Napoleon's Exiles In France

In the century after Napoleon’s exiles in 1814, 1815 and later death in 1821 there were several regime changes in France which had varying attitudes towards Napoleon and therefore put his memory in differing levels of significance. It is my intention to show that although Napoleon had his enemies in France, in the centuries after his death, he remained a significant figure whether through fear of the so-called ‘man on horseback’ or in reverence.

In the immediate change in regime resulting from Napoleon’s exile the Bourbons were reinstituted as rulers of France. Napoleon’s political significance post-First Empire is reduced by the vast change in government that occurred under the Bourbons and the Comte D’Artois, who Artz states: ‘Prided himself

However, this does not mean that Napoleon was universally loved, Chateaubriand in 1814 constantly refers to him as ‘the madman’ and tried to alienate him from the French people by addressing him as ‘Buonaparte’ and therefore accentuating the fact that Napoleon was indeed, a foreigner. Furthermore, Artz makes the statement that: ‘Finally with the fall of Napoleon the distracted country entered on a more peaceful and freer political life’ this most likely refers to how the new regime was unlike the previous monarchy in that it was constitutional not an absolute monarchy. In all, the significance of Napoleon was undoubtedly affected by the political and societal changes experienced during the Bourbon restoration although the fact that he is discussed and how he returned in the 100 days of 1815 shows how significant he still was to the French people.

The July Monarchy took over from the Bourbons in the ‘three glorious days’ revolution in July of 1830, where Louis- Philippe declared himself king of the French. Napoleon’s significance is shown in this period by how the republicans, in order to increase support for themselves according to Dubreton: ‘adopted his great name’ and proceeded to associate themselves more and more with Napoleon. This was important as Napoleon was more significant during this period as the

This evidently shows how changes in society and politics brought on by the defeat of Louis Napoleon had reduced the significance of Napoleon in the era as he was now associated with his nephew and the defeat that he endured. However, although Bonapartism had all but disappeared in politics he was still prominent in the people’s hearts and minds as ‘After a brief hiatus in the early years of the third republic, public interest in all things Napoleon had revived’. Datta supports this view as he claims ‘The period of 1890 until the First World War witnessed a flowering of the Napoleonic cult in France’. This is shown by many things, for example the arts; L’Aiglon was a play written about Napoleon’s son, which translates as ‘The Eaglet’, a flattering name if there ever was one, which shows Napoleon and his son in a very