War In France Research Articles

When Comics Become Part of a Thesis Project

Abstract This article outlines my doctoral thesis project that began in October 2021. Given the interdisciplinary nature of this hybrid doctoral project, the challenge is twofold. First, bridging the gap between a historical analysis of an object of study, using archival research and, second, a self-reflection on the production of a comic strip, its communication and accessibility, both requiring constant adaptation of the methodology. The first part of the thesis is concerned with answering the research questions relating to wartime godmothers during the First World War in France. Numerous sources have been identified to answer these questions. The second part of the thesis is the creation of a fictional comic strip in collaboration with a female cartoonist. Given that this is a work in progress, the article sets out the initial results and highlights the benefits and challenges of this interdisciplinary practice that have been discovered so far.

The Crimean War and Cultural Memory: The War France Won and Forgot

The Crimean War and Cultural Memory: The War France Won and Forgot

Creating the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’: early socialist literature on the Paris Commune in Britain and the United States

ABSTRACT School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, Faculty of Arts, Australia This article analyses the role of early radical and socialist texts in forming the understanding of the Paris Commune in Britain and the United States. The Commune, while a French event, came to be associated with socialists, radicals, and as a symbol of internationalism. Marx’s The Civil War in France established the interpretation of the Commune that would see it become a radical shibboleth. This article analyses articles by Edward Beesly, Lissagaray’s History of the Commune of 1871, E.B Bax’s Short History of the Commune, and Lenin’s State and Revolution to trace the influences of Marx’s interpretation. This analysis includes examination of the radical publishers in both Britain and the United States to explore how these texts were edited and changed, and how they were circulated to reach the intended working-class audience. The article’s core questions are where did this interpretation come from, how was it constructed, and how did it come to dominate the interpretation of the Commune. This is significant due to the Commune’s pre-eminence within socialist history and how it became an example of the ‘Dictatorship of the Proletariat’ for many future revolutionaries.

Socialism, the market and the state. Another view: socialism vs proudhonism: reprinted from volume 3, issue 1

Many replies are possible to Professor Selucky's essay. The easiest and the least interesting is to refute the argument that Marx was in favour of decentralised, self-governing communes, without any form of centralised control. The clearest refutation of Selucky's thesis and of his own quotation is to read the context of the quotation which he cites as evidence. All Marx actually says in this connexion in The Civil War in France is that the Central Government must be connected to the local units in the most democratic fashion possible. He explicitly states that ‘the unity of the nation was not to be broken’; he speaks of this unity being a ‘powerful coefficient of social production’; he refers to the ‘few but important functions’ of the central government, and then produces, a few pages later, a clear statement which gives very little support to the views of Selucky: ‘If co-operative production is not to remain a sham and a snare; if it is to supersede the Capitalist system; if united co-operative societies are to regulate national production upon a common plan, thus taking it under their own control, and putting an end to the constant anarchy and periodical convulsions which are the fatality of Capitalist production — what else, gentlemen, would it be but Communism, “possible” Communism?' In other words, Marx is consistent in arguing both against the market and the state. It becomes difficult then, to accept even the introduction of Selucky's article, where he speaks of two schools of Marxists which are divided over the use of the market.

Metacrisis, not civil war: Examining France's unrest in June/July 2023

In this commentary, I examine the urban riots that took place in France at the end of June and early July 2023 to assess the levels of violence and the response of the French government. I argue that the unrest did not represent the brink of a civil war, as wrongly claimed by dark journalistic assessments and dominant right-wing political discourses, but pertained to a more profound condition of metacrisis (a state where a crisis enters a crisis of its own and a dangerous situation of social strife ensues). Tracing recent discourses and imaginaries of civil war in France and discussing political theorist Albena Azmanova's notion of metacrisis in relation to Thucydides's notion of stasis (social strife), I further reflect on how the banlieues (the marginalised suburbs from where the riots originated) crystallise France's metacrisis, that is, how crisis in the banlieues became a crisis of its own and was already a multi-crisis grounded in France's (post)colonial heritage, deindustrialisation strategy, and problematic policing politics, and how it echoes other pleas for decent politics and social justice in France.

