. And then, of course, once Napoleon makes it to the top, he explicitly frames his territorial go getting in terms of France „liberating“ other countries via exporting the revolution‘s gains to them
Which predates Napoleon: the revolutionaries were already "liberating" other countries in the first half of the 1790s. It started with local protests in Alsace and Avignon to join with revolutionary France, and the leaders of the revolution decided that the "will of the people" trumped any treaties made decades ago by old regime monarchs with old regime monarchs. Then it quickly evolved to "If the people of other countries are too stupid to know they want freedom, we will have to 'liberate' them! Invade!"
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Re: Swedish Genealogy and Succession Crises
Date: 2021-11-03 09:30 pm (UTC)Which predates Napoleon: the revolutionaries were already "liberating" other countries in the first half of the 1790s. It started with local protests in Alsace and Avignon to join with revolutionary France, and the leaders of the revolution decided that the "will of the people" trumped any treaties made decades ago by old regime monarchs with old regime monarchs. Then it quickly evolved to "If the people of other countries are too stupid to know they want freedom, we will have to 'liberate' them! Invade!"