# Why didn't the English hang Napoleon?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-english-hang-napoleon/319966>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 4, 2005, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-english-hang-napoleon/319966 "2005-09-04T01:33:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Roland64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Roland64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland64)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-english-hang-napoleon/319966/1 "2005-09-04T01:33:12Z")

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I’ve wondered why the English just didn’t execute Napoleon when they had a chance both times instead of sequestering him at taxpayers expense.Yes I know that they might have eventually poisoned him even though his death is listed,of course,as dysentery.  
Blucher had said he lived to hang Napoleon.He might have said that right before he went to Waterloo actually.  
I’m thinking that the English like the rest of Europe knew Napoleon was a force of Nature,Spirit incarnate of the times,hence,was not only Not to be Martyrised but also deserved a non traditional way of being dealt with.  
He weren’t no Vercingetorix.  
You know what Hegel said when he saw Napoleon after the Battle of Jena?  
Ich habe die Zeitgeist auf Pferd gesehen.  
Thanks Roland.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-english-hang-napoleon/319966/2 "2005-09-04T02:00:47Z")

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Okay, you lost me around force of nature, but to answer the first part of your question; Napoleon was recognized as the head of state of a major nation, and while England may have been fighting that nation for years, executing heads of state was not the ways things worked back then. (Although exceptions were made.)

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**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-english-hang-napoleon/319966/3 "2005-09-04T14:29:33Z")

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Two previous threads on the same subject:

[Why Wasn’t Napoleon Killed?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=280226)

[Why wasn’t Napoleon Bonaparte executed?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=143452)

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-english-hang-napoleon/319966/4 "2005-09-26T00:34:50Z")

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Since this one has been done, let’s close it.

**samclem** GQ Moderator