France’s political history after 1789 was marked by repeated shifts between monarchy, republic and empire. This overview traces the principal regimes from the Revolution through Napoleon, the restored Bourbons and the later republics.
For three centuries France and Britain have rebelled against religious authority, from Voltaire’s écrasez l’infâme to Nietzsche’s death of God and the modern satire of Private Eye and Le Canard enchaîné. Yet rebellion, once a weapon of liberation, has hardened into reflex. The challenge today is not to keep mocking but to recover conviction—before the state learns to silence even our laughter.