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Tag Archives: Franco-Prussian War

The Paris Commune, 1871

24 Sunday May 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in 19th-Century France, France

≈ Comments Off on The Paris Commune, 1871

Tags

Communards, Commune de Paris, Franco-Prussian War, La Semaine sanglante, Le Temps des cerises, Nineteenth-Century France, Paris Commune, The Third Republic

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A few years ago, I posted an article on the 19th century in Franch. The post did not include a discussion of the Franco-Prussian War and the Third Republic, which was in fact a first Republic. This post is not a discussion of the entire thirty years of the 19th century in France, but it sheds light on the Franco-Prussian War (1870), the Paris Commune in particular and therefore Le Temps des cerises.

Le Temps des cerises is dedicated to The Paris Commune of 1871, and more precisely to one ambulancière. The Communards were eliminated, but it was a golden age one mourned. In À la claire fontaine, a love song, French-speaking Canadians mourn France. It is a metamorphosis. France is a woman.

The Unification of Germany

  • the nineteenth century: monarchs and emperors
  • three Republics: 1792, 1848, 1871

In the earlier part of the 19th century, Germany consisted in several German-language states. These were unified under Otto von Bismarck. Bismarck failed to bring Austria under the fold, but he was otherwise successful. Italy was also unified in the 19th under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi.

In the above-mentioned post, entitled The Nineteenth-Century in France, I described two Empires and two Monarchies (three kings). The post showed that the Monarchy in France did not end on 21 January 1793, the day Louis XVI was guillotined. His son, Louis XVII, died in captivity in 1795 at the age of 10. He was at best a titular King. After Louis XVI’s execution, the Republic was ruled by the National Convention, a revolutionary government. France was again a republic in 1848, though shortly. Its duly-elected President was Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte who proclaimed himself Emperor of the French. (See 1851 French coup d’état, Wiki2.org.)

Napoleon III declared war on Prussia in July 1870, but France was defeated at the Battle of Sedan and Napoleon III was captured. After his release, he went to England where he died on 9 January 1873. It is as though France had finally become a genuine Republic, but it had lost and grieved Alsace-Lorraine and had to pay penalties.

The Third Republic

  • The Paris Commune, a vanishing dream
  • a lingering Monarchy

The Third French Republic would last until 1940, when France fell to Nazi Germany. The first president of the Third Republic was Adolphe Thiers who, to a certain extent, was a figurehead. The French envisioned a monarchy until 1880. So, the monarchy lingered.

Moreover, the Third Republic had its government in Tours, the Communards ruled Paris. They had ruled Paris since 18 March 1971. The Paris commune was a government by radical socialists and revolutionaries. (See The Paris Commune, Wiki2.org.) The new Republic sent the National Guard to Paris to quell the communards. Several members of the National Guard joined the communards. So did a young woman, an ambulancière (a nurse) who was killed. Louise Michel wrote about her in La Commune Histoire et Souvenirs (1898). (See Le Temps des cerises, footnote I, Wiki.org)

Au moment où vont partir leurs derniers coups, une jeune fille venant de la barricade de la rue Saint-Maur arrive, leur offrant ses services : ils voulaient l’éloigner de cet endroit de mort, elle resta malgré eux. Quelques instants après, la barricade jetant en une formidable explosion tout ce qui lui restait de mitraille mourut dans cette décharge énorme, que nous entendîmes de Satory, ceux qui étaient prisonniers ; à l’ambulancière de la dernière barricade et de la dernière heure, J.-B. Clément dédia longtemps après la chanson des cerises. Personne ne la revit.[…] La Commune était morte, ensevelissant avec elle des milliers de héros inconnus.

As they were about to fire their last shots, a young woman [une ambulancière/ a nurse], coming from the barricade of Saint-Maur street, arrived, offering her services: they could not send her away from this place of death, she stayed despite their entreaties. A few moments later, the barricade exploded and all that remained of its ammunition died. From Satory [near Versailles], we heard those who had been taken prisoners [say]; from the nurse of the last barricade and of the last hour (…). No one saw her again. The Commune had died burying thousands of unknown heroes.

Below is the song of the communards, composed by Jean Baptiste Clément.

Literary works are associated with the Franco-Prussian War. Particularly famous are:

  • La Dernière classe, by Alphonse Daudet (a short story) in Les Contes du lundi
  • Le Dormeur du Val, by Arthur Rimbaud (a poem) FR
  • Victor Hugo‘s writings. He fled to Jersey, a channel island.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • The King’s Swiss Guard (14 September 2018)
  • The Nineteenth Century in France (28 July 2018)

Sources and Resources

Alphonse Daudet’s Les Contes du lundi is a Wikisource publication FR
See page, The French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte

—ooo—

Love to everyone 💕
We now return to the Pandemic in Canada, its epicentre remaining Montreal.

Texte 1871 de Jean-Baptiste Clément
Interprétation 1969 Marc OGERET
La Commune de Paris / La Semaine sanglante

Le Temps des cerises, Hervé David, accompagné au piano par Benjamin Intartaglia.