The Little Golden Books in the Shadow of the CIA, or the Americanization of Children's Publishing in Cold War France

Abstract: In 1949, a new French publishing house, named Cocorico, launched a brand new collection called "Un petit livre d'or". In fact, it was simply a translation of the American "Little Golden Books" series. These cheap, cheerful and colourful picturebooks for the children of postwar Europe enjoyed immediate success. But the importation into Europe of the concept of "little golden books" had roots far beyond the simple framework of children's publishing and became part of the cultural Cold War," "book diplomacy," and the policy of "containment." All this was orchestrated by a multi-faceted dual national Franco-American, Georges Duplaix, who worked for the CIA.

Through Artillery from Thrust to Fire: How Prussian Military Thinking Anticipated Emergent Warfare in 1870

Reassessing the reasons for the German military success over France in War of 1870 up to the Battle of Sedan, we relate on publications of contemporary artillery generals, such as Kraft zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen and put the topic into the broader context of warfare since the 1866 German War. We reject the idea of success, being simply based on armament or a special ‘soldierly spirit’, but argue that the main reason for military success was based on reorganization of the Prussian artillery, which paved the way to the future ‘battle of combined arms’ and the dominance of fire over thrust.

Clerical Child Sexual Abuse and the Culture Wars in France, 1891–1913

AbstractThis article investigates clerical child sexual abuse in the first decades of the French Third Republic. Thanks in large part to the difficulty of accessing relevant archival records, we know very little about this crime or how it was investigated by judicial officials. This study addresses this gap by drawing on a rich and untapped collection of correspondence between local prosecutors and the Ministry of Justice in Paris. The files reveal the process for investigating and prosecuting abusive priests, as well as the reverberations within local communities. Though generated by the state rather than the church, they offer an insight as well into the response of ecclesiastical authorities. Finally, they shed light on the relationship between clerical crime and the culture wars pitting French republicans against Catholics, a conflict that was reaching a peak of intensity in this period. What emerges from this study is an appreciation of the personal toll and political impact of clerical sexual abuse, as well as a new perspective on the recent scandals which have engulfed the Catholic church in a range of nations.

Review of A. Forrest's "Beyond the Edge of the Battlefield. The life of the military during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars"

The article analyzes the work of the English historian A. Forrest, devoted to the study of the individual experience of the military during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Forrest departs from the traditional view of the history of war as the history of battles and focuses his attention on various aspects of the daily life soldiers, such as enlistment, interaction with foreigners during foreign campaigns, captivity, demobilization and the life of veterans after the end of the war. The author pays special attention to the discrepancies between propaganda and the realities of soldier's life and casts doubt on the formation of a new type of revolutionary soldier, postulated by revolutionary propaganda. As shortcomings of the book, one can single out some ignorance by the author of data that contradicts his statement about the complete apoliticality of peasants, who formed the basis of the army of revolutionary France, and their alienation to revolutionary values. Besides the author does not always clearly distinguish the Jacobin army and the army of the Napoleonic time, attributing later features to the former, therefore important details regarding the war nature evolution may be lost. Separately, the author considers the construction of historical memory of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars in France.

HISTORICAL EVENTS OF SECOND WORLD WAR IN FRANCE IN HANNAH’S THE NIGHTINGALE NOVEL: HISTORICISM APPROACH

The Second World War is a big event that happened in the past which involved almost all countries in the world and was recorded in the history of human life. The Nightingale is a novel set in the Second World War in France, written by Kristin Hannah. This research aims to find out and explain about historical events of the Second World War in France portrayed in The Nightingale novel using historicism. It is an approach that relates to the historical contexts themselves in understanding the history that exists in a literary work. In addition, this research also used a qualitative method was employed to fulfill the objectives of this research. The results showed that The Nightingale novel portrayed the historical events of the Second World War in France. Those descriptions of historical events were the Fall of France, Vichy in the persecution of the Jews, French resistance, and the liberation of France. In this case, the descriptions of these historical events were mostly portrayed in narration by Kristin Hannah.

