France Divided: The French and the Civil War in Spain par David Wingeate Pike

Abstract

Reviews 249 avec le déroulement linéaire des événements liés à la Révolution, plusieurs d’entre ces événements ayant d’ailleurs pu servir de point d’origine de la nouvelle ère. Perovic étudie minutieusement la dimension symbolique de la volonté de rupture qu’exprimait ce nouveau calendrier (un moyen pour la Révolution de faire table rase du passé). Cependant, il aurait été utile d’apporter plus de précisions quant aux effets pratiques de cette transformation radicale des rythmes de la vie quotidienne. Par exemple, quelles furent les réactions des paysans et des employés à l’innovation des mois divisés en trois décades, innovation qui, suivant le principe décimal, instaurait un jour de repos tous les dix jours, au lieu du dimanche hebdomadaire traditionnel? Pourquoi la division décimale de la journée (il était initialement prévu que chaque jour serait divisée en dix heures) n’a-t-elle jamais été appliquée? Si les lecteurs risquent de rester sur leur faim en ce qui concerne les conséquences matérielles et sociales de l’instauration du calendrier républicain, ils n’en trouveront pas moins dans ce livre une étude de grande envergure sur les conceptions fluctuantes du temps et de l’histoire durant la période révolutionnaire. Western Washington University Edward Ousselin Pike,DavidWingeate. France Divided: The French and the CivilWar in Spain.Brighton: Sussex AP, 2011. ISBN 978-1-84519-490-1. Pp. 433. £80. The bloody Spanish Civil War between Republicans and Nationalists (July 1936– April 1939) can be considered as a dress rehearsal for World War II. Not only did it pit future allies, such as democratic England and France and the Communist Soviet Union, against the fascist powers of Germany and Italy, it also initiated the disastrous Western policy of appeasement of dictators that fed Hitler’s ambitions. Civil war broke out in Spain when a number of generals, among them Franco, staged a coup against the democratically elected Popular Front government and quickly took control of the south and west. However, for much of the war a stalemate prevailed with neither side able to win a decisive victory. In France at the very same time (July 1936), Léon Blum’s Popular Front government came to power but, although it would have liked to assist the legitimate republican government of Spain, could not or dared not for fear of upsetting a delicate balance of power in France, possibly igniting a French civil war and maybe even provoking an international incident. France and England cautioned the Axis powers not to intervene either; but they did nevertheless. France occasionally looked the other way when it came to letting supplies or soldiers from the International Brigades into Spain, but remained reluctant to openly send aid to the Republicans. Both France and England belatedly began to rearm, finally realizing that war with Germany was fairly certain but by then it was too late to stop the Nazi juggernaut. Ironically, Franco’s Spain remained neutral during the war and survived the demise of both Hitler and Mussolini. Pike’s book presupposes some knowledge of the Spanish Civil War because it focuses almost exclusively on the war of words in France, in the press, between supporters and opponents of intervention, showing how French journalists and writers—some admirably objective, others violently partisan—at once expressed but also manipulated public opinion to suit their ideological purposes. Through the lens of French newspapers, the reader is treated to op-eds, reports from Spain (including from the battle front), outright propaganda, and current events (frontier incidents,the delivery of arms,the arrival of foreign volunteers,and espionage activities). However, it remains uncertain to what extent public opinion was swayed by the press since opinion polls had not yet become the norm to gauge it. In all likelihood the press is still the most reliable barometer of public opinion—though we should note that the truth is usually the first victim of war. This original, meticulouslyresearched , and well-written study features several useful appendices, including an annotated list of important personages and a brief history of the French press. It will...