A number of years back I read Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, set in Russia during the era of Napoleonic conquests, and one thing in particular popped out. Namely, that the Russian aristocrats (including military) who were the principal characters of the novel did not demonize or dehumanize their French enemies.

Rather, French culture was held up as a standard and ideal by the Russian characters in the novel and Napoleon himself was (despite leading enemy troops) regarded as a role model by at least one of the characters, who sought to be their own country's equivalent.

A large part of the reason this pops out is because of the truism that war involves dehumanization of the enemy, which makes the idealization of Napoleon and French culture by Russians fighting against Napoleon's French troops come across as a little strange. Was this a common attitude during the time the novel is set?