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© Micheline Walker
24 May 2020
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Quand nous chanterons le temps des cerises…

21 Thursday May 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in France, Love, War

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Antoine Renard, English translation, Franco-Prussian War, French original, Jean-Baptiste Clément, Le Temps des cerises, Manuel Cerda, Paris Commune, Salvatore Postiglione, Yves Montand

Cherry Time Salvatore Postiglione
 
Quand nous chanterons le temps des cerises
When we will sing the time of cherries
Le gai rossignol et merle moqueur
The gay nightingale and the mocking blackbird
Seront tous en fête
All will rejoice
Les belles auront la folie en tête 
Pretty ladies will have crazy heads
Et les amoureux du soleil au cœur
And lovers (will have) sunny hearts
Quand nous chanterons le temps des cerises
When we will sing the time of cherries
Sifflera bien mieux le merle moqueur
The mocking blackbird will whistle better
 

Mais il est bien court le temps des cerises 
But it is so short the time of cherries 
Où l’on s’en va deux cueillir en rêvant
When two go to cull while dreaming
Des pendants d’oreilles …
Pendants for the ears
Cerises d’amour aux robes pareilles
Cherries of love in dresses alike
Tombant sous la feuille en gouttes de sang
Falling through the leaves like drops of blood
Mais il est bien court le temps des cerises
But it is so short the time of cherries
Pendants de corail qu’on cueille en rêvant !
Pendants of coral one culls while dreaming
 
Quand vous en serez au temps des cerises
When you have reached the time of cherries
Si vous avez peur des chagrins d’amour.
If you fear the pain of love
Évitez les belles
Avoid (stay away from) pretty ladies
Moi qui ne crains pas les peines cruelles
I who do not fear cruel pains
Je ne vivrai point sans souffrir un jour …
I will not live without one day suffering

Quand vous en serez au temps des cerises
When you have reached the time of cherries
Vous aurez aussi des peines d’amour !
You too will have (know) the pain of love
 
J’aimerai toujours le temps des cerises
I will always love the time of cherries
C’est de ce temps-là que je garde au cœur
It is since that time that I keep in my heart
Une plaie ouverte !
An open wound

Et Dame Fortune, en m’étant offerte
And whatever (luck) Lady Fortune offers
Ne saura jamais fermer ma douleur
Will never close (soothe) my pain
J’aimerai toujours le temps des cerises
I will always love the time of cherries
Et le souvenir que je garde au cœur !
And the memories I keep in my heart
 

 

  • Jean-Baptiste Clément, music, 1866
  • Antoine Renard, lyrics, 1868
  • This song is associated with the brutally repressed Paris Commune and the Franco-Prussian War (1870). The lady would be a nurse who was killed.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Le Temps des cerises (Manuel Cerdá)
  • Chronicling Covid-19 (15): Quebec Issues

Sources and Resources

  • Le Temps des cerises Wikipedia
  • the translation is mine

Love to everyone 💕

Yves Montand sings Le Temps des cerises (à l’Olympia, 1974)

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Credit: Google images

© Micheline Walker
21 May 2020
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The Nineteenth Century in France

28 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by michelinewalker in 19th-Century France, France, French Literature, History

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

1848 Revolution, 19th-Century France, Emperors, Franco-Prussian War, July Revolution 1830, Kings, Louis XVII of France, Philippe II of France, Presidents, The Congress of Vienna

Louis Stanilas Xavier de France, Comte de Provence, Maurice Quentin de la Tour, 1762

Louis-Stanislas-Xavier de France, Louis XVIII, Comte de Provence, Maurice Quentin de la Tour, 1762 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The French Revolution

I would like to provide you with an overview of the history of 19th-century France. It has several insurrections and coups d’état. The first coup d’état took place on 18 Brumaire Year VIII, or 9 November 1799. It therefore precedes the nineteenth century by about six weeks. On 19 Brumaire, Napoleon I became First Consul and his government was the French Consulate. However, in April 1804, the French Sénat named him Emperor of the French, and he was crowned Napoleon I, on 2 December 1804. Joséphine was crowned impératrice (Empress), by the new Emperor, her husband. 

Events Preceding the First Republic

At the beginning of the 19th century, France was an unofficial Empire. As First Consul, Napoleon was the de facto ruler of France. He started rising to power during the National Convention (1792 – 1795) and continued empowering himself throughout the French Directory (1795 – 1799) as General Napoleon Bonaparte. The French Directory is identified as the third stage of the French Revolution.

Everything started with the meeting of the Estates-General of 1789. Significant events are:

  • the Tennis Court Oath, of 14 June 1789,
  • the Storming of the Bastille, on 14 July 1789,
  • the Women’s March on Versailles, 5 October 1789,
  • the Day of the Daggers, 28 February 1791,
  • the Champ de Mars Massacre, 17 July 1791,
  • the Storming of the Tuileries Palace, on 10 August 1792.

The Revolution was radicalized (i.e. the King became an enemy) by the Flight to Varennes (June 1791). The Flight to Varennes was followed by the Declaration of Pillnitz (August 1791) and the Brunswick Manifesto (25 July 1792) in which support for Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette was expressed by Marie-Antoinette’s brother, Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and the Duke of Brunswick. The Duke of Brunswick attacked France, but was defeated at the Battle of Valmy (20 September 1792). The levée en masse (conscription of 23 August 1793) gave France and Napoleon a huge army.  

