We are all losers, in the end.
What matters is what did we leave behind, for better or worse. In Napoleons case (the real, historical one), he changed Europe, and the world, in profound ways, for better AND worse.
You get a hint of both in literature, rec. the “Red and the Black” and “Charterhouse of Parma”, Stendhal, for what he meant just shortly after his passing. If you want a straight analysis, Napoleon is a theme running in background throughout Paul Johnsons “The Birth of the Modern”.
The French are as dumb as the Brits. Both countries executed their monarchs to be instantly gratified, creating more problems for themselves in the long-run, only to once again return to a monarchy. France’s last monarchy ran from 1852 to 1870. After Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell died in 1658, his son decided he didn’t want to succeed his father, so the Brits begged Charles II to return to England from exile, so the monarchy could be restored.