The single figure pre-20th century most similar to Hitler, both in terms of his actions and in the public imagination (at least outside his home country) would have been Napoleon. Both were ordinary men who rose to become dictators through usurping power from democratic governments and proceeded to conquer most of Europe in needless, devastating wars (both famously failing invasions of Russia) and ultimately losing. The Napoleonic terror loomed large in the European imagination for much of the next century and largest of all in Russia, where he came to symbolise a force of nihilistic, ruthless, amoral willpower, as he does in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. The Russian Orthodox Church went so far as to officially declare him "Antichrist and Enemy of God." To the Germans, Spanish and Dutch he was seen as a megalomaniacal tyrant and was a rallying point for nationalism. However, unlike Hitler, his posthumous reputation has not been wholly negative, as he is seen as France's greatest national hero and admired by Italy, Poland and the Jews, by whom he is seen as a liberator (in stark contrast to Hitler).

This is not altogether dissimilar, however, to the perception of the Nazis in much of eastern Europe, such as in Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine, where the local populations saw the Germans as liberators from Soviet oppression and joined in the fight against their common enemy. Similarly, the Poles fought alongside Napoleon against Russia, earning him a mention in their national anthem. This participation is often celebrated in these countries (though not uncontroversially). But in general, in can be claimed that Napoleon was 19th century's Hitler, although he was objectively not nearly as bad.