Robert Zaretsky: A Roller Coaster Ride of an Empire

THE French empire is back — this time, though, rather than coming to you, you will need to go to it.

Earlier this month, Yves Jégo, the mayor of a small town southeast of Paris, officially announced his plans for the Bivouac de Montereau, better known as Napoleonland — an amusement park commemorating French history, with an emphasis on the emperor’s achievements, that will rival nearby EuroDisney....

Against the background of a dispiriting presidential campaign, an anemic economy and a deepening social divide — not to mention this year’s 200th anniversary of Berezina, a word long synonymous in French with “disaster” — now seems like an odd time to announce the empire’s return. But the French seem to be hoping that such a park might galvanize not just the local economy but also a national sense of purpose.

Napoleonland’s best historical precedent suggests that only one of these hopes is justified. During the World Exposition of 1889, held to mark the centenary of the French Revolution, the French similarly turned to the past for the stuff of a theme park. The exposition included a replica of the Bastille, as well as more modern attractions, like the Gallery of Machines and the new Eiffel Tower....

Today, the debate over the revolution is the affair of historians; in 1889, it was the affair of citizens. For those on the left, the revolution had given the world a nation based on the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity; for those on the right, it had given the world a nation awash in the blood spilled by the guillotine. When the exposition opened, conservatives saw the crowds it attracted as the dregs of society unleashed by the revolution. Recoiling in front of “the vast bestial joy” of the visiting masses, the critic Edmond de Goncourt shuddered at the thought of France’s democratic future....