My favourite story about Napoleon is the start of Napoleon's Hundred Days, following his escape from his initial exile:
> The 5th Regiment was sent to intercept him and made contact just south of Grenoble on 7 March 1815. Napoleon approached the regiment alone, dismounted his horse and, when he was within gunshot range, shouted, "Here I am. Kill your Emperor, if you wish."[131]
The soldiers responded with, "Vive L'Empereur!" and marched with Napoleon to Paris; Louis XVIII fled.
As the name of the period suggests, this state of affairs only lasted for 100 days before he was defeated at Waterloo and surrendered. Still pretty badass though.
The wisdom of sending a full regiment to catch a single man, who previously was a military dictator after a successful coup-d'état, is not exactly evident to me.
There might have been good reasons, besides providing him with some fresh troops to start anew for a hundred days.
Also, I have a problem with the global idea of rescuing the man who spilled blood all over Europe, became a defacto king giving up on the revolutionary ideals, then committed great treason towards his state (Louisiana purchase was a great deal for the US, for Napoleon own fortune - now imagine Obama selling Alaska to Canada and keeping the money!) - no really, I just don't see it.
The submarine thing might have been a nice technical feat for the time, but still the man was a bloody dictator.
He did indeed have a loyalist guard that came with him to Elba and would have fought for him and been annihilated if there had been a battle at that moment.
As for his being a dictator, that wasn't exactly uncommon at the time. Europe was a playground for dictators, and Napoleon was a successful one who challenged some existing, ver bad ones (although he did not infrequently change them for the worse). And he did introduce some major and lasting changes with the Code, though of course not all of it was welcome.
As for the Louisiana purchase, it's more likely he was considering it a favor to take it off his hands. The French holdings over there were not in the best position to be used, had hardly any people or settlements, and so on. He chucked it for a bit of cash because it made sense at the time.
He was a complicated guy, and they were complicated times. If you want a good biography to read, try "The Age of Napoleon" by J. Christopher Harold. It did a good job of explaining the context for Napoleon's rise and why exactly he was welcomed by the people - but also is very clear about his shortcomings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Days#Return_to_France claims "On February 1815, when the British and French guard ships were absent, he slipped away from Portoferraio with some 600 men and landed at Golfe-Juan near Antibes on 1 March 1815."
> The wisdom of sending a full regiment to catch a single man
If I recall correctly, Napoleon already had a few hundred men with him at that point. The 5th was considered royalist, so I am pretty certain they were not sent with the intent of giving Napoleon more men.
I wouldn't say I think the man was a very nice guy, but I can't help but admire that level of charisma. Regardless of politics, it is awe-inspiring.
He was a member of the ruling class. Most folks, including the peasantry, including most of America, distrusted the Republic concept and were convinced a Royal was owed his inheirited power. Very few held the modern conceit that power should be trusted to the people, who after all had none of the benefits of Royal upbringing.
> The 5th Regiment was sent to intercept him and made contact just south of Grenoble on 7 March 1815. Napoleon approached the regiment alone, dismounted his horse and, when he was within gunshot range, shouted, "Here I am. Kill your Emperor, if you wish."[131] The soldiers responded with, "Vive L'Empereur!" and marched with Napoleon to Paris; Louis XVIII fled.
As the name of the period suggests, this state of affairs only lasted for 100 days before he was defeated at Waterloo and surrendered. Still pretty badass though.