What was napoleon bonaparte's importance in World War 1?

Napoleon's importance came long before the war, but he did have a hand in causing it. The Napoleonic Wars fought to keep from from dominating the war exhausted Europe before they ended in 1815. That began a hundred years of relative peace during which there were only small, localized wars and many conflicts were left smoldering. And they burst into a fire when World War I broke out, massively influencing the scale of the conflict.