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Re:Why don’t the French celebrate Lafayette? by mytailorisrich on Friday September 10, 2021 @02:17AM (#28478357)
Napoleon is as much responsible for creating modern France as the French Revolution is.

He put a end to the Revolution's chaos, defeated European attempts to invade France and destroy the Revolution, rewrote French law from scratch, and reorganised the country.

There is a tendency for self-flagellation these days but it is right for him to be celebrated in France.

Ignoring this recent self-flagellation trend, I think the main division in France is political. Napoleon is of course The Empire, authoritarianism and militarism and he is often not liked especially on the left. The main conflict here is for the Republic to celebrate someone who ended the republican system, but IMHO it is perfectly possible to celebrate someone as a country for their achievements and overall impact even if they did not subscribe to the current political system, not least when they were instrumental in creating the modern country, as mentioned.

Perhaps what as also changed is that patriotism is being seen more and more suspiciously.

Re:Why don’t the French celebrate Lafayette? by WastingMyTime89 on Friday September 10, 2021 @08:19AM (#28480477)
> He put a end to the Revolution's chaos, defeated European attempts to invade France and destroy the Revolution, rewrote French law from scratch, and reorganised the country.

That he certainly did not.

The uniformisation of French laws had been started two centuries before the Revolution but the French kings didn't have the power to modify civil laws. As soon as the revolutionaries took it, Cambacérès started petitioning for the promulgation of an unique code based on a merger of the Coutume de Paris and the written laws of the South. It took close to a decade to finalize the text and reach somewhat of a consensus but by the time Napoleon took power the whole thing was done. Apart from promulgating the code, he had very little to do with it.

He also didn't stop attempt to destroy the revolution. He did that by himself. Did you miss the part where he had himself crown emperor and how it's defeat was followed by the restauration.

I don't understand why some people keep crediting Bonaparte with what is mostly work done by the first constitutional assembly.

Re:Why don’t the French celebrate Lafayette? by mytailorisrich on Friday September 10, 2021 @08:32AM (#28480598)
I think you show yourself that Napoleon was a continuation of the Revolution, which was under more serious threat from the European monarchies' coalition to invade France and restore monarchy as it was.
Re:Why don’t the French celebrate Lafayette? by WastingMyTime89 on Friday September 10, 2021 @11:02AM (#28482551)
But that's exacly what happened as soon as the empire fell. Napoleon saved the revolution in the same way Caesar saved the republic.
Re:Why don’t the French celebrate Lafayette? by mytailorisrich on Friday September 10, 2021 @11:08AM (#28482626)
A monarchy does not imply that things went back the way they were, be in France or even throughout Europe, or that he did not leave a huge legacy.

Napoleon deserves celebrating, at least in France.

Re:Why don’t the French celebrate Lafayette? by WastingMyTime89 on Friday September 10, 2021 @03:03PM (#28485747)
That's not his legacy. That's the revolution legacy. Napoleon is the sad conclusion to it. His main achievement is showing through his conquests that the old great European powers were no more and by that setting the stage for the European modern states. As the man, there is nothing to celebrate in his legacy. He is very liked by some proto-fascists in France however who would much rather attribute to a providencial man the achievements which were actually made by the constitutional assembly and the republics that followed him.