EPISODE 521    NAPOLEON SAID ‘MEN ARE RULED  BY TOYS’ (assume the same applies to women)

alan skeoch

Jan. 27, 2022

Napoleon was one of the great men of history.  That is true whether you like him or not.   His imagination of a

united Europe after the turmoil of the French Revolution is one of the great ‘could have beens’ of the those years 

1799 to 1815.   He failed.  But there is no doubt he was a great leader of human beings, with the exception of his wife.

He was not locked in by the idea of a privileged hierarchy based on blood.  An aristocracy.  After battle came promotions based on

another of his comments.  “Give me the lucky men.”  promotions from private to officer occurred without regard to blood or rising through

the ranks.   Ability was rewarded of course.  But promotion was not limited to that.

 When he coined his comment the ‘Men are ruled by toys.’, he was 

not being cynical.  He believed that achievements should be recognized by medals.   (medals = toys).

Thousands and thousands of men from a variety of ethnic groups loved him. .. Were prepared to die for him.  

And many thousands did die for him capped off by his 1812 retreat from Moscow.  He invaded Russia with a 600,000

strong army.  He returned with a fragment of that army.  His marshalls remained loyal

none more true than Marshall Ney who Napoleon assigned the job of rear guard in the horrific retreat where men

ate slabs of their still living horses.  A brutal time.

But who remembers Napoleon today?

Have you ever heard of the Legion of Honour?   Napoleon was involved.   Men are ruled by toys.

We have the ORDER OF CANADA for similar reasons…perhaps dating back to Napoleon.

Napoléon Bonaparte > Quotes > Quotable Quote

“You tell me that class distinctions are baubles used by monarchs, I defy you to show me a republic, ancient or modern, in which distinctions have not existed. You call these medals and ribbons baubles; well, it is with such baubles that men are led. I would not say this in public, but in a assembly of wise statesmen it should be said. I don’t think that the French love liberty and equality: the French are not changed by ten years of revolution: they are what the Gauls were, fierce and fickle. They have one feeling: honour. We must nourish that feeling. The people clamour for distinction. See how the crowd is awed by the medals and orders worn by foreign diplomats. We must recreate these distinctions. There has been too much tearing down; we must rebuild. A government exists, yes and power, but the nation itself – what is it? Scattered grains of sand.”

― Napoléon Bonaparte

History of the Legion of Honor

The Legion of Honor was founded on May 19, 1802, by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, in a hostile context. After lengthy discussions at the Council of State, it was adopted by 56 votes for and 38 against by the Tribunat, and 166 votes for and 110 against by the Corps législatif (legislative body).

The new institution was part of the extensive program to reorganize the State, along with the Civil Code, the Conseil d’Etat (Council of State), the Court of Auditors, the prefects and the grandes écoles (specialized national elite schools).

Napoleon Bonaparte was aware of the need to restore a comprehensive system of rewards, inspired by ancient honorific orders swept away by the Revolution, but respectful of equality among citizens.

Napoleon Bonaparte pursued three visionary objectives:

• Reconciling the French, exhausted by a decade of political instability and military conflicts
• Reuniting them around a common ideal: individual honor and national honor
• Uniting the courage of military personnel with the talents of civilians, as the strong symbol of a powerful and unified State.

What the creation of the Legion of Honor heralded was important: no privileges, no exemptions, no remuneration, but the recognition only of individual merit, acquired and not transmitted.