The French counterrevolution, can be divided in following stages. 

  1. The First Republic was founded on 22 September 1792, by the newly-established National Convention.
  2. The National Convention: 21 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 (4 Brumaire Year IV). The Thermidorian Reaction (27 July 1794) put an end to the Reign of Terror.
  3. The Directory: 2 November 1795 to 10 November 1799. There were five Directors and the Directory doubled up as a style (neoclassicism). Neoclassicism became a style. On 4 September 1797, Coup of 18 Fructidor Year V (4 September 1797) suppressed Royalists and nonjuring members of the clergy.  The Coup of 18 Fructidor was a genuine coup d’état, involving the military.
  4. The Coup of 18 Brumaire Year VIII (9 November 1799), created The Consulate, Napoleon I ruled unopposed as First Consul and would proclaim himself Emperor in 1804.

The First Empire

Although the French Sénat named Napoleon Emperor of the French, on 18 May 1804, Napoleon was a mostly self-proclaimed Emperor. He was crowned on 2 December 1804 and, as noted above, he then crowned his Créole wife Joséphine impératrice. She kept that title when Napoleon married Marie-Louise of Austria.

Napoleon suffered severe losses during the French invasion of Russia (1812) and at the Battle of Leipzig, fought in October 1813. France was invaded and the First Empire, dissolved. In fact, the First Empire ended twice. It ended first on 4 April 1814,[i] when Napoleon I abdicated and was exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba, off the coast of Tuscany. Napoleon escaped and he returned to power. This period of the Napoleonic Wars (1803 – 1815) is called the Hundred Days (111 to be precise).

The First Empire ended a second time, when Napoleon I was defeated at Waterloo, on 18 June 1815. After Waterloo, Napoleon was exiled to a distant island, Saint Helena, where he died of stomach cancer in 1821.

The Congress of Vienna (1815)

The First Empire was followed by the Congress of Vienna, the foremost social and political event of the nineteenth century, conducted before and after Napoleon I’s Hundred Days.

The main players were:

  • Clemens von Metternich (Austria),
  • Tsar Alexander I (Russia),
  • Lord Castlereagh and the Duke of Wellington (Britain),
  • Karl August von Hardenberg (Prussia), 
  • Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (France), a late arrival, but a key figure
  • replacements and aides.

The decisions made in Vienna laid the groundwork for various insurrections and, ultimately, World War I. However, the Congress of Vienna was the first meeting of a united Europe or European nations seeking peaceful coexistence. (See Concert of Europe, Wikipedia.)

The Two Monarchies and Three Monarchs

Napoleon’s Hundred Days, his return from Elba, complicated the installation of Louis XVIII, portrayed above. What a lovely child!

Our Monarchs are:

  • 1815 – 1830: Louis XVIII & Charles X, (House of Bourbon) and
  • 1830 – 1848: Louis-Philippe I (House of Orleans, elected King of the French), Louis- Philippe I is the son of Philippe Égalité, or Louis-Philippe II, who was guillotined on 6 November 1793; aged 46.

Comments on Charles X

Charles X undermined his reputation and popularity because of the Anti-Sacrilege Act (1825 – 1830) and because he proposed financial indemnities for properties confiscated during the 1789 Revolution (the French Revolution). His actions led to the July Revolution of 1830, when Louis-Philippe (House of Orleans) was elected King of the French.

Louis XVII Louis-Charles de France

Louis XVII, Titular, Louis-Charles de France Alexandre Kucharski
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Exclusions

  • Louis XVII became titular (having the title of) King of France on 21 January 1893, the day his father was executed. He died of a form of tuberculosis on 8 June 1895. He never reigned.
  • Louis-Philippe II, Duc d’Orléans or Philippe Égalité (13 April 1747 – 6 November 1793; by guillotine). Louis-Philippe II did not reign.

The 1848 Revolutions

King Louis-Philippe III was deposed during the 1848 Revolution. In 1848, there were revolutions in many European countries, including France. In France, certain matters had to be settled: suffrage (who votes?); the right to employment, etc.

The Second Republic & Second Empire

In 1848, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was the elected President of France, now a Republic. However, on 2 December 1851, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup d’état that transformed him into Napoleon III. He was the nephew of Emperor Napoleon I. Napoleon III and l’impératrice Eugénie, his wife, fled France after a Prussian victory at the Battle of Sedan, fought on 1 September 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War (19 July 1870 – 10 May 1871).

Famed French author Victor Hugo fled to Guernsey when Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte transformed himself into an Emperor. (See Sources, below.) Karl Marx wrote an analysis of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte’s 18 Brumaire. It can be read online. (See Sources, below.)

Napoleon II, Titular

Napoleon II, Titular (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Exclusion

Napoleon II (b. Tuileries, 1811 – d. Vienna, 1832) was named Emperor by his father Emperor Napoleon I, on 4 September 1814, the day his father abdicated. He is titular (has the title of) Emperor, but never ruled France. He died at the age of 21, of tuberculosis.

