You know Napoleon, but have you heard of Napoleon III?

[Julie4]

[RavVid]

Glad to see you are back. It disappointed me that shortly after I followed you, you announced your retirement and these interesting Q's would go for ever.

From prior, I know of Napoleon III and the impact on world geopol we discussed.

Now without disrupting Napoleon III discussions, I will just give notice that I think Macron is channeling Napoleon III. Watched a Caspian Report on Macron's geopol which was quite fascinating and he seems to be reaching back it seems to me.

[Julie4]

First of all thank you so much for the appreciation you have for my questions, you do me a lot of credit, although plenty of people on this site have many more interesting questions than I do. And nice to hear from you too 🙂

Yes I remember our conversations about Napoleon I ( my hero with Louis XIV ) 😅

But I'm curious why Macron makes you think of Napoleon III, its perplexing lol.

[RavVid]

OK. If not for the blunder of invading Russia Napoleon I would likely have continued dominating Europe. The coalition did strike on a good tactic of never giving Napoleon I battle and of only fighting his marshals instead but probably at some they would have had to. Eventually.

Now I think Napoleon III was motivated to restore French prestige and that made him vulnerable to the Franco-Prussian war. Basically I think Macron is similarly motivated - he certainly likes the empirical trappings. From Charles de Gaulle onward i read it that there is angst at the US is so powerful and dominant.

Macron was advocating for a European army with, it seems to me, France being first among equals. Bringing Russia into the fold was a way to deleverage and make Europe powerful vis a vis US. First he said we must not humiliate Putin. Most recently he has said we must not crush Russia, so I am thinking the Russia play is still on. :)

Yes I am being provocative and mischievous in my thesis but i know you don't take things amiss..

I would dearly like your counter take on this Caspian video as I am not in a position to think critically on it. All I can do is swallow it. Cheers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW2Z-DCXSBw

I am taking this mostly from this Caspian Report and generalizing a lot.

[Randalama]

Liked your shout out to the Caspian Report, good channel.

[Julie4]

@RavVid Unfortunately the invasion of Russia by Napoleon I was a mistake but contrary to what many think it was justified by the fact that the Russians had not respected the Treaty of Tilsit.

Indeed Napoleon III tried to restore the prestige of France after the congress of Vienna in 1815.

The video is interesting, it is necessary to know that France has always dreamed to see Europe directed by France. Look at a map of what was called the Europe of the six wanted by Charles de Gaulle and you will see that this first European community looks a lot like the Napoleonic empire.

De Gaulle said on this subject "Europe, what is it for? It should serve to avoid being dominated by either the Americans or the Russians. With six of us, we should be able to do as well as each of the two super-majors. And if France manages to be the first of the Six, which is within our reach, it will be able to wield this Archimedean lever. It will be able to lead the others. Europe is the means for France to become once again what it has ceased to be since Waterloo: the first in the world.

And the result of all this would have been the Elysée Treaty with Germany, which would have allowed a defense cooperation between France and Germany, which would have allowed a "European defense" under French leadership. The United States put pressure on the Germans and in the end the Germans ratified the treaty by adding a preamble that basically said that the defense of Germany was assured by NATO. De Gaulle was very angry that day lol.

Since then, the French governments have always tried to take back this idea but without success, the Europeans only trust in NATO, the Europeans don't stop explaining to Macron that they don't want his autonomous Europe, but they still persist lol

[RavVid]

Thank you Julie4. You never disappoint. I shall read up on what you have told me here. It is very helpful because there is a lot of culture to understand in history which would be intuitive within the culture but not so much outside the culture. Doubtless I will have more to ask later. Thanks

[RavVid]

@Randalama Yes Caspian is good. and I enjoy anything he does.

[Julie4]

Thank you very much for your kind comment, it is also a pleasure to exchange with you.

And if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask me 🙂

[RavVid]

I shall.

[RavVid]

I have read more on those treaties and it was illuminating. It surprised me that all this stuff was going on in fairly recent history that was highly significant but I was entirely ignorant of. In part that is because from Australia, Western Europe appears to be homogeneous and partly because I have seen post WW2 history as fairly boring - but it ain't and is highly significant even excising the past year.

Speaking of which I would be very interested on your take on Russia but that is really diverting from the question topic.

I am also highly interested in the development of modern France to Napoleon I as it seems to have been more fragmented in the past e. g. Burgundian & England and different languages other than Parisian French. But that is even more off topic :)

[Julie4]

Many people think that about Europe, maybe the existence of the European Union reinforces the idea for foreigners that Europe is similar when in reality we are very divided on many issues.

Indeed, the post-war period is very interesting, especially the way in which the different European states will try to rebuild themselves and defend their interests in a world where there are two giants, the USA and the USSR.

For Russia I can't tell you much about it, because my knowledge is limited, but I'm interested in its culture which is very rich, especially for its writers. If you want to talk about the geopolitical level, Russia has often been a rival of France, so my opinion on this side is not very positive.

