Like most of those who study history, he (Napoleon III) learned from the mistakes of the past how to make new ones.
There are a lot of hardcore 'Napoleon' fans, and they do the research and find photos of what I look like when I'm not 'Kip-ified.' Those fans recognize me. It happens maybe once a week, where someone will come up to me and be, like, 'Dude, you're Kip.' And I'm, like, 'Yeah, my name's Aaron.'
I don't want to do the nerdy, goofy guy again. That was really fitting for the 'Napoleon' world, but that's kind of where I want it to stay.
You re-watch 'Napoleon Dynamite', and there's a lot of thrift shopping that goes on in that movie; there's a lot of funny stuff. It's definitely amusing, and paying 99 cents for a samurai sword is amazing.
It is possible to lead astray an entire generation, to strike it blind, to drive it insane, to direct it towards a false goal. Napoleon proved this.
The long years of fighting Napoleon's ambitions for a world empire had hardened the British into an 'us-against-them' mentality.
When Napoleon abdicated in April 1814, Britain expected that America would soon lose heart and surrender, too. From then on, London's chief aims were to bring a swift conclusion to the war and capture as much territory as possible in order to gain the best advantage in the inevitable peace talks.
For America, 1812 became the war in which it had finally gained its independence. For Britain, 1812 became the skirmish it had contained, while winning the real war against its greatest nemesis, Napoleon.
To some it is Napoleon, to some it is a philosophical struggle, to me it is allegro con brio.
I had always been fascinated with Napoleon because he was a self-made emperor; Victor Hugo said, 'Napoleon's will to power,' and it was the title of my paper. And I submitted it to my teacher, and he didn't think I had written it. And he wanted me to explain it to him.