Napoleon II in Literature

Napoleon II (the Duke of Reichstadt) was born in Paris, in 1811, and died in Vienna, in 1832. His mother was Marie-Louise of Austria. French playwright Edmond Rostand wrote a 6-act play entitled L’Aiglon (the eaglet), a Project Gutenberg Publication [EBook #30012], based on Napoleon II’s life. The very famous Sarah Bernhardt was l’aiglon (produced on 30 March 1900) and the play was a success, but not as great a success as Cyrano de Bergerac (1897). The real Napoleon II was:

King of Rome (1811 – 1814)
Prince of Parma (1814 – 1817)
Duke of Reichstadt (1818 – 1832)

Comments on Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte:

Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte is the same person as Napoleon III. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte organized the coup d’état of 2 December 1851, staged on the forty-eighth anniversary of his uncle’s, Napoleon I, coronation: 11 Frimaire XIII (2 December 1804).

Hubert Robert

Le Tapis vert (The Green Rug, detail), Hubert Robert (Photo credit: Google)

The Children of France

Louis XVI (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793; by guillotine) and Marie Antoinette (2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793; by guillotine) were married in 1870. They had four children:

  1. Marie-Thérèse de France, Duchesse d’Angoulème (b. 1778 –  d. 1851);
  2. Louis-Joseph Dauphin de France (heir apparent (b. Versailles, 22 October 1781 – d. Paris, 4 June 1789);
  3. Louis-Charles, fils de France and, in 1789, Dauphin (Louis XVII) (b. Versailles, 27 March 1785 – d. Paris, 8 June 1795);
  4. Princesse Sophie (b. Versailles, 9 July 1786 – d. Versailles, 19 June 1787).

Louis XVII was titular King of France from 21 January 1793 to 8 June 1795. He never reigned.

The Third Republic (1871 – 1940)

  • Adolphe Thiers was elected President in 1871, but lost power in 1873;
  • Patrice de Mac-Mahon, 1st Duke of Magenta (1873-1879).

Conclusion

The above adds up to:

two Monarchies (three monarchs):

  • Louis XVIII, Charles X, 1815 – 1830; July Revolution: Louis Philippe (1830 -1848; Revolution of 1848

two Empires:

  • Napoleon I: coup d’état of 9 November 1799 to 1815; defeat at Waterloo
  • Napoleon III: coup d’état of 2 December 1851 to 1870; Franco-Prussian War

Two Republics: Second & Third Republics

  • Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte: 1848 to 1851;  coup d’état of 2 December 1851
  • Adolphe Thiers (1871 – 1873) lost power to Patrice de Mac-Mahon, 1st Duke of Magenta (1873 -1879)

The Nineteenth century in France was an experiment in democracy. It was also a period of drastic changes. Feudalism survived until the French Revolution, so the 19th century was France’s Industrial Revolution. Previous forms of government were revisited, revealing tentativeness on the part of the French nation.

Some idealized the Monarchy (Gustave Flaubert‘s Madame Bovary [EBook #2413]). However, in the 19th century, only Emperors resembled Absolute Monarchs; King Louis-Philippe I was elected King of the French. The Church of France had to rebuild. It’s wealth had been confiscated in the early days of the French Revolution, at the suggestion, on 10 October 1789, of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord,[ii] an ordained priest and a bishop.

Terms:

un fils de France: son of a reigning king (France)
Madame Royale: title sometimes given the eldest living unmarried daughter of a reigning monarch (France)
le Dauphin: the heir apparent (France)
un coup d’état: the overthrow of a government usually planned within a previous government (an “inside job,” close to treason)
 

The Congress of Vienna (Photo credit: David King)

The Congress of Vienna, (Photo credit: David King)

Napoleon I's Hundred Days (Photo credit: David King)

Napoleon I’s Hundred Days (Photo credit: David King) 

  1. Louis XVI: guillotined (21 January 1793)
  2. Napoleon I: (9 November 1799 – 1815) Emperor from the coup d’état of 19 Brumaire, Year III until 1815 (defeated at Waterloo)
  3. Louis Joseph, Dauphin de France (22 October 1781 – 4 June 1789) (born to Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI)
  4. Louis XVII (Versailles, 27 March 1785 – Paris, 8 June 1795; died in prison) (born to Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI)
  5. Louis XVIII: reigned from 1815 until 1824 (grandson of Louis XV)
  6. Charles X: reigned from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830 (grandson of Louis XV)
  7. Louis-Philippe d’Orléans, Duke of Chartres (Philippe Égalité): guillotined on 6 November 1793 as Louis-Philippe II
  8. Louis-Philippe I: reigned as elected King of the French from 1830 to 1848 (son of Philippe Égalité or Louis-Philippe II)
  9. Napoleon II, titular, the Duke of Reichstag: (20 March 1811 – 22 July 1832) (born to Napoleon I and Marie-Louise of Austria)
  10. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte: (20 April 1808 – 9 January 1873) in power as President of the Second Republic (1848 – 1851) (nephew and heir to Napoleon I)
  11. Napoleon III: (20 April 1808 – 9 January 1873) Emperor from the coup d’état of 2 December 1851 until – c. 1870 (Franco-Prussian War)
  12. The Third Republic (1871 – 1940) (not covered in this post)

SOURCES:

