Description

Bonapartism and Revolutionary Tradition in France is a study of the fédérés, the massive paramilitary political movement that supported Napoleon throughout France in 1815. The first part analyzes the political and social character of the fédérés, their organization, activities, ideology and self-interest. Professor Alexander shows how groups divided by events after 1789 reunited in 1815 in common opposition to Bourbon rule. He explains why Napoleon encouraged this surprising development, despite the fact that the movement was largely led by old Jacobins. Part Two discusses how fédérés went on to organize opposition to the Second Restoration and pave the way for the Revolution of 1830. This study is crucial to the socio-political history of France from 1789-1830, in that it demonstrates clearly continuities in revolutionary personnel throughout the period, and shows how revolutionary tradition and Bonapartism came to fuse in 1815--a development of profound significance for the subsequent course of French history.