Robespierre could be called the first modern ideological extremist. Napoleon could be called the first modern dictator. One produced the other, setting a model that influenced others from Marx to Mao.
First modern dictator? There have been dictatorial regimes throughout history many much worse then Napoleon who really wasn't all that much more authoritarian then the canonized Queen Elizabeth who had Catholics put to death along with various other dissenters. Napoleon advocated religious liberty.