Yes France was very diverse, for the simple reason that most of the French regions, was not French before the monarchy conquered its territory either by war or marriage, so before these territories are conquered by France its regions had their own culture, and their own language, the Kings of France by incorporating them into their royal domains has left them a share of autonomy, but try to "Frenchize" them little by little, and this assimilation learned centuries and it will be necessary to wait the end of the 19th century to impose the French language to the whole of the population, however the various French regions always knew how to keep their small regional culture, which makes the wealth of France.

France is really a creation of its Kings, because at the very beginning of its history France was just Paris, and little by little with patience and over several centuries the Kings of France have conquered all its regions and thus they have "created" France.

I am sure that Australia has a very interesting history, I must confess that I don't know much about Australian history, but it is a country that I would love to visit, it looks so beautiful.

[RavVid]

On Australia, it has a short history. A Sri Lankan friend made the point to me that his primary school was older than Australia (in terms of European settlement) :) As an island continent, there has always been a consciousness that a friendly sea power is a great advantage to us. First Britain then US. So our view of the US would be quite different.

In fact the UK joining the common market after WW2 was accompanied by a sense of betrayal in Australia and NZ at the time I would say.

You are entirely right the EU gives us an impression of homogeneity. We think EU first then France Germany etc as sub-parts. I was totally flabbergasted when a Spanish girl I was talking to seemed to regard different parts of Spain as different countries - after 500 years of being unified. WTF?

As a citizen of a very homogeneous country I am inherently prone to project modern France onto the middle ages and EU onto European countries - thank you for the disambiguation I needed :).

Don't hold back re Russia on my account. I do think we need a realistic understanding of their mindset and I would like yours.

Cheers

[Iron_Man]

Are you the same girl that used to talk to me about France? I thought you left the site? I didn’t know you had another account up from the past year? I thought you lived in France not the USA. I always said you would make the best tour guide. You’re very educated on your country.

[Julie4]

Yes I had left this site for a little over 3 weeks but some people convinced me to stay lol, no I don't live in the US I don't know why they put this on my profile.

Oh thank you very much sir for these nice compliments

[Iron_Man]

You are a good person and very respectful I like seeing questions

[4ngelic]

oui après je sais genre rien sur lui lol je sais juste qu'il a existé

[Julie4]

Si tu es Française ce n'est pas bien de ne pas le connaître plus que ça. 🤣 ( Je rigole)

[FunkyMonkee]

No, but I've heard of Napoleon XIV!!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZDw9RowkO68

[NathanDavis]

of course... he was very fond of Mexico, lol...

[Julie4]

Well, let's say that despite the disastrous results of his policy in Mexico, it was not a bad idea in the first place lol

[NathanDavis]

one of the possible, next presidents of Mexico... might be a politician of French descent... lol

[RyanEC]

Nice to see one of your questions again.


I have heard of him but I think he is clearly overshadowed by his uncle, even though he had a longer reign and left his own mark on France.

[Julie4]

Yes, he is certainly overshadowed by Napoleon I.

Napoleon III did a lot of very good things on the domestic policy level, but on the international level despite very good ideas it was a disaster.

[RyanEC]

On the domestic side the most important thing I know of is that he modern Paris redesigned by his urban planner George-Eugene Haussmann.

In foreign affairs as I understand he was the first French leader to instead of being hostile with Britain moved towards a friendship between Britain and France after 500 years of conflict.

[Julie4]

He modernized the French economy in an impressive way, he made many important achievements and yes he brought France closer to England because he was admiring the economic progress made by the United Kingdom.

I'm not sure that Napoleon I would have been happy with that

[Iamcoming]

I know another napoleons lived in french history but ı have knowledge only about bonaparte

[exitseven]

Yes, I remember him from Hight School but don't really remember much about him.

[Chad345]

Yes, he didn't get very far. Got himself captured by Otto. I think.

[OddBeMe]

He invented the three flavors of ice cream in one box.

[Julie4]

🤣🤣

[purplepoppy]

He looks like Charles Dickens

[bean2k21]

Dickens had more of an inner thigh tickler.

[Jennz6]

No I don’t think so

[QuietRunner]

The Emperor of Mexico?

[Julie4]

No lol

[QuietRunner]

@julie4
The reason for Cinco de Mayo?

[Julie4]

No, this is not the reason for the expedition to Mexico

[QuietRunner]

oh okay

[QuietRunner]

French colonist

[Julie4]

Sorry it wasn't a colonial war either

[NamerOfStars]

Not quite- but this WAS one of the guys who backed him.

[NamerOfStars]

Assuming you mean Max and not Norton, that is.

[Anonymous]

No, was he a midget like Napoleon?

[Julie4]

Napoleon was not small, he was the average height of his time

[Lionman95]

No not really.

[NostalgiaSenpi]

Yes..

[JesseJayNeak]

Tbh, no I haven’t