Defeated and Inglorious? Why is Napoleon not Treated with More Respect in France?

Napoleonic anniversaries are neither officially marked nor celebrated in France. Two hundred years after his exile to Elba, Bonaparte's latter-day countrymen still can't decide if he is a hero or a villain

Under a clear blue sky, the Emperor Napoleon, wearing his trademark black felt bicorne hat, green tunic, white breeches and riding boots, emerges at the top of a stone staircase and, with a steady gaze and a salute, acknowledges the thousands assembled in the cobbled courtyard below.

Behind him are his generals, clad in gaudy uniforms and plumed hats, with swords strapped to their waists. Stood at attention or on horseback in the courtyard are several hundred Imperial Guardsmen in their bearskin shakos, many sporting a gold earring, a sign of their elite status.

The veterans of the Old Guard were Napoleon’s favourite troops. He nicknamed them “Les Grognards”– the grumblers – because they were bold enough to complain in front of him. Beyond them, crowding the square and the neighbouring streets, stand around 40,000 ordinary French citizens.

The stocky Corsican has ruled France for 15 years, the last 10 as “Emperor of the French”, and his armies have conquered much of Europe. Now, after defeat on the battlefield by a coalition of rival nations, the occupation of Paris and his abdication, Napoleon is about to deliver an emotional farewell to those who have remained loyal.

The setting is the main courtyard of the magnificent château of Fontainebleau, one hour south of Paris. The year is 2014. In real life, Napoleon is Franck Samson, a French lawyer who, with the aid of a black wig, bears a striking resemblance to Bonaparte and has played the part for a decade. Like Samson, all the generals, the Imperial Guard, other regiments and the camp followers in period costume, 500 in all, are unpaid enthusiasts who spend thousands of euros on their sumptuous outfits.

As “Napoleon Bonaparte” slowly descends the sweeping staircase, he is met by cries of “Vive l’Empereur! Vive l’Empereur!”

“With men like you, our cause is not lost,” the faux Napoleon tells his latter-day followers. By stepping down and going into exile on the tiny Mediterranean island of Elba, he is sacrificing his own interests for the interests of France, he says. “Farewell, my children. I want to press all of you to my heart.”

But “Vive l’Empereur!” is not a cry that echoes throughout France much any more. Not everyone is a fan, then or now. In the spring of 1814, as Napoleon travelled through southern France en route to exile, he was jeered by onlookers. His lust for power had left more than one million French dead. People were weary of war.

The following year, Napoleon was back. But only for a brief 100 days before his final defeat at Waterloo and a second exile, on Saint Helena, a speck of land in the South Atlantic, where he died.

Two hundred years on, the French still cannot agree on whether Napoleon was a hero or a villain.

“The divide is generally down political party lines,” says Professor Peter Hicks, a British historian with the Napoleon Foundation in Paris. “On the Left, there’s the ‘black legend’ of Bonaparte as an ogre. On the Right, there is the ‘golden legend’ of a strong leader who created durable institutions.”

French politicians and institutions in particular appear nervous about marking the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s exile. The cost of the Fontainebleau “farewell” and scores of related events over three weekends this and last month was shouldered not by the central government in Paris but by the local château, a historic monument and Unesco World Heritage site, and the town of Fontainebleau.

While the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution that toppled the monarchy and delivered thousands to death by guillotine was officially celebrated in 1989, Napoleonic anniversaries are neither officially marked nor celebrated. For example, a decade ago, the president and prime minister – at the time, Jacques Chirac and Dominque de Villepin – boycotted a ceremony marking the 200th anniversary of the battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon’s greatest military victory.

“It’s almost as if Napoleon Bonaparte is not part of the national story,” Hicks says.

In 2010, an opinion poll in France asked who was the most important man in French history. Napoleon came second, behind General Charles de Gaulle, who led France from exile during the German occupation in the Second World War and served as a post-war president.

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