Rhinos and Hippos, Oh My!

Abstract Laurent Obertone is virtually unknown outside the French-speaking world. The author of bestselling fiction and nonfiction works on crime, immigration, and civil war in France, Obertone maintains a cult following despite being exiled from mainstream media. This article examines the motifs of Obertone's work, focusing on human domestication, that is, the tendency of prosperous societies to excuse criminal behavior due to guilt, virtue signaling, and fear of conflict. Obertone sees French judicial laxity as a product of misguided humanitarianism coupled with status competition among elites to show the greatest indulgence toward criminals. This attitude is pushing France toward civil conflict, as criminals take advantage of a culture de l'excuse. Ultimately, Obertone's critique is of the “open society” consensus of the postwar West. Anti-authoritarian impulses are maladaptive in a climate of mass immigration and rapid social change, and if France does not take maintaining order seriously, the result will be catastrophic.

Study of Chiang Kai-shek's Foreign Policy during the Anti-Japanese War

Around 1903' s, China faced the huge threat of Japan's full-scale invasion of China and the serious struggle against Japanese aggression. The "two-pronged" policy of unremitting struggle against Japan and seeking international assistance has become the focus of Nanjing National Government headed by Chiang Kai-shek. The Soviet Union had made great efforts to aid China, but because of Chiang Kai-shek's anti-Soviet policy and Britain and France's war in Europe, Chiang Kai-shek only hoped for the support of the United States. In 1938, after the negotiation between China and Britain on the British loan to China failed, Chiang Kai-shek decisively adjusted his wartime foreign policy, recalled Wang Zhengting, who was not very popular with the United States, reused pro-American people, and appointed Hu Shi, a famous international scholar with high prestige, as ambassador to the United States. As the only legitimate government in China at that time, the Chinese Kuomintang government, in addition to establishing the national anti-Japanese national united front on the basis of Kuomintang Communist cooperation in politics, cooperated militarily with the front battlefield of the Kuomintang and the battlefield behind the enemy opened and led by our party to jointly resist the enemy and fight against the Japanese aggressors. In terms of diplomacy, the Kuomintang government also actively carried out diplomatic activities and sought assistance from the international community to support China's cause of anti-Japanese war.

Leaving the Pyrenees: France and Frenchmen as Perceived by British Soldiers in 1813–1814

Under the command of Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, the future first Duke of Wellington, the British Army was one of the main participants of the military conflict on the Iberian Peninsula in 1808–1814. In the autumn of 1813, fighting on the side of the Spaniards and the Portuguese against the French Army, Wellington’s army ousted the enemy from the Spanish territories and launched an offensive on French lands. This article focuses on the reception of the image of France and the French in the diaries, letters, and memoirs of British soldiers and officers who participated in the war in France in 1813–1814. After leaving the Pyrenees, the British combatants believed they had returned to enlightened Europe from the “semi-civilized” Spain and Portugal. At the same time, the British image of the French combined elements of Gallophilia and Gallophobia that dominated in English society in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. On the one hand, British military narratives contained favourable characterisations of the locals whom King George III’s soldiers seemed to be freeing from Napoleon’s tyrannical rule. British officers noted such positive qualities of the French as politeness, gallantry, and friendliness. On the other hand, for the British military, the French Army became the personification of the “Other”. The texts of the English combatants described the soldiers of Soult’s army as cruel people capable of robbing and ruining their compatriots, and the French officers were perceived by the British military as self-interested careerists, ready to serve as a tool in the hands of Napoleon for the sake of promotion.

Chronicle of the Arrest of Marguerite de Valois in 1586 (Based on Royal Correspondence from the National Library of Russia)

The article is based on the original letters of the French king Henry III, his mother Catherine de Medicis to the Secretary of State Nicolas de Villeroy in October-November 1586, conserved as part of the collection of Peter Dubrovsky in the Russian National Library. These letters focus on an important episode in the history of the Civil Wars in France, circumstances of the arrest of the king’s rebellious sister, Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre, a supporter of the Catholic League, and her itineraries in the fall of 1586 in Auvergne. This subject has not yet fully studied in the works of historians. Thanks to unknown documents, introduced now into scientific circulation, it becomes possible to understand the logic of the adoption, sequence and coordination of royal decisions regarding Marguerite, as well as the choice of couriers, the time and possibilities of delivering these decisions to recipients.

