On May 5, 2021, France should commemorate the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's death and yet, nothing is planned for this occasion. On the left, Alexis Corbière launched the offensive by declaring that “the Republic does not have to celebrate its graver ”while on the right, Jean-Louis Debré considered that“ it would be a provocation ”.

However, Napoleon abode the favorite historical figure of the French, in front of General de Gaulle. What an example of integration is that of this little Corsican who did not speak French very well at the start before becoming the inventor of the modern state and the most powerful man in the world at his time.

Alexis Corbière and Jean-Louis Debré reproach Napoleon the reestablishment of slavery but by recontextualizing this fact in history, no country in the world had abolished slavery at the time. 

This fear of facing our own history sometimes leads to completely crazy scenarios as was the case in December 2005 when France, at the request of Jacques Chirac, had refused to commemorate the bicentenary of the battle of Austerlitz, the zenith of the Napoleonic epic while a few months later, she had participated in the commemorations of Trafalgar, a French defeat of Napoleon.