The Memory of Napoleon

Coming to Terms With the Past

The Vendôme Column

France went through several shifts in power over the course of the 19th century and the history of this column speaks to the concurrent attitude towards the recent history of the country. After the infamous initial revolution, Napoleon took power in a coup d'etat in 1801, declaring himself emperor in 1804. This column was initially created between 1806 and 1810, taking Trajan's Column as precedent. On top of the column stood a statue of Napoleon styled after a Roman Emperor.

Of course, Napoleon's regime came to an end (for good this time) at Waterloo in 1815 and in 1816 with Paris occupied by Allied forces, an effort was made to tear down the gigantic glorification of the man but the column remained. The line of Louis the XVI (the King killed in the initial Revolution) was brought back into power with Louis XVIII and Charles X who promptly took down the statue of Napoleon and melted it down to create a statue to an ancestor. Charles X's successor, Louis-Phillipe (who, for those keeping score ended up settling on a Constitutional Monarchy after the Revolution of 1830 (the one memorialized by the famous DeLacroix painting)) put up another statue of Napoleon atop the column that portrayed him in modern dress, taking the myth of Napoleon down a notch.

Alas, France was really just taste testing a Constitutional Monarchy and decided that it wasn't for them in 1848 and figured they might try out that whole Republic thing again and elected Louis-Napoleon, the Napoleon's nephew. And, for continuity's sake, Louis-Napoleon figured that he knew France really wanted an Empire and promptly only took three years to become dictator of the nation. The memory of his dear uncle was a little bit more important to him probably both due to respect and the fact that he gains credibility from him and precedent on the whole Emperor thing, so the statue that he placed at the top of the Vendôme Column was much more in line with the original in its style.

Come 1871, people in France were ready for change again. Since the initial revolution they had gone from Republic to Empire to Monarchy to Republic to Empire but to really shake things up this time the Paris Commune was formed, the first notable communist experiment. With some animosity towards Napoleons in general, the Vendôme Column was not safe. Gustave Courbet, an amazing artist of the time suggested that the Column should be taken down and rebuilt within the Hôtel des Invalides, a complex dedicated to the military in general with museums as well as the tomb of Napoleon himself. This plan was rejected, possibly because it was too respectful, because the column was torn down.

It was a formal event

The Paris Commune was soon dismantled and those in power decided to reconstruct the column with a replica of the initial statue on top. It was still a credible stance in 1870's France to be in favor of an Emperor like Napoleon before the Third Republic was truly on its feet. Although his plan wasn't chosen, Courbet was picked out as the scapegoat for the destruction of the monument and was supposed to pay for the entire restoration of the column. Unfortunately for France he died before he could pay anything.

The column still stands today in Place Vendôme. Of course, history has made people much more ambivalent towards Napoleon and he is often praised for his superior tactics in battle (except for that whole Russia thing) and respected for being a sort of underdog to bring all of Europe to its knees. It is, however, a great story of coming to terms with the past and cultivating an image to show the world.