"As his famed opponent Arthur Wellesley (Wellington) said after defeating Napoleon the final time: "They came on in the same old way and we defeated them in the same old way.""
Cute, except that Waterloo was Wellington's one and only victory over Bonaparte. It was the only time they met on the battle field, and even then, Michel Ney made most of the tactical decisions (and mistakes) on that day.
Remembering Napoleon for Waterloo rather than Austerlitz, Ulm and Jena would be like remembering Hannibal for Zama. The fact that his name has become synonymous with his unremarkable defeat on that day, and that Wellington, a reactionary, anti-democratic, ennobled aristocrat, is somehow looked upon with favor in this country (America), even more so than his adversary who was an ally of America, who doubled the size of our country with the Louisiana Purchase and who actually planned on settling here after his second abdication, is a testament to the lasting power of the British anti-Bonapartist propaganda industry. More books were written about Napoleon in the 19th century than about any other man, living or dead, and most English languages books on him were written by Brits, and most of those books vilified him as the Corsican Ogre, the Great Usurper and so on. Were it not for this cottage industry that sprang up during the Napoleonic Era and lingered long after, most Americans would probably still have a favorable view of Napoleon as they did during his lifetime.