« Tout devenait grand dans ce siècle. » Napoléon Bonaparte, fondateur de l'utopie uchronique dans Napoléon apocryphe, de Louis Geoffroy

Abstract

At a time when Bonapartists struggled to regain power in France, the writer Louis Geoffroy imagined his hero, Napoleon, conquering first Europe, then the world, all nations (even Russia, England) bowing to his irresistible drive which stretches to Africa and the Middle East, to China, Japan, and all Pacific islands, to the American continent–to the point where every nation and every aspect of government is under Napoleon’s thumb, History effectually comes to an end, and strife between nations gives way to spectacular scientific and technical invention. Beyond the gratifications of revanche-driven uchronia, Geoffroy’s work strikes a sinister note as civil liberties are sacrificed on the altar of peace and progress.