The Transition Years (Napoleon's World)

The Transition Years (French: Les années de transition), or simple the Transition, refers to the period of time in the early to mid-1970s in France defined by the end of the 1960-73 economic boom, the policy of détente pursued in Cold War relations, and the physical decline of Emperor Sebastien, his death, and the rise of his son Albert II. The Transition is generally defined as the period from 1973-76, coinciding with the mid-1970s recession, election of Clyde Dawley in the United States, and Sebastien I's stroke in December of 1973.

The Transition is remembered as a time of sudden feelings of national decline in France as the economy suffered and the strongman Emperor, a symbol of French strength, clearly ailed, while economies around the world boomed and the Cold War seemed to thaw to the United States' advantage, all while the reactionary social attitudes that had pervaded the 1960s started to unwind as children who had grown up with television and relative economic stability came of age. It ended with Albert II's "shock therapy" economic liberalization in the late 1970s, the return of Cold War hostilities as the Brazilian War began, and more progressive social attitudes became the norm during the 1980s and 1990s.