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Re: Queen mother (of Britai...

Arkady
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SubjectRe: Queen mother (of Britain) has died
FromArkady
Date2002-04-03 21:26 (2002-04-03 19:26)
Message-ID<a8fl18$q3a$1@helle.btinternet.com>
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Newsgroupsalt.fan.tolkien
FollowsAC
"AC" <spam@nospam.com>wrote in message news:3cab4193.151583265@news2.randori.com...

AC
On Wed, 3 Apr 2002 14:32:53 +0000 (UTC), "Arkady" <Redarkady@hotmail.com>wrote:

Arkady
"AC" <spam@nospam.com>wrote in message news:3caa2f50.81360249@news2.randori.com...

AC
On Tue, 02 Apr 2002 21:58:18 GMT, "Jette Goldie" <jetteREMOVE@blueyonder.co.uk>wrote:

Well, maybe Brits won't have to worry about the Monarchy much longer. The Windsors will be replaced by a bunch of vampiric Eurocrats and Continental judiciaries, finally completing Napoleon's invasion of Britain a couple of centuries late.

Arkady
Paranoid Europhobia aside, studying Napoleonic history actually brought

me

to the conclusion that Bonaparte's defeat was a historical tragedy.

AC
To some extent I agree with you. However, Napoleon was not the democratic darling that he had everybody believe. By marrying a Habsburg, he was not attempting to bring democracy to the Germans, most scholars agree that he was seeking no less than the rejuvination of the Holy Roman Empire with himself as a new Charlemagne. I can well understand the Brits and Prussians being more than a little upset about the thought of a French military genius holding the reigns of both the Revolution and the only thing that ever came close to a European Empire.

Indeed! But though the Emperor's blend of Conservatism and revolution is (perhaps) rather unsuited to modern circumstances, I suspect it was the most suitable system for Europe at the time, at least from the perspective of the average man. Particularly if it had successfully led to the creation of a pan-European Empire at peace with its neighbours. Obviously it had negative features if you belonged to the house of Habsburg, Romanov, Sax-Coburg-Gotha, etc, but I am not one for taking those concerns into account! Imp not so naive as to take Napoleon at his St-Helena based word that victory would have led to his 'constitutional rule' where he would reorganise his "empire federal" (excuse the lack of accents) on national grounds and implement democracy. But one cannot help but think that even a watered-down version of this would have been better for Europe than the tyrannies of Russia and Austria.

Arky