

Perhaps his greatest weakness was that he never developed a convincing "end state." He knew how to win wars. He was less certain about when to stop winning them.