: Napoleon saw himself as the successor to the Holy Roman Emperors and aimed to make Paris the "Fourth Rome".
: Barbero notes the irony that while Italy invaded Russia three times, Russian troops have only entered Italian soil once (in 1799 to fight the French), and they left voluntarily shortly after. Mai INVADERE la RUSSIA - Alessandro Barbero [Co...
Barbero illustrates this through the lens of Napoleon’s 1812 campaign. He argues that the conflict wasn't just a political disagreement, but a clash between two empires that believed they were the heirs to the Roman legacy: : Napoleon saw himself as the successor to