Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes
Let China sleep for when she wakes, the world will tremble.
Napoleon Bonaparte Bonaparte, 1769-1821, Military leader and Emperor of France, Quoted in 55 Days at Peking
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Quoted by Winston Churchill in his January 17, 1952 address to Congress.
During her adult life, she was the de facto ruler of China. This quotation is very important because it gives us an important insight into Chinese motives and historical drivers. The first reason is something almost all countries and cultures can identify with, but the second--to avoid being looked down—was just as important. Americans are relatively uncaring what the citizens of other countries think about them, but the Chinese do. So do other nationalities and cultures like the Arabs, the Iranians, many of the South American cultures. Often it takes on a different world like “dignity” or “respect”.
3rd Earl Russell of Kingston. He was right on the 1st, and time will tell about the 2nd. But at the time he made this prediction, America was not a superpower, and was considered behind, England and France and just passing Argentina. At the time, America was reeling from the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression. The development of the United State through the FDR era including WWII was amazing. And by 1948 America was not only number 1, but the only Superpower at the time.
By 2012, the Chinese population had reached 1.2 billion despite some very strong and aggressive population control programs which brought down the fertility rate.
China, which had been one of the strongest and most modern nations in the world for 1000 years had lapsed into decay and though a huge nation, rich in resources, with more people than any other had been eclipsed by Japan, America and Europe. Cixi was determined to remedy that, and to a great extent started China on the road to modernization which would take over 100 years more.
Napoléon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader of Corsican descent. He rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again in 1815. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. One of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. He remains one of the most celebrated and controversial political figures in human history.
