The duality of the First French Republic and the First Empire is vividly demonstrated here!
The empire was not established by rebellion. The empire was established by Napoleon with the votes of the people and the support of a loyal and powerful army. This is not a simple change of dynasty!
Why was Napoleon able to get the support of many republican elders? Why did the people who had been nourished by the Great Revolution also give their votes to him?
The final analysis is that the First Empire was only the outer shell, but the inner core was actually the political legacy of the Great Revolution. Judging from the "Code Napoleon", a civil law code, it basically protected all the political demands of the Great Revolution.
Everyone is born equal, depriving the privileges of feudal nobles and clergy, and clarifying property rights laws to protect emerging capitalists!
It can be said very responsibly that the First Empire was just a façade of an empire, proposing an emperor to negotiate and coordinate with the European royal powers at that time.
And the stuffing inside the empire’s outer shell is still what the Republic is pursuing, which makes it easier for the people to accept it!
It is a pity that Napoleon's ideals were only half realized. His empire did satisfy many people in the country, but it did not deceive the shrewd monarchs of other European countries.
After they saw clearly the nature of the First Empire, their hatred was only slightly relieved but not completely eliminated!
This was followed by the third anti-French alliance, then the fourth, fifth, sixth...all the way to the seventh anti-French alliance at Waterloo!
It can be said that the entire Europe has tried its best to destroy the Republic. From the first anti-French alliance in 1793 to the end of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the entire Europe and France have been competing with France for 22 years!
All of Europe participated in these seven large-scale battles. Tens of millions of people provided services for the war, millions of soldiers strangled on the battlefield, and hundreds of thousands of people died!
It was a painful memory for the whole of Europe. Not only France did not want to recall it, but even the anti-French allies shuddered when they recalled it!
If we talk about the first few anti-French alliances, the purpose of the European monarchs was to eliminate the Republic, but the nature of the subsequent four or five anti-French alliances completely changed.
The Sixth and Seventh Anti-French Alliance can be said to be a battle between European monarchs united to fight Napoleon alone. At that time, they had completely given up the idea of destroying the idea of the Republic, but just did not want Napoleon to sweep across Europe.
Napoleon spent his whole life and countless battles, and what was the result?
It proved to the whole of Europe that the Revolution was correct and that the idea of a republic was not a fantasy!
Seeking peace through struggle will lead to peaceful survival! Seeking peace through compromise will lead to peaceful death!
Who said this? This is what the great man said! And Napoleon was the practitioner and forerunner of this idea!
The Great Revolution broke out in France, and all of Europe was the enemy of the Republic. Everyone wanted to kill France. At this time, Napoleon stood up and used brutal and bloody struggles to kill all the feudal emperors.
Since then, no European monarch has dreamed of completely destroying the republican system. The idea of the Revolution finally turned into a prairie fire. In the final analysis, it was thanks to Napoleon's 22 years of use of guns and cannons to protect it!
This is why the Napoleon family can easily be restored if they want to be restored. This is the fundamental reason why Napoleon III is such an idiot but can still get the support of countless people and soldiers!
Two sides of the same coin. The embodiment of the martial arts of the Great Revolution was entirely supported by Napoleon the Great. The memory of the 22 years of tragic war has been deeply rooted in the French national spirit!
All this has been seen through by Xiao Letian, and it has been written clearly in the report. This top-secret Chinese internal reference has now become a means for McMahon to motivate the soldiers!
At this moment, the genes left by the God of War in the blood of these French veterans were ignited and exploded, and the painful memory of almost losing the country once again emerged in their hearts.
In an instant, everything in the world changed one by one. The Prussian troops who attacked fiercely became demons in the minds of the French soldiers. They suddenly became the remnants of the feudal army that tried to destroy the fire of the Revolution!
The soldiers' hatred was quietly ignited!
McMahon was crying in his heart. He wanted to slap himself twice. He was so ashamed that he couldn't hold his head up!
"Why do I, the warrior of France, have to rely on Xiao Letian's theory to boost morale in the end?"
"Why did an Eastern warlord study the politics and history of our own country so thoroughly?"
"Why! Why on earth is this..."
McMahon pondered tangledly in his heart, unaware that the reserve regiment around him had already launched three bloody counterattacks.
The sculptural marshal sat on an ammunition box on the street. In addition to the officers and soldiers protecting him, there were French veterans who were shouting crazily for counterattack.
The marshal has completely inspired these soldiers to fight, and they finally know why they are fighting!
It turns out that the people outside Sedan are not just the hateful Prussians, it turns out that their war is not just to unify South Germany!
These Prussian soldiers are all minions of the feudal king! All they have to do is storm into Paris, destroy the Codex, and overthrow the Empire and the Republic!
These cruel enemies just want France to return to the evil Middle Ages!
They just want all free people to become slaves again!
It is unbearable! The French nation will never go back again!
Three thousand troops launched a counterattack against the Prussian position. At the moment when the entire Sedan front was suppressed by the Prussians, on the front where McMahon was located, the French veteran fiercely killed a Bulge!
The three thousand bloodthirsty veterans have forgotten life and death, and the ashes of the Revolution in their souls have burned with fire again. At this moment, they are only fighting for freedom!
“The freedom given to the people by the Great Revolution...can never be deprived!”
"The people are in position! France... fight back!"
Thousands of people shouted slogans of death, burning with the greatest flames in their lives, and rushed towards the enemy like a ferocious beast!
After three desperate charges, the salient was completely penetrated by these French veterans, and the entire Sedan encirclement was pierced by sharp awls!
"Marshal! We penetrated the Prussian line... a miracle!"
This battle is known in history as the Battle of the Bulge in the Battle of Sedan! This was the last swan song of the French army in the entire Franco-Prussian War!
