It was the cult of Napoleon in the 19 th century , a young man 's craze that went on for generations--the craze that Stendhal described in his character Julien Sorel in The Red and the Black and Victor Hugo in his character Marius in Les Miserables . In the 19 th century , intelligent people in France knew perfectly well that Napoleon had embodied the worst aspects of the French Revolution , had betrayed the revolution 's democratic ideals , and had spread death and fire from Spain to Moscow .
According to French people , Napoleon represented the worst aspects of the French Revolution .