A Geopolitical Perspective on Some Early Developments in Egyptology: Lepsius at the Second International Congress of Orientalists (1874)منظور جغرافي-سياسي حول بعض التطورات المبكرة في علم المصريات: المُؤْتَمَر الدولي الثاني للمستشرقين في لندن (١٨٧٤)

This article investigates the effects of the Second International Congress of Orientalists (London, 1874) on Egyptology. During the congress, Lepsius gained support for three initiatives for new projects. This first concerned the establishment of a transliteration system for Egyptian, the second the establishment of a list of hieroglyphic symbols, and the third a publication of the extant sources of the Book of the Dead. The study first gives an overview of the developments in Egyptology in the nineteenth century and the entanglement of Egyptology with international politics and commerce, a constellation in which French Egyptology was for a long time the most influential by far. In the debate on what is today called the Book of the Dead it is shown how French Egyptology, mostly followed by British Egyptology, interpreted texts of this genre following Champollion’s idea that is was a ‘(Grand) rituel funéraire’. In the footsteps of Lepsius, German Egyptologists, however, rather spoke of the Todtenbuch, a different terminology which at the same time reflected a very different conception of what these texts really were. In this debate, Lepsius chose to ignore the strong arguments marshaled by de Rougé in favor of Champollion’s interpretation. In the 1870s this debate had reached a stalemate. The article argues that the German victory over France in the Franco-German war (1871) created new conditions that enabled Lepsius to make decisive steps in promoting his Todtenbuch hypothesis.

Groza konfliktów religijnych we Francji w Kronice Pierre’a Belona du Mans (1517-1564)

PIERRE BELON, naturalist and traveler of the 16th century, known for his publications in the field of botany and zoology, and above all for his account of the voyage to the Levant (1546-1549), is also the author of the Cronique, unpublished in the sixteenth century. This polemical work describes the events of the beginning of the French Wars of Religion that Belon witnessed. It consists of a speech addressed to King Charles IX and two accounts of the sieges: that of Moulins imposed by the Huguenots and that of Bourges by the royal army. The Cronique is an important source of information on the religious and political conflicts between Catholics and Huguenots. The article presents the historical context of the events described by Belon as well as the circumstances of the creation of the work. The selected fragments show issues addressed by the author such as the horror of religious conflict, the horror of war, the fear experienced by the people and the apocalyptic vision of the future of France. Although Belon was first and foremost a doctor and naturalist, he showed great interest in the language and coined many neologisms that defined the Huguenots and their activities. The value of the Cronique resides above all in the fact that, thanks to the observations it contains, it makes it possible to better understand the atmosphere of the tragic period of the fratricidal wars in France.

Seeking an intersectional “convergence des luttes” in the occupied theaters of Marseille

In recent culture wars in France, critics claim that intersectionality “fractures everything” (Emmanuel Macron, Le Point). Stéphane Beaud and Gérard Noiriel argue that “identitarian” discourses—and an emphasis on race in particular—have contributed to divisions in popular classes and divided progressive activists (Le Monde Diplomatique). At issue in these debates is whether explicit references to modes of gendered and racialized oppression will be recognized as legitimately universalist in accordance with the French republican tradition, a question explicitly addressed by recent scholarship proposing a rethinking of universalism—more “concrete” for Lépinard and Mazouz (2021) and more “inclusive” for Hourya Bentouhami (2020). This article examines the occupation of two theaters in Marseille as a setting where universalist ideals about citizenship were expressed and put into practice. In March 2021, more than 100 theaters were occupied across France, some by the CGT (Confédération Générale du Travail) union, and some by theater students. Whereas unions prioritized economic issues in the arts sector, students framed the occupations as a broader struggle against racism, sexism, police violence, and environmental degradation, arguing that these must be considered together. Drawing on interviews and occupation documents, this article examines the differences and points of alignment between students and unions. This analysis highlights points of collaboration and exchange, and also shows how the intersectional priorities of students extended the scope of the occupations to include other marginalized populations. Here, an intersectional approach fostered collaboration not only across two currents of social justice activism, but also with other partners across the urban territory of Marseille, thereby showing intersectionality’s value and compatibility within contemporary French social justice activism.

