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The end of the 18th century was the end of the old world, with its shaved faces. Revolutions brought in the romantic bearded appearance. Europe saw a resurgence of the beard after the Napoleonic Wars, culminating in the revolutionary year of 1848. Goatees and moustaches adorned the revolutionaries, and also the new emperor, Franz Josef I. Soon, many European crowned heads (for example, French Emperor Napoleon III, Russian Tsar Alexander III and Prussian King Friedrich III) were displaying magnificent beards. Monarchs led by example, and thus the second half of the 19th century became the “golden era” for beards. However, all of that was ended by the First World War. The beard didn‘t fit the battlefield (mainly because of newly developed chemical weapons and the need to wear gasmasks), and the golden time of the beard ended.
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