Napoleon Bonaparte

Sorry, but I'm a history major so I'm looking into anyway religion and politics tie in historically.

Napoleon Bonaparte, who was French emperor during the early 19th century, was the man largely responsible for the way much of modern Europe looks today. The story of how Napoleon got the title emperor is an interesting one. After conquering much of Western Europe in the very early 19th century, Napoleon remolded the French constitution to completely dissolve the Bourbon monarchy and give himself absolute power. He decided to have himself crowned emperor by the Pope. Pope Pius VII traveled to Paris in December 1804 for the ceremony. Right before the Pope was about to crown Napoleon, he snatched the crown from the Pope and put it on his head. This move was symbolic in that no one, not even the church or God was above Napoleon. This came as a shock to Catholic France, who had never done anything without the Pope's approval. Napoleon went on to lead France to many military victories until his ill-fated invasion of Russia. He probably would've lost anyway, but a Church blessing before his expedition couldn't have hurt.