Once it had proved its success in France, the optical telegraph was imitated in many other countries, especially after it was used by Napoleon to coordinate his empire and army. In most of these countries, the postal authorities operated the semaphore lines. Many national services adopted signalling systems different from the Chappe system. For example, the UK and Sweden adopted systems of shuttered panels (in contradiction to the Chappe brothers' contention that angled rods are more visible). In some cases, new systems were adopted because they were thought to be improvements. But many countries pursued their own, often inferior, designs for reasons of national pride or not wanting to copy from rivals and enemies.