After almost a quarter century of revolution and Napoleonic dictatorship, France is again ruled by the Bourbon dynasty, in the person of Louis XVIII, the brother of the deposed and beheaded Louis XVI (Louis XVII, nephew of the current monarch, died in 1795 without ever having assumed the throne). Louis left France in 1791, critical of the direction in which the revolution was developing. Since his restoration to the throne, he has maintained many of the changes of the revolutionary period, and rules as a constitutional monarch. He is trying to steer a careful course between the reactionary element, led by his brother, Charles, Duc d�Artois, who wish to return France to the absolutist days of the ancien regime, and the radicals, who dislike what power the current monarch still possesses.
One may find a full account of Napoleon�s activities in the Napoleonic Wars in the section devoted to that topic. One might add here that Napoleon�s wars, especially his unsuccessful attempt to invade Russia, were disastrous for France�s population - hundreds of thousands of military-age Frenchmen died over the course of his wars.
At the height of Napoleon�s power, France commanded the largest, best-equipped, and most skilled army in Europe. Currently France is a nation under occupation by the allied powers, and the extent to which she will be allowed to rebuild her army and navy is a matter for discussion at the Congress.
France is a defeated nation, and seeks readmission to the circle of the great powers. It is the claim of the French officials in Vienna that Napoleon was a usurping tyrant whose wars were as much deplored by the current French government as they were by the governments of the allied powers. As such, the French hope to avoid crushing indemnities, debilitating limitations on their military, and humiliating occupation. Fortunately for France, the allies are following a long-established pattern of turning on each other, with Britain and Austria trying to contain the expansionist desires of Prussia and Russia. So, France is potentially well-placed to play a balancing role in the negotiations between the allies.
France is still strongly divided by factions, and one�s view of the French depends much upon which faction on believes a particular Frenchman belongs to: regicidal red republican, or reactionary and unrepentant royalist? Despite the protestations of the officials of the royal government, most people in Europe are suspicious of France for raising up Napoleon - it�s not as though he forced all those soldiers to serve in his armies� Even before the French Revolution, France was viewed with a mixture of envy and admiration for the dominance of its language and culture. French is still the official language of diplomacy in Europe, and the preferred language of the upper classes, and French thinkers and scientists are still influential, so many of these attitudes remain. If a stereotype of a �typical Frenchman� had to be drawn, he would be regarded as highly rational, well-educated, stylish, and somewhat suspect.