The disastrous events of the Napoleonic wars, with the invasion of France by allied armies, the surrender of Paris in 1814, and, finally, the defeat at Waterloo in 1815, had a deep effect on Béranger, and gave a new stimulus and direction to his poetic output. After the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, he turned his pen against the establishment, opposing the antinationalist tendencies of the government, revolting against the absurdities of the day and celebrating the former glories of the republic. He became the national poet of France.