Victor Hugo: Little Napoleon: Project Gutenberg [EBook #20580]EN
Victor Hugo: Napoleon Le Petit: Project Gutenberg[ EBook # 22045)FR
Karl Marx: The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (online)EN
Congress of Vienna (online account)EN[iii]
Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary is a Project Gutenberg publication [EBook #2413]EN
Edmond Rostand’s L’Aiglon is a Project Gutenberg Publication [EBook #30012]EN
David King‘s Vienna 1814 is an account of the Congress of Vienna
____________________
[i] See Treaty of Paris (1814), Wikipedia. 
[ii] André Castelot, Talleyrand ou le cynisme (Paris: Librairie académique Perrin, 1980), p. 64.
[iii] In The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Karl Marx writes that the coup d’état occurred between December 1851 and March 1852.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/18th-brumaire/index.htm
 

Napoleon I: “La Marseillaise” arr. Hector Berlioz

Louis_Charles_of_France2

Louis-Charles de France,
Louise Élisabeth Vigée Lebrun
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
5 March 2014
updated 18 July 2018
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The Nineteenth Century in France

05 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by michelinewalker in 19th-Century France, France, French Literature, History

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

1848 Revolution, 19th-Century France, Emperors, Franco-Prussian War, July Revolution 1830, Kings, Louis XVII of France, Philippe II of France, Presidents, The Congress of Vienna

Louis Stanilas Xavier de France, Comte de Provence, Maurice Quentin de la Tour, 1762

Louis Stanislas Xavier de France, Louis XVIII, Comte de Provence, Maurice Quentin de la Tour, 1762 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The French Revolution

I would like to provide you with an overview of the history of 19th-century France. It has several insurrections and coups d’état. The first coup d’état took place on 19 Brumaire Year VIII, or 9 November 1799. It therefore precedes the nineteenth century by about six weeks. On 19 Brumaire, Napoleon I became First Consul and his government was the French Consulate. However, in April 1804, the French Sénat named him Emperor of the French, and he was crowned Napoleon I on 2 December 1804. Joséphine was crowned impératrice (Empress), by the new Emperor, her husband.

Events Preceding the First Republic

At the beginning of the 19th century, France was an unofficial Empire. As First Consul, Napoleon was the de facto ruler of France. He started rising to power during the National Convention (1792 – 1795) and continued empowering himself throughout the French Directory (1795 – 1799) as General Napoleon Bonaparte. The French Directory is identified as the third stage of the French Revolution.

The first stage of the Revolution begins with the meeting of the Estates-General of 1789. Significant events are: 

  • the Tennis Court Oath of 14 June 1789,
  • the Storming of the Bastille, on 14 July 1789,
  • the Women’s March on Versailles (5 October 1789),
  • the Day of the Daggers (28 February 1791),
  • the Champ de Mars Massacre (17 July 1791),
  • the Storming of the Tuileries (10 August 1792)

The Revolution was radicalized (i.e. the King became an enemy) by the Flight to Varennes (June 1791). The Flight to Varennes was followed by the Declaration of Pillnitz (August 1791) and Brunswick Manifesto. The levée en masse (conscription of 23 August 1793) gave Napoleon and France a huge army.

After the monarchy was abolished, we reach the second stage of the French Revolution or the counterrevolution.  

  1. The First Republic was founded on 22 September 1792, by the newly-established National Convention.
  2. The National Convention: 21 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 (4 Brumaire IV). The Thermidorian Reaction (27 July 1794) put an end to the Reign of Terror.
  3. The Directory: 2 November 1795 to 10 November 1799. There were five Directors and the Directory doubled up as a style (neoclassicism). Neoclassicism became a style as a result of the Coup of 18 Fructidor or 4 September 1797. Eighteenth (18) Fructidor was a genuine coup d’état, involving the military.
  4. The Consulate (18 Brumaire [9 November 1799] – 1804). As First Consul, Napoleon I ruled unopposed.

The First Empire

Although the French Sénat named Napoleon Emperor of the French, on 18 May 1804, Napoleon was a mostly self-proclaimed Emperor. He was crowned on 2 December 1804. He then crowned his Créole wife Joséphine impératrice. She kept that title when Napoleon married Marie-Louise of Austria.

Napoleon suffered severe losses during the French invasion of Russia (1812) and at the Battle of Leipzig, faught in October 1813. France was invaded and the First Empire, dissolved. In fact, the First Empire ended twice. It ended first on 4 April 1814,[i] when Napoleon I abdicated and was exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba, off the coast of Tuscany. Napoleon escaped and he returned to power. This period of the Napoleonic Wars (1803 – 1815) is called the Hundred Days (111 to be precise).

The First Empire ended a second time, when Napoleon I was defeated at Waterloo, on 18 June 1815. After Waterloo, Napoleon was exiled to a distant island, Saint Helena, where he died of stomach cancer in 1821.

The Congress of Vienna (1815)

The First Empire was followed by the Congress of Vienna, the foremost social and political event of the nineteenth century, conducted before and after Napoleon I’s Hundred Days.

The main players were:

  • Clemens von Metternich (Austria),
  • Tsar Alexander I (Russia),
  • Lord Castlereagh and the Duke of Wellington (Britain),
  • Karl August von Hardenberg (Prussia), 
  • Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (France), a late arrival, but a key figure
  • replacements and aides.

The decisions made in Vienna laid the groundwork for various insurrections and, ultimately, World War I. However, the Congress of Vienna was the first meeting of a united Europe or European nations seeking peaceful coexistence. (See Concert of Europe, Wikipedia.)

