France: A too-quiet celebration of Napoleon?
Two hundred and fifty years ago, Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica, and Europe would never be the same again, said Dominique Bonnet in Paris Match. The French emperor’s birthday was marked in Corsica last week with three days of festivities overseen by Prince Jean-Christophe Napoleon—Bonaparte’s great-greatgreat-great-nephew and “pretender to the throne of France.” The celebrations included a re-enactment of Napoleon’s most famous victory, the 1805 Battle of Austerlitz, in which his forces decisively routed a larger Austrian and Russian army. Some 700 Napoleonic Wars enthusiasts from across Europe took part in the mock battle, blasting “deafening muskets” and fighting hand to hand. Prince Jean-Christophe, a 33-year-old investment banker with a Harvard MBA, spoke movingly of Napoleon’s achievements, including the creation of the Civil Code of 1804—a set of clearly written laws that swept away the previous patchwork of confusing and much abused feudal laws—the baccalaureate, and the Bank of France. He wondered mildly why French President Emmanuel Macron was not in attendance, noting that in 1969, then–President Georges Pompidou had led the festivities for the bicentennial of Napoleon’s birth.
Yes, why didn’t we declare a national holiday? asked Yves Jégo in Le Figaro. Napoleon is one of the most famous figures in world history, a self-made man and military genius who conquered Europe. Is politically correct France “ashamed of her history”? By rejecting “our glorious past, we deprive our children of their legitimate legacy” and leave them to look up to “imported heroes.” Napoleon’s gifts to France deserve celebration, said Laurent Ottavi, also in Le Figaro. “Never has one man reformed so much.” Becoming first consul in 1799, he brought France’s chaotic revolutionary period to an end and “engraved the principle of equality in marble.” By concluding a concordat with the Vatican, he ensured that the French state would be secular even as its people remained Catholic. As emperor and “heir to Charlemagne,” he united continental Europe through military victories and his civil code, the basis of much European law to this day. He died alone on the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena in 1821, having been exiled there by the British after his defeat at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo. To the end he “oscillated between glory and failure,” ensuring his status as a tragic, almost mythic figure.
France does give the emperor his due, said Thierry Lentz in
Le Point. Don’t forget, when U.S. President Donald Trump visited Paris in 2018, Macron received him at Napoleon’s tomb and “played tour guide.” The previous year, Macron shepherded Russian President Vladimir Putin through Versailles’ Gallery of Battles, which celebrates numerous French military victories— including some Napoleonic ones over Russia. While Napoleon’s birthday this year may have been low-key, just wait for 2021, the bicentennial of his death. The government has planned a huge military exhibition and celebrations across the country. France will “talk a lot about Napoleon in 2021—and beyond.”