History Memes

Explanation: Napoleon's Empire was a touch... contradictory. Coming on the heels of both the execution of the old king of France and a series of unpopular republican governments, Napoleon's monarchial French Empire claimed to continue to herald the standard of the French Revolution of liberte, egalite, and fraternite rather than a return to the ancien regime. And not wholly without merit - Napoleon's reign (and conquests) spread a great many ideals and institutions of the French Revolution to neighboring countries, and preserved many in France as well, where a resurgent ancien regime would have rather seen them rolled back.

... but Napoleon was still an authoritarian absolute monarch who rigged elections and did whatever he cared to at a given moment, without any input from the French people. For all of the meritocratic and anti-aristocratic reforms left in place, that abolition of democratic input is undeniable.

Bizarrely, the anthem of the French Empire even declared kings as the enemy of liberty

Veillons au salut de l'empire,

Veillons au maintien de nos lois ;

Si le despotisme conspire,

Conspirons la perte des rois !

"Let us ensure the salvation of the empire,

Let us ensure that our laws are upheld;

If despotism conspires,

Let us conspire to bring about the downfall of kings!"

Jurons union éternelle

Avec tous les peuples divers ;

Jurons une guerre mortelle

À tous les rois de l'univers.

"Let us swear eternal union

With all the diverse peoples;

Let us swear to a deadly war

To all the kings of the universe."