From its humble foundations in ancient Persia, the empire grew to become a colossal force spanning vast territories under a succession of ambitious kings. , In its prime, the Persian Empire was renowned for its sophistication in {architecture|engineering, administration, and military strategy. The legendary Cyrus the Great unified diverse peoples u

In 1801, blaming democratic militants for the botched try and assassinate him using a bomb as his carriage drove down the rue Saint-Nicaise—a plot in fact hatched by fanatical royalists—Napoleon ordered the arrest and deportation to Guiana of about a hundred former Jacobin and sansculotte militants. In 1804 he experienced the duc d’Enghien, a