Would the world be a better place to live had Napoleon not been defeated?

[Karpatsky]

Thoughts on this? I have been reading a Russian history of Europe, and it makes a big deal out of how Alexander I 'liberated' Europe from Napoleon. Considering though that Napoleon brought rule of law and human rights to the European mainstream, I am not convinced that he could have been worse than the reactionary monarchies which replaced him.

Obviously this is just a hypothetical since he never really had the chance to be a peacetime leader, but I can't help but feel that world freedom and standard of living would be better off had Napoleon maintained hegemony over Europe, at least for a little while.

[Kingpoleon]

Thoughts on this? I have been reading a Russian history of Europe, and it makes a big deal out of how Alexander I 'liberated' Europe from Napoleon. Considering though that Napoleon brought rule of law and human rights to the European mainstream, I am not convinced that he could have been worse than the reactionary monarchies which replaced him.

Obviously this is just a hypothetical since he never really had the chance to be a peacetime leader, but I can't help but feel that world freedom and standard of living would be better off had Napoleon maintained hegemony over Europe, at least for a little while.

I would tend to agree, but I don’t know if Napoleon could content himself to stop and play the role of the silent tiger. Napoleon II could, should his father die too soon, fall under the sway of Napoleon’s more able advisers: Fouché, Talleyrand, and Cambacérès.

[Cory]

Everything would be so much better, yes.

[dead0man]

Nap did come into many European countries bringing the idea of liberty and freedom, and the locals ate it up.  Then he took their money, food and young men and never brought anything back.

I still went yes/FF

[The Mikado]

Does Napoleon still die in 1821 (just seven years after he was defeated in real life), leading to a massive succession struggle as his sickly 10 year old son is obviously unfit for the throne, leading all the powers of Central Europe to start seeing their chance to seize back all the territorial concessions they had made and undoing their puppet governments? Because that's the most likely scenario I see here.