Napoleon Bonaparte was a towering figure in history. He seized power in the aftermath of the French Revolution, remade the country and conquered much of Europe. A single exile was not enough to keep him from threatening a long-standing power structure on the continent.

Joaquin Phoenix stars as the titular figure in the upcoming movie “Napoleon,” which opens in theaters on Nov. 22.

Florida State University Professor Rafe Blaufarb directs the Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution and has completed extensive research on the man, his impact and his era. He is available to speak to reporters looking for context on this imposing and controversial historical leader at rblaufarb@fsu.edu.

Blaufarb spoke about how the myth of Napoleon compares to the historical figure, his civil reforms and his drive for power:

Who was Napoleon, as a person and figure? How does the layman’s view of him compare to reality?
I think for most laypeople, Napoleon is, above all, a military genius. And he was. But more important than his military side is that Napoleon was a political animal. The man loved power. He sought it, he knew how to get it and he knew how to hold on to it.

He was more successful as a politician than as a military leader because in the end, he lost. But his political achievements and the reforms he enacted lasted. They still exist today and structure much of French public life and influence laws around the world.

What are some of the laws and institutions created by Napoleon that still affect us today?
The Napoleonic Code is a great example. That is part of his legacy of ending the French Revolution. It was a complete, coherent, unified uniform system of civil law. Civil law is that important part of the law that regulates everything that involves relations between people and their things. In other words, it regulates things such as inheritance, contracts, the sale and purchase of things — everything having to do with how people interact with each other in a normal, day-to-day context as well as how they interact with their stuff; that is, their money, contracts, buying and selling — that is civil law.

When Napoleon came to power, France was a legal jumble. Revolutionary laws had destabilized an already chaotic patchwork of local laws regarding things like inheritance or the rights of women to divorce. Things like that were all up in the air.

Napoleon established order in the civil sphere. Those changes were lasting. His military victories were so ephemeral, and ultimately, it’s his unbridled military ambition that brought him down, but even in defeat, his civil reforms and political reforms survive.

His influence extends beyond France. The Napoleonic Code, for example, was adopted by something like 20 countries around the world, including countries as far-flung as Japan, Iran before the Iranian Revolution, and many continental European countries.

What do we know about his personality? How do historians study the personality of a famous figure, when reality and myth may be mixed up?
He was a political animal. He loved power. He was motivated by the quest to have power, to hold power and to exercise power. He liked to dominate everyone around him. This is a bit of his downfall in foreign policy, because he wasn’t very good at coming up with compromises — you know, giving a little to enemies in order to live in peace in the future. He had to dominate everything that got in his way. It was Napoleon in charge or no one. And that’s because he loved power. He was consumed by the desire for power and he wanted to exercise it.

How do we know? We have 70,000 letters that he wrote in which he expresses some pretty harsh, dominating sentiments, sometimes toward conquered people and opponents. We also have memoirs and testimony from people who were in his life, for example, generals and the people in his imperial court. And they talk about this. Napoleon was in charge. He was incredibly dominating and powerful. He exuded a kind of influence. He could look at people apparently, give them a piercing look, and they would crumble. He was a man of power.

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A Florida State University historian and director of the Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution has earned a prestigious fellowship from the Newberry Library to research how early 19th-century European political culture was influenced by competing discourses on capitalism.

Rafe Blaufarb, professor of history and the Ben Weider Eminent Scholar in Napoleonic Studies, was awarded a long-term residential fellowship to support his project, “Moral Regeneration, Financial Crisis, and Capitalism in the French Revolution,” which investigates how the new political order created by the French Revolution was shaped by a clash between two different forms of capitalism. This research builds upon Blaufarb’s ongoing work on historical politics and the development of the modern state.

“Receiving this award is extremely gratifying, and having my project selected among applications from various disciplines and universities is concrete validation of the research I’m pursuing,” Blaufarb said. “This opportunity will give me access to the Newberry’s vast collection of French Revolutionary and Napoleonic newspapers and pamphlets. Taken together, the morale boost and research materials will go a long way towards allowing me to finish my project and write my next book.”

The Newberry Library, founded in 1887 as one of Chicago’s most historic cultural institutions, houses collections, programs, and exhibitions that cover more than six centuries of human history, ranging from the 15th century to the present. Researchers with long-term fellowships spend anywhere from four to nine months immersed in the Newberry collection, collaborating daily with the library’s network of historians, genealogists, visual and performing artists, writers, graphic designers, teachers and students.

Blaufarb joins the 2023-2024 Newberry Library long-term fellowship class alongside 10 other scholars from across the world. He is the fourth FSU researcher to earn such a fellowship from the library since 2006.

“Dr. Blaufarb is a gifted historian who constantly reimagines how to analyze the Age of Revolution (1750-1850),” said Jen Koslow, professor of history and department chair. “He seeks to challenge historical understandings about the ways in which the French Revolution and its aftermath changed people’s social, cultural, and intellectual lives. Blaufarb’s intellectual curiosity and scholarly tenacity make him a perfect fit for a Newberry Library Fellowship.”

Blaufarb’s project examines the forms capitalism has taken over the course of history. Early in the French Revolution, some leaders promoted a shift to productive capitalism, based on manufacturing and trade, and away from the existing financial capitalism, based on monetary speculation and national debt. Eventually, they implemented policies they thought would favor productive capitalism, such as reimbursing the public debt, ending government borrowing, and abolishing the stock market.

“Through the support of a Newberry Fellowship, I aim to illustrate how the French Revolution led to the association of capitalism with production and industry during the 19th and much of the 20th centuries,” Blaufarb said. “This is crucial to understanding the historical trajectory of capitalism as we know it today.”

Blaufarb earned his doctoral degree in 1996 from the University of Michigan and joined FSU’s faculty in 2006. Additionally, he is the author of several books on French history during the Age of Revolution. He has previously received grants from such esteemed institutions as the Mellon Foundation and Camargo Foundation.

As part of his fellowship, Blaufarb will live and work on his newest book in Chicago for four months. He will also participate in periodic seminars designed for Newberry Fellows to present their developing works and engage in review panels.

“The Newberry Library’s funding of Blaufarb’s research is an appreciated recognition of the strength in scholarship within both the Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution and the Department of History at Florida State University,” Koslow said.

To learn more about the Newberry Library and its fellowship program, visit newberry.org.

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