Military forces have been the chosen instruments of history's most brutal regimes. However, the apparent relish with which some miniatures gamers play the Waffen SS, NKVD death squads, etc., has always amazed me. Why, out there right now are quite likely a few players just itching to take a turn as a Taliban or al-Qaeda commander! While to their credit such players typically make an effort to distance themselves from the distasteful regimes their "bad guy" forces enabled, perhaps it is time for new scrutiny to be paid to the reputations of some of the other traditional idols of the gaming community. In this connection, I point to the many parallels between the careers of the man who is perhaps the all-time champion of evil, Adolf Hitler, and one whose legend, anyway, has heretofore been of a distinctly different character: Napoleon Bonaparte. What follows is a non-prioritized list of 30 similarities between the Austrian paperhanger and that most-famous Corsican. It is not one of those facile compendia of Kennedy/Lincoln coincidences you probably wondered at as a kid. Rather, it is a well-intentioned effort to remind the gamer that though the two men's careers were separated by more than a century, their basic groove was much the same. Some of these similarities appear to come with the territory of being a dictator-at least 13 of them were true of Josef Stalin as well. Note that this not an exhaustive list-rather, it represents only those parallels I could think up in half an hour or so. There are undoubtedly many more. I number the similarities as a service to pro-Nappy partisans in composing the flood of mail I expect to receive on this subject.  Hitler and Napoleon both: 1. Ruined their careers by invading Russia. 2. Were foreigners in the nation they later adopted as their base of power. 3. Had had humble positions in the army of the regime which immediately preceded them, and were mentioned in dispatches by their commanders. 4. Struggled unsuccessfully to overcome British control of the sea lanes. 5. Undertook questionable military adventures in the deserts of the Middle East and North Africa. 6. Relied upon a handful of key technical and tactical innovations emphasizing surprise, a powerful artillery preparation, speed of movement, and agile staff work to achieve their early successes, then suffered when their enemies countered these features. 7. Were abandoned by key subordinates during their last days in power. 8. Believed strongly in personal destiny, luck, omens, and other aspects of the supernatural. 9. Had pedestrian-even boorish-personal tastes in food, art, music, and architecture. 10. Criticized their own peoples for being too soft and unwilling to sacrifice; ultimately blamed the populace instead of themselves for losing the war. 11. Lived relatively simple personal lifestyles; made something of a show of that fact. 12. Hated the bourgeois merchants, army brass, and courtiers who infested the capital of their adopted nations; whenever they could, spent time at a secluded retreat to escape them. 13. Claimed to act in the best interest of the proletariat of their countries (whom both men tended to romanticize), while in reality exploiting them financially, physically, and emotionally. 14. Insisted that sheer audacity could overcome most military dilemmas. 15. Rewarded their most trusted subordinates with personal fiefdoms carved out of conquered territory. 16. Were bedeviled by a major (and ultimately successful) partisan uprising in an unexpected quarter of the empire. 17. Had unusual relationships with women, the details of which were largely kept out of the public eye. 18. Kept crazy office hours, and demanded that their aides do so as well. 19. Encouraged the establishment of an official cult of personality. 20. Maintained a large and pampered praetorian guard, which proved to be of questionable long-term value to the cause. 21. Received praise, during the early part of their reigns, for curbing civil unrest, enacting certain overdue legal and administrative measures, improving public infrastructure, and generally restoring the reputation of their adopted homelands. 22. Intervened repeatedly at the tactical level in battles being directed by their subordinates. 23. Were physically short of stature. 24. Were powerful orators. 25. Were fond of military pomp and display. 26. Suffered severe deterioration in health during their time in office. 27. Were condemned by the leaders of other states as classless usurpers. 28. Were egomaniacs. 29. Were often called upon, or chose, to decide even trivial details in civil and military matters. 30. Were the targets of at least one "near-miss" assassination attempt. Back to MWAN #118 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com