It used to be the president who decided the who, what and when of official commemorations. The year 2021, also marketed as the “Année Napoléon” or “Napoleon Year”, has been a difficult milestone. Traditionally portrayed as an Anglo-French duel, exhibitions about Waterloo emphasised the role of soldiers from Prussia and the battle’s larger social and political context. A key part of this decision, in commentators’ eyes, was mounting controversy about Napoleon’s legacy, including accusations of genocide against people in the colonies.īy the bicentenary of Waterloo in 2015, the commemoration of these battles had become distinctly less nationalistic in tone across Europe.
In 2005, the then president of France, Jacques Chirac, and his prime minister, Dominique de Villepin – also a Napoleonic historian – thought it wise to sidestep the celebrationsfor the bicentenary of the French victory against the Austrians at Austerlitz. This isn’t the first time that commemorating Napoleon or the events of his reign has posed a problem. This year marks the last in a series of bicentenaries since 1969, the 200th anniversary of his birth, but the chance to give the most famous emperor in French history another send-off is proving distinctly tricky – and not only because of COVID-19 restrictions. Napoleon Bonaparte may have died 200 years ago, but the vast ramifications of his rule can still be felt – and not only in France.