The Two Monarchies and Three Monarchs

Napoleon’s Hundred Days, his return from Elba, complicated the installation of Louis XVIII, portrayed above. What a lovely child!

Our Monarchs are:

  • 1815-1830: Louis XVIII & Charles X, (House of Bourbon) and
  • 1830-1848: Louis-Philippe I (House of Orleans, elected King of the French), Louis Philippe III is the son of Philippe Égalité, or Louis-Philippe II, who was guillotined on 6 November 1793; aged 46. Louis-Philippe II was the son of Louis-Philippe I, the brother of Louis XIV. The king’s brother may be called Monsieur and his wife Madame.

Comments on Charles X

Charles X undermined his reputation and popularity because of the Anti-Sacrilege Act (1825 – 1830) and because he proposed financial indemnities for properties confiscated during the 1789 Revolution (the French Revolution). His actions led to the July Revolution of 1830, when Louis-Philippe III (House of Orleans) was elected King of the French.

Louis XVII  Louis-Charles de France

Louis XVII, Titular, Alexandre Kucharski
Louis-Charles de France (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Exclusions

  • Louis XVII became titular (having the title of) King of France on 21 January 1893, the day his father was executed. He died of a form of tuberculosis in on 8 June 1895. He never reigned.
  • Louis-Philippe II, Duc d’Orléans or Philippe Égalité (13 April 1747 – 6 November 1793; by guillotine). Louis-Philippe II did not reign.

The 1848 Revolutions

King Louis-Philippe I was deposed during the 1848 Revolution. In 1848, there were revolutions in many European countries, including France. In France, certain matters had to be settled: suffrage (who votes?); the right to employment, etc.

The Second Republic & Second Empire

In 1848, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was the elected President of France, now a Republic. However, on 2 December 1851, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup d’état that transformed him into Napoleon I. He was the nephew of Emperor Napoleon I. Napoleon III and l’impératrice Eugénie, his wife, fled France after a Prussian victory at the Battle of Sedan, fought on 1 September 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War (19 July 1870 – 10 May 1871).

Famed French author Victor Hugo fled to Guernsey when Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte transformed himself into an Emperor. (See Sources, below.) As for Karl Marx, he wrote an analysis of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte’s 18 Brumaire. It can be read online. (See Sources, below.)

Napoleon  II, Titular

Napoleon II, Titular (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Exclusion

Napoleon II (b. Tuileries, 1811 – d. Vienna, 1832) was named Emperor by his father Emperor Napoleon I, on 4 September 1814, the day his father abdicated. He is titular (has the title of) Emperor, but never ruled France. He died at the age of 21, of tuberculosis.

Napoleon II in Literature

Napoleon II (the Duke of Reichstadt) was born in Paris, in 1811, and died in Vienna, in 1832. His mother was Marie-Louise of Austria. French playwright Edmond Rostand wrote a 6-act play entitled L’Aiglon (the eaglet), a Project Gutenberg Publication [EBook #30012], based on Napoleon II’s life. The very famous Sarah Bernhardt was l’aiglon (produced on 30 March 1900) and the play was a success, but not as great a success as Cyrano de Bergerac (1897). The real Napoleon II was:

King of Rome (1811 – 1814)
Prince of Parma (1814 – 1817)
Duke of Reichstadt (1818 – 1832)
 

Comments on Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte:

Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte is the same person as Napoleon I. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte organized the coup d’état of 2 December 1851, staged on the forty-eighth anniversary of his uncle’s, Napoleon I, coronation: 11 Frimaire XIII (2 December 1804).

Hubert Robert

Le Tapis vert (The Green Rug, detail), Hubert Robert (Photo credit: Google)

The Children of France

Louis XVI (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793; by guillotine) and Marie-Antoinette (2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793; by guillotine) were married in 1870. They had four children:

  1. Marie-Thérèse de France, Duchesse d’Angoulème (b. 1778 –  d. 1851);
  2. Louis-Joseph Dauphin de France (heir apparent (b. Versailles, 22 October 1781 – d. Paris, 4 June 1789);
  3. Louis-Charles, fils de France and, in 1789, Dauphin (Louis XVII) (b. Versailles, 27 March 1785 – d. Paris, 8 June 1795);
  4. Princesse Sophie (b. Versailles, 9 July 1786 – d. Versailles, 19 June 1787).

Louis XVII was titular King of France from 21 January 1793 to 8 June 1795. He never reigned.

The Third Republic (1871 – 1940)

  • Adolphe Thiers was elected President in 1871, but lost power in 1873;
  • Patrice de Mac-Mahon, 1st Duke of Magenta (1873-1879).

Conclusion

The above adds up to:

two Monarchies (three monarchs):

  • Louis XVIII, Charles X, 1815 to 1830; July Revolution: Louis-Philippe III (1830 -1848; Revolution of 1848

two Empires:

  • Napoleon I: coup d’état of 9 November 1799 to 1815; defeat at Waterloo
  • Napoleon III: coup d’état of 2 December 1851 to 1870; Franco-Prussian War

Two Republics: Second & Third Republics

  • Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte: 1848 to 1851;  coup d’état of 2 December 1851
  • Adolphe Thiers (1871 – 1873) lost power to Patrice de Mac-Mahon, 1st Duke of Magenta (1873 -1879)

The Nineteenth century in France was an experiment in democracy. It was also a period of drastic changes. Feudalism survived until the French Revolution, so the 19th century was France’s Industrial Revolution. Previous forms of government were revisited, revealing tentativeness on the part of the French nation.

