There were plenty of things to write about that happened today in history; some more interesting to me than others. I thought about writing about the Monroe Doctrine because of the lasting foreign policy it created towards the Americas. I thought about writing about Japan moving their ships towards Pearl Harbor and segue into the attack on December 7th.
Then I saw, on December 2, 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France.
Now I admit, I have a love affair with the French. I studied the culture, the history, the language and the food. I've done all this in preparation of one day visiting and (hopefully) not being mistaken for an American tourist. I'll let you know how that works out for me when it happens.
That is a long-winded way of saying that I paused and thought, "huh" when that blip appeared on the calendar.
Shortly before Bonaparte decided to make himself Emperor, you had the French Revolution. I'll get back to him and his coronation.
Now, there was a lot of build up to the Revolution and I wouldn’t say there was one particular event or person that sparked the fire. Instead, it was more of a slow burn.
First, there was the Seven Year War and the American Revolution, both of which strained the treasury. In order to compensate for the lack of money, one must either slash spending or raise taxes. Well, when your monarchy is King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette, you’re definitely not reducing your spending. So you must raise taxes. Enter your second problem - both the Church and Nobility are exempt from paying taxes (that strikes a familiar chord). Now, the entire responsibility of filling the State's coffers rests entirely on peasants and the wealthy common people who didn't have a fancy title.
I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem very fair to me.
Enter “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” and the French Revolution kicks off.
Along the way you have Bonaparte rising up through the ranks of the French military. He’s pretty much in the right place at the right time and he also knows a guy who knows a guy. Before you know it, he's a general and not too shabby. He saves France from itself, defeats some peeps in key victories and soon he has established himself as the first consul in 1800.
Not too long after that, he decided he was going to rule France as an Emperor. So Bonaparte invites the Pope to this event. You'd think it would be to crown him, to have G-d's seal of approval, if you will. Nope. Instead, Bonaparte grabbed the crown and crowned himself while the Pope looked on. He then turned, and crowned his wife Josephine, Empress of France. These titles had not been used for nearly a thousand years; not until December 2, 1804. Bonaparte went on to be a dictator and was eventually forced onto an island where he lived in exile (for the most part).
So when I saw this blip in history, I thought, “huh.” How ironic that France fought a very bloody Revolution to escape tyranny, only to be ruled by a dictator a few years later.