Fitting national interests with populist opportunities: intervention politics on the European radical right

As European radical right parties grow in influence, and as foreign and security policy becomes more politicised, these parties have increasing potential to shape national debates on international affairs. This paper shows how radical right opposition parties seek to exploit policy dilemmas surrounding military intervention according to the nature of the political opportunity these dilemmas present in specific national settings. Its findings are based on qualitative comparative case studies of Front National, AfD and UKIP responses to intervention debates surrounding the Syrian civil war in France, Germany and the UK. I find that non-intervention is not an absolute value for radical right parties. Whilst liberal-humanitarian interventions are uniformly rejected, interventions on national security grounds, whether to combat Jihadist threats or prevent uncontrolled migration, prompt a range of responses shaped by the domestic political context. Yet even where these parties back intervention in votes, their discourse focuses on fitting the issue to the populist dimensions of their political agenda, especially attacking mainstream rivals for incompetence, duplicity or incoherence, and failing to protect the sovereignty and ethnic integrity of the nation.

벨 에포크 시대의 문화와 드뷔시의 인상주의 음악

The period from about 1871 to the outbreak of the First World War in France in 1914 was a golden age called ‘Belle Époque’, which means beautiful era in French. Economically, through the Industrial Revolution, culture and art flourished centered on Paris, and democracy was developed through the establishment of democratic procedures through the civil revolution. The musical characteristics that emerged in the Belle Epoque era stemmed from cultural backgrounds. These extra-cultural influences and the spread of cultural capabilities led to the birth of new cultural trends such as impressionism, and the activities of impressionist musicians and artists contributed to making the Belle Epoque era more splendid. This study sheds light on the new trends and characteristics of the music field where the Belle Epoque can be most conscious of. And this study examines the music of Debussy, who represented Belle Epoque with impressionism, and analyzes the influence of contemporary cultural background on his music. This study is meaningful in suggesting a new hope for a beautiful period and cultural development by examining the splendid period brought about by the times and social changes in the development of international culture and emphasizing the influence that the era of peace and stability had on cultural formation. Debussy, who is indispensable in the French musical art of the Belle Epoque era, is regarded as a representative composer of impressionism, which influenced Satie and Lex Six by expressing a dreamlike feeling with impressionist characteristics, and using scales and instruments that express exotic emotions. Debussy created beautiful and musically expressive melodies without breaking with the musical conventions of his past. Furthermore, in order to express the beauty of all things in the Belle Epoque period, the feeling of light and water was expressed through sound, occupying a unique position in the generation in which the paradigm of modern music and art was changing.

Resistance in Postwar France: Five New and Noteworthy Histories

Historians of modern Europe have long seen the tragic events of the Second World War in France as a major caesura in the history of that nation. But eighty years later, do the legacies of the war still help us understand postwar France and its political divisions? The five superb books under review make a strong case that the fracturing experiences of defeat, Vichy and the Resistance shaped some of the most important subsequent developments in France in ways that previous historians have failed to recognise. The developments identified by these authors include the waxing and waning of Resistance myths as part of a contested deportation memory landscape, an anti-authoritarian résistant psychiatry born in 1940 that went on to revolutionise French theories of alienation in the face of both Stalinism and postwar capitalism, and rural resistance to the state-led transformation of the countryside as part of France's postwar economic modernisation. Collectively they point to a larger takeaway for historians of postwar Europe: oppositional movements in France may resemble similar movements elsewhere in a Western context marked by Cold War tensions and, more recently, globalisation; but these protests are also always following a script haunted in part by the trauma of France's war years – a past that has not passed, even eight decades later.