Some idealized the Monarchy (Gustave Flaubert‘s Madame Bovary  [EBook #2413]). However, in the 19th century, only Emperors resembled Absolute Monarchs; King Louis-Philippe III was elected King of the French. The Church of France had to rebuild. It’s wealth had been confiscated in the early days of the French Revolution, at the suggestion, on 10 October 1789, of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord,[ii] an ordained priest and a bishop.

Terms:

un fils de France: son of a reigning king (France)
Madame Royale: title sometimes given the eldest living unmarried daughter of a reigning monarch (France)
le Dauphin: the heir apparent (France)
 
Monsieur: the King’s brother
Madame: Monsieur’s wife 
un coup d’état: the overthrow of a government usually planned within a previous government (an “inside job,” close to treason)
 

The Congress of Vienna (Photo credit: David King)

The Congress of Vienna, (Photo credit: David King)

Napoleon I's Hundred Days (Photo credit: David King)

Napoleon I’s Hundred Days (Photo credit: David King) 

  1. Louis XVI: guillotined (21 January 1793)
  2. Napoleon I: (9 November 1799 – 1815) Emperor from the coup d’état of 19 Brumaire, Year III until 1815 (defeated at Waterloo)
  3. Louis Joseph, Dauphin de France (22 October 1781 – 4 June 1789) (born to Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI)
  4. Louis XVII (Versailles, 27 March 1785 – Paris, 8 June 1795; died in prison) (born to Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI)
  5. Louis XVIII: reigned from 1815 until 1824 (grandson of Louis XV)
  6. Charles X: reigned from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830 (grandson of Louis XV)
  7. Louis-Philippe d’Orléans, Duke of Chartres (Philippe-Égalité): guillotined on 6 November 1793 as Louis-Philippe II
  8. Louis-Philippe III: reigned as elected King of the French from 1830 to 1848 (son of Philippe-Égalité or Louis-Philippe II)
  9. Napoleon II, titular, the Duke of Reichstag: (20 March 1811 – 22 July 1832) (born to Napoleon I and Marie-Louise of Austria)
  10. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte: (20 April 1808 – 9 January 1873) in power as President of the Second Republic (1848 – 1851) (nephew and heir to Napoleon I)
  11. Napoleon III: (20 April 1808 – 9 January 1873) Emperor from the coup d’état of 2 December 1851 until – c. 1870 (Franco-Prussian War)
  12. The Third Republic (1871 – 1940) (not covered in this post)

SOURCES:

Victor Hugo: Little Napoleon: Project Gutenberg [EBook #20580]EN
Victor Hugo: Napoleon Le Petit: Project Gutenberg[ EBook # 22045)FR
Karl Marx: The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (online)EN
Congress of Vienna (online account)EN[iii]
Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary is a Project Gutenberg publication [EBook #2413]EN
Edmond Rostand’s L’Aiglon is a Project Gutenberg Publication [EBook #30012]EN
David King‘s Vienna 1814 is an account of the Congress of Vienna
 
____________________
[i] See Treaty of Paris (1814), Wikipedia. 
[ii] André Castelot, Talleyrand ou le cynisme (Paris: Librairie académique Perrin, 1980), p. 64.
[iii] In The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Karl Marx writes that the coup d’état occurred between December 1851 and March 1852.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/18th-brumaire/index.htm
 

Napoleon I: “La Marseillaise”

Louis_Charles_of_France2

© Micheline Walker
5 March 2014
WordPress  
 
Louis-Charles de France,
Louise Élisabeth Vigée Lebrun
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
 

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The Dreyfus Affair & Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy

13 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in History

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Alfred Dreyfus, Émile Zola, Dreyfus, Dreyfus Affair, Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy, France, Franco-Prussian War, Germany

Degradation of Alfred Dreyfus

Degradation of Alfred Dreyfus

The Dreyfus Affair

We are now skipping a century and find ourselves in Paris where a relative of Haydn’s patrons, Charles Marie Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy (16 December 1847, Austria – 21 May 1923, England), would be the key player in a drama that began several years after France was defeated in the Franco-Prussian War (19 July 1870 – 10 May 1871), also called the Franco-German War of 1870.  France lost Alsace-Lorraine to Germany, an area it would not regain until the end of World War I (28 July 1914  – 11 November 1918).

(Please click on the image to enlarge it.)

First Trial
Le capitaine Dreyfus devant le conseil de guerre

The Prussian victory was a catalyst.  It led to the unification of Germany.  Germany had long been a group of loosely-linked German-language states, perhaps best described as a landed squirearchy.  It became a nation-state on 18 January 1871, at no less a venue than Versailles itself, in the Hall of Mirrors, ten days before Paris fell, on 28 January 1871.  Germany was unified but, from the moment Captain Alfred Dreyfus was arrested, on 15 October 1894, France would be divided into the Dreyfusards, intellectuals, and the anti-Dreyfusards, a division that revealed deep comtempt against the Jews, not only in the armed forces, but among civilians.

