Individuals are reading this new literary invention called "the novel." And so now each individual begins to think he or she has a destiny and should be able to do great things like a main character in a novel. And they are identifying with other individuals who share the same language the novels are written in. Nationalism continues to gain ground in human consciousness. People have been becoming Englishmen, Frenchmen, German and etc for quite some time now but this new individualism will accelerate the process.
Napoleon's PR department worked overtime to present him as the Ultimate Individual. Many will think him to be a commoner who made good, when in reality he was of the minor Corsican nobility under the old regime. Many of the novel-reading individuals of the Enlightenment will identify with him. Napoleon will then make profound use of this P/R of his to draft a great number of these novel reading ninnes into his Grande Armee. With these masses under his command, he will revive the practice of total war - one entire nation against another entire nation. The old kings of Europe, who are used to ritualistic cabinet wars, will not see this coming and it will be a thunder bolt for them.
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