And this is all the more important given that the crisis of the Ancien Regime is closely related to, amongst other things, that of the elite groups. By ignoring the traditional historical boundaries, the historian can take a fundamental step towards comprehending the transition between the society of rank and the society of the 19th century. Since the Empire saw itself as the stabilising factor of a Revolution which had put an end to the hierarchical society of the Ancien Regime and the founder of a society which fulfilled the desires expressed at the end of the 18th century, study of this period should take the long view and so stimulate reflection and to help clarify the problems of social development.
Apart from the works of Louis Bergeron, writings on the social history of the First Empire have been hampered by gross short-sightedness, and this has concealed the true extent of the influence of the years of reconstruction in post-revolutionary France.
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