Bonapartists (political party)
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Bonapartists Bonapartistes | |
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Big tent | |
Colours | Violet |
The Bonapartist Party (typically shortened to just the Bonapartists) was the name given to a
Origins
Bonapartism developed after Napoleon I was exiled to the island of Elba. The Bonapartists helped him regain power, leading to a period known as the Hundred Days. Some of his acolytes could not accept his defeat in 1815 at Waterloo or the Congress of Vienna, and continued to promote the Bonaparte ideology. After Napoleon I's death in exile on Saint Helena in 1821, many of these people transferred their allegiance to other members of his family. After the death of Napoleon's son, the Duke of Reichstadt (known to Bonapartists as Napoleon II), Bonapartist hopes rested on several different members of the family.[2]
The disturbances of
In 1870, the
Bonapartists continued to agitate for another member of the family to be placed on the throne. From 1871 forward, they competed with
The current head of the Bonaparte family is the great-great-great-grandson of Napoleon I's brother Jérôme, Jean-Christophe Napoléon (born 1986). There are no remaining descendants in the male line from any other of Napoleon's brothers and there is no serious political movement that aims to restore any of these men to the imperial throne of France.
Ideology
Philosophically, Bonapartism was Napoleon's adaptation of the principles of the French Revolution to suit his imperial form of rule. Desires for public order, national glory, and emulation of the Roman Empire had combined to create a Caesarist coup d'etat for General Bonaparte on 18 Brumaire. Though he espoused adherence to revolutionary precedents, he "styled his direct and personal rule on the Old Regime monarchs."[4] For Bonapartists, the most significant lesson of the Revolution was that unity of government and the governed was paramount.
The
The defining characteristics of political Bonapartism were flexibility and adaptability.
Election results
Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Leader |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chamber of Representatives | |||||
May 1815 | 4,230 (2nd) | 12.7 | 80 / 630
|
New
|
|
Chamber of Deputies | |||||
1852 | 5,218,602 (1st) | 86.5 | 253 / 263
|
253
|
|
1857 | 5,471,000 (1st) | 89.1 | 276 / 283
|
23
|
Charles de Morny |
1863 | 5,355,000 (1st) | 74.2 | 251 / 283
|
25
|
Charles de Morny |
1869 | 4,455,000 (1st) | 55.0 | 212 / 283
|
39
|
|
National Assembly | |||||
1871 | Unknown (5th) | 3.1 | 20 / 630
|
192
|
|
1876 | 1,056,517 (3rd) | 14.3 | 76 / 533
|
76
|
Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte |
Chamber of Deputies | |||||
1877 | 1,617,464 (2nd) | 20.0 | 104 / 521
|
28
|
|
1881 | 610,422 (3rd) | 8.7 | 46 / 545
|
58
|
|
1885 | 888,104 (4th) | 11.2 | 65 / 584
|
19
|
|
1889 | 715,804 (5th) | 9.0 | 52 / 578
|
13
|
In the French political spectrum
According to historian
In their own time, both Napoleon I and Napoleon III refused to be classed as either leftist or rightist, arguing that to claim to govern a country in the name of a faction meant acting against the national interest and one day succumbing to its influence. In Des Idées Napoléoniennes (On Napoleonic Ideas), published in 1839, the future Napoleon III quoted his uncle's words to the
"You see, this is why I have composed my Council of State of constituents who were called Moderates or Feuillants, like Defermon, Roederer, Regnier, Regnault; of royalists like Devaines and Dufresnes ; lastly of jacobins like Brune, Réal and Berlier. I like honest people of all parties". Prompt to reward recent services, as to shed luster all the great memories, Napoleon has placed in the Hôtel des Invalides, next to the statues of Hoche, of Joubert, of Marceau, of Dugommier, of Dampierre, the statue of Condé, the ashes of Turenne, and the heart of Vauban. He revives, in Orleans, the memory of Joan of Arc, in Beauvais that of Jeanne Hachette
Bonapartists have consistently disagreed with this classification, as one of the fundamentals of Bonapartism as an ideology is the refusal to adhere to the left-right divide, which they see as an obstacle to the welfare and unity of the nation. Martin S Alexander, in his book "French History since Napoleon" (London, Arnold, New York, Oxford University Press, 1999) notes that Bonapartism as an idea would not have made a significant impact if it had been classifiable as either left-wing or right-wing. The historian Jean Sagnes in "The roots of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte's Socialism" notes that the future Emperor of the French edited his political works through far-left publishers.
The Marxist theory of "Left" and "Right" Bonapartism can be considered an illustration of what McLynn refers to as Napoleon I's appeal in equal measure "to both the Right and the Left",[12] and what Vincent Cronin describes as "middle of the way", or "moderate" government.[13] Napoleon III situated Bonapartism (or the "Napoleonic Idea") between the radicals and conservatives (respectively the Left and the Right) in "Des Idées Napoléoniennes", published in 1839. He expounded on this point to explain that Bonapartism, as practiced by his uncle Napoleon the Great (and represented by himself) was in the middle of "two hostile parties, one of which looks only to the past, and the other only to the future" and combined "the old forms" of the one and the "new principles" of the other.
While some French political parties are shaded by Bonapartism's political stance of national unity, since World War II, no major parties have advocated for Bonapartism in the sense of a return to the rule of a descendant of the Bonaparte dynasty.
Modern Bonapartism
In contemporary times, the term "Bonapartism" has been used in a general sense to describe autocratic, highly centralized regimes dominated by the military.[14]
In Corsica, where Napoleone di Buonaparte was born, the Comité central bonapartiste is a political party founded in 1908 in Ajaccio. It remains active in local and regional politics and is often allied with centre-right republican parties.
Footnotes
- ISBN 978-1-4094-2261-7
- ISBN 978-0-7190-3289-9. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
- ISBN 9780521078146. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-19-510689-3. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
- ^ "History of the Two Empires: The Symbols of Empire". Fondation Napoléon. 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-674-01803-7. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
- ^ Jerrold, Blanchard (1882). The Life of Napoleon III. London: Longmans, Green. p. 378. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
- ^ Croin, Vincent (1994 ed.). Napoleon. HarperCollins. ch. 15. p. 229.
- ^ Castelot, André (ed. 1967). Perrin. ch. VIII. p. 240.
- ^ Jean Sagnes (2006). Les racines du socialisme de Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte. Toulouse: Privat.
- ^ McLynn (1998), p. 482.
- ^ McLynn (1998), p. 667.
- ^ Vincent Cronin (1994). "Chapter 19". Napoleon. HarperCollins. p. 301.
- ISBN 978-0-19-512371-5. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
References
- Bluche, Frédéric (1980). Le bonapartisme: aux origines de la droite autoritaire (1800-1850). Nouvelles Editions Latines. ISBN 978-2-7233-0104-6.
- Alexander, Robert S. Bonapartism and revolutionary Tradition in France: the Fédérés of 1815 (Cambridge University Press, 2002)
- Baehr, Peter R., and Melvin Richter, eds. Dictatorship in history and theory: Bonapartism, Caesarism, and totalitarianism (Cambridge University Press, 2004)
- Dulffer, Jost. "Bonapartism, Fascism and National Socialism." Journal of Contemporary History (1976): 109–128. In JSTOR
- McLynn, Frank (1998). Napoleon. Pimlico.
- Mitchell, Allan. "Bonapartism as a model for Bismarckian politics." Journal of Modern History (1977): 181–199. In JSTOR
- Bluche, Frédéric, Le Bonapartisme, collection Que sais-je ?, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1981.
- Choisel, Francis, Bonapartisme et gaullisme, Paris, Albatros, 1987.