For observers of French politics, centralism has been a characteristic and fascinating feature of the emerging absolutism since the seventeenth century. It was considered necessary to meet the upcoming challenges – the creation of a unified financial and domestic market as well as a consolidated army for securing hegemony abroad – quickly and efficiently. However, this discourse only made up part of French political thought, as there was also a centuries-long struggle for regional autonomy and local self-government in France, which did not end even after the French Revolution, flared up again under Napoléon Bonaparte, and was bitterly continued during the July Monarchy.