Napoleon was the sort who is remembered as a great hero if he wins...a major troublemaker (or even a villain) if he loses. He was a man of extraordinary ability in terms of leading an army and winning battles...so good at that, in fact, that it led him to ambitions which presently posed a problem for so many other people that his enemies became too numerous to be handled. (If he'd limited those ambitions a bit, he might have retired in glory, not in defeat.)

One might say similar things of Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great...they were loved and admired by their fans, hated and feared by their competitors and opponents.

To call these men "belligerent" is missing the point, I think. They were highly ambitious leaders, doing what many others in their place would have done, but doing it much more effectively than most have ever managed to.

Not that that has much to do with Tom Cruise. ;-)