Two hundred years ago, on May 5, 1821, at the age of 52, Napoleon Bonaparte died.

Many legends and versions were associated with his death - this is inevitable given such a scale of the historical figure.

And he did not die, but fled to America, and the British poisoned him - either with lead or arsenic - or not poisoned, but starved to death with conditions of detention, etc.

But there is no need to invent essences unnecessarily. Napoleon died of cancer, a hereditary disease in his family. Carlo Bonaparte, his father, died of the same disease at age 38. And the emperor himself, making fun of his illness, said: "Cancer is Waterloo that went inside." So when in his will he wrote: "I am dying prematurely, killed by the English oligarchy," it was a purely political accusation. Like the jailer is responsible for the life of the prisoner. Imprisoned on a distant island - get it.

Fr. St. Helena, where the British sent the captive Napoleon in 1815, is, of course, not "desolate and gloomy granite", as the poets wrote.

The image of a hero chained to a rock is sinful of stilts.

The island is very green, the climate is fertile.

But to the nearest African coast 1800 km, to the American one - even further.

Even today it is a rare wilderness, but what happened two centuries ago?

The English frigate took the emperor into exile for two and a half months, the news of his death reached Europe only in July 1821.

And then the poetic heat spurred on.

Pushkin wrote then:

“The miraculous lot has taken place:

The great man died out.

In captivity, the gloomy rolled

Napoleon's Terrible Age ”. 

The end of the poem was unexpected:

"He to the Russian people

High lot indicated

And to the world eternal freedom

From the darkness he bequeathed exile. "

True, ten years later he wrote:

“... They fell into the abyss

We are the idol gravitating over the kingdoms

And redeemed with our blood

Europe's freedom, honor and peace. "

But, of course, after 1821 the Napoleonic legend began its wide march.

Instead of Denis-Davydovsky

"Thunders bloody deeds,

Eats a hundred thousand people

And gray with kings "-

sounded completely different.

"A little corporal, as well as a wise ruler who thinks only of France, dying of longing for his dear son - Eaglet, betrayed by his marshals."

"Airship", "Two Grenadiers", "Night View", etc.

The legend was especially spurred by the solemn transfer of the emperor's ashes from Fr.

St. Helena to the Parisian Les Invalides.

The Citizen King wanted to multiply the dull sheen of his crown with the image of past greatness.

The victorious march of the legend is not so unusual in history. See the modern Stalinist legend, also modeled after The Two Grenadiers: “Here, Emperor, your loyal soldier will rise to you from the grave!” And the nature of the legend is about the same - a revolt of consciousness against bourgeois squalor. I want glory, Caesars, victorious banners and great commanders. Such a desire will always arise from time to time.

And the scale of the historical personality will push for that.

Napoleon was called not only a great emperor, but also a cannibal and a Corsican monster.

Without going into the validity of the epithets, we note that in any case, he irreversibly turned the entire European world (that is, according to the then realities - the world in general).

The person who has made such a revolution will enjoy charm in the eyes of, if not all people, then many.

Caesar and the tribune will always fascinate - even in the "Internationale" it is sung about this. 

Although now, on the two-century anniversary of his death, the conditions for the victorious commemoration of the great emperor are not entirely favorable.

The legend really does not fit well with the current ideological fashion.

As ideologists, and especially ideologues, note, "Napoleon was a sexist, militarist and supporter of slavery - everything that has no place in modern Western society," that is, in a wonderful new world.

The French minister for equality, Elisabeth Moreno, called him "one of the greatest misogynists in history."

In a word, white cisgender "phallus" scum.

It's not even a Corsican monster, it will be worse. 

True, fashions are transitory.

Napoleon himself could have told a lot about the ideological fashions of the saints of the 90s (XVIII century), when there was also the kingdom of reason, and what was left of these fashions.

The lust for glory that arises from time to time will be more stable.

In any case, the top French authorities have declared 2021 the year of Napoleon and are organizing exhibitions and other events dedicated to the emperor.

President Macron, by his own habits, is a kind of Napoleon le petit himself, so that the fisherman sees the fisherman from afar.

The main thing is not to get on about.

St. Helena.

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.