The French Revolution established Democracy in France in the 1790’s. As I understand, it became a monarchy (?) when Napoleon took over. After France was beaten in the Napoleonic Wars, and a King was installed, did the British/Prussians attempt to keep that king in power when France went democratic?

by Aquatax
dhmontgomery

Here is a hyper-condensed version of French history in the century after the onset of the French Revolution:

  • After calling the Estates General to help deal with France's fiscal crisis, King Louis XVI in 1789 was pressured by public opinion in Paris and the determination of the "Third Estate" delegates into ceding initiative to the Estates, which merged into a single National Assembly.
  • The National Assembly passes a lot of laws while reforming France in pretty drastic ways, including a 1790 abolition of noble privilege, before finally approving the Constitution of 1791, which establishes a constitutional monarchy with a separation of powers between the National Assembly and the king.
  • The Revolution turns more radical, escalated by the outbreak of war in 1792 between France and most of the rest of Europe. The French Republic is proclaimed in September 1792. The Republic itself goes through several phases, including the famous "Reign of Terror" when the Committee of Public Safety led by Maximilien Robespierre used force to suppress the regime's domestic enemies, and then a more moderate "Directory" in which power is held by group of five Directors. (Edit: the Directory also used force to suppress its domestic enemies, just not quite as bloodily.)
  • In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte and a group of other conspirators overthrows the Directory, by then seen as corrupt and ineffectual, and establishes a new form of government, the "Consulate," in which France is led by three consuls. Napoleon, the "First Consul," quickly outmaneuvers his rivals and effectively becomes the sole leader of France, but retains republican forms — think of modern-day leaders like Vladimir Putin, who are essentially dictators despite retaining elections, legislators, etc.
  • In 1804 Napoleon discards republicanism and, after a legitimizing plebiscite, crowns himself Emperor of the French (and not Emperor of France, which implied "France" was the monarch's personal possession). Though in practice Napoleon had complete power, the First French Empire was in form a constitutional monarchy, with elections and legislative bodies.
  • After Napoleon's first downfall in 1814, the great powers of Europe decide (after some debate) to restore King Louis XVI's younger brother as king, under the regnal name Louis XVIII. They also insist that Louis, to help cement his rule, issue a constitution; the Charter of 1814 sets up another constitutional monarchy (rather than the ancien régime's absolute monarchy) with an elected Chamber of Deputies and an appointed Chamber of Peers sharing power with the king. Though the king was the dominant actor in this system, elections to the Chamber of Deputies do matter, pushing Louis's government to the left and the right depending on the body's composition.
  • This government endures (with a hiccup when Napoleon returns for the Hundred Days in 1815) through 1830, when Louis's younger brother and heir Charles X is overthrown by the July Revolution. The July Revolution ends up keeping Louis's Charter of 1814, with some modest revisions, and the replacement of the arch-conservative Charles X with his more liberal cousin Louis-Philippe. Other powers of Europe consider invading to crush the July Revolution, but Louis-Philippe manages to persuade them he will not be a revolutionary monarch, and heads off invasion.
  • Louis-Philippe rules his constitutional monarchy until he's overthrown by another revolution in 1848. This sets up a republic, but there's not a serious possibility of other powers of Europe invading France to suppress it because revolution rapidly spreads to most of the continent, overthrowing or severely threatening most European countries (with the notable exceptions of Britain and Russia). The other powers are too busy to intervene even when Napoleon's nephew, Louis-Napoleon, is elected as the Second Republic's president.
  • Louis-Napoleon eventually launches his own coup and crowns himself Emperor Napoleon III. (Both Napoleon III and Louis XVIII skipped a number because they were counting the sons of Napoleon I and Louis XVI, who were never crowned but were treated as having been monarchs under the principle of succession.) Napoleon III rules, along much the same constitutional lines as his uncle's empire, until he abdicates after losing the Franco-Prussian War. A transitional regime headed by an elected assembly considers restoring a monarch to France, but ultimately republican forces triumph and consolidate what becomes the Third Republic. At this point no one in Europe is too alarmed at the establishment of a republican government in France — Russia is the only remaining major absolute monarchy on the continent, with Austria and the newly united kingdoms of Italy and Germany all constitutional monarchies.

Hopefully that overview of French history helps clarify things for you. If you still have a question after that, you can either ask it in the replies here (if it's a follow-up) or post it as a new question (if it's going in a new direction).