 

Charles Marie Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy

In 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus (9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935), a French artillery officer of Jewish background, was arrested for treason.  Dreyfus’ wealthy family originated from Alsace but had moved to Paris after the Franco-Prussian War.  The culprit was Marie Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy, a remote member of the Esterházy family, but a relative nevertheless.  Esterhazy had sold information to Germany after the Franco-Prussian War, not Alfred Dreyfus.  Yet a guilty finger was pointed at Alfred Dreyfus.

Émile Zola: « J’Accuse »

Dreyfus was arrested on 15 October 1894, hastily court-martialled, behind closed doors, and convicted of treason on 22 December 1894.  After his conviction, Dreyfus was publicly stripped of his army rank and, beginning on 13 April 1895, he started serving a life sentence on Devil’s Island, about 14 km away from mainland French Guiana, in South America.  Imprisoned on Devil’s Island, an innocent Dreyfus served five years of a life sentence while French intellectuals, led by writer Émile-Édouard-Charles-Antoine Zola (2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902), set about exposing a miscarriage of justice.  Never had a miscarriage of justice so mobilized France’s foremost intellectuals.  Émile Zola wrote his famous « J’accuse, » an open letter to French President Félix François Faure (30 January 1841 – 16 February 1899), published in L’Aurore on 13 January, 1898.

D08_Aurore_janv_98

The military conceals evidence

In 1896, when Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart,[i] chief of the army’s intelligence section, found evidence that Major Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy was engaged in espionage.  Esterhazy’s handwriting was found on the memorandum (the bordereau) that had incriminated Dreyfus.  Picquart revealed his findings to his senior officers who persuaded him to conceal the truth so that Esterhazy would be protected.  Picquart continued investigating and was removed from his position and assigned to duty in Africa.  In fact, he would later be accused of the crime that brought France to its knees.  Picquart had spoken with Dreyfusards before leaving for Africa.

In the meantime, Zola was accused of libel and brought to trial on 7 February 1898.  Zola had hoped that his « J’accuse, » would lead to a trial and to disclosure of evidence that could free and exonerate Dreyfus.  It did, but tortuously.

Dreyfus is tried and convicted a second time

Dreyfus was tried a second time, but was again convicted and condemned to ten years of imprisonment while Major Walsin-Esterhazy went free.  The memorandum clearly implicated Esterhazy, but a decision had been made to protect him.  Consequently, treason was again imputed to Captain Dreyfus despite a petition signed by 3,000 persons asking that the Dreyfus’ trial be reviewed.  According to Britannica, the affair “was made absurdly complicated by the activities or Esterhazy in inventing evidence and spreading rumours, and of Major Hubert Joseph Henry, discoverer of the original letter attributed to Dreyfus, in forging new documents and suppressing others.”[ii]  Major Henry was arrested for having forged evidence against Dreyfus, but committed suicide shortly after he was incarcerated (1898).

However, Dreyfus was pardoned by French President Émile Loubet, in 1899, but a pardon implies that one has been found guilty.  Yet, nothing but forgeries incriminated Dreyfus, but he would not be exonerated and reinstated to his rank until 1906.  Therefore the Dreyfus Affair was a 12-year nightmare for Dreyfus and a long fight on the part of Dreyfusards, Anatole France, Henri Poincaré, Marcel Proust, Georges Clemenceau, France’s premier between 1917 and 1920, Émile Zola, the leader, and others.  “The parliament passed a bill reinstating Dreyfus.  On July 22 he was formally reinstated and decorated with the Legion of Honour.”[iii]

The leading anti-Dreyfusard was Édouard Drumont (3 May 1844 – 5 February 1917), the founder the Antisemitic League of France (1889) and the founder and editor of La Libre Parole.  Drumont is the author of The Jews against France (1898).  The League was also anti-Masonic and had supporters among Catholics.  The editors of La Croix, who have since apologized, wrote an unacceptable “[d]own with the Jews!” and labeled Dreyfus as “the enemy Jew betraying France.”  (See La Croix, Wikipedia.)

As he had hoped, Zola was brought to trial, which served Dreyfus’ cause.  The trial exposed a miscarriage of justice, except that Zola was convicted of libel, a conviction he did not expect and further divided public opinion.  Zola was about to pay a heavy price for publishing his « J’accuse », which had otherwise been a “success.”  Britannica reports that “[b]y the evening of that day, 200,000 copies had been sold.”[iv]  Despite support, Zola was condemned to a year in jail and a fine of 3,000 francs.  He escaped his jail sentence by fleeing to England where he remained for a year, 1898-1899, but he was allowed to return to France when the French Government fell.

Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy

Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy

Although Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy[v] was brought before a court-martial in 1897, he was acquitted by his fellow officers and retired in 1898.  However, as the movement for revision of Dreyfus’ condemnation gained momentum, Esterhazy fled first to Belgium and then to England where he worked mainly as a translator and possibly as a traveling salesman.  Esterhazy was in fact encouraged to flee to England.  He lived in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, until his death in 1923 (aged 75).  After he was exonerated, Dreyfus did reintegrate the army.  He passed away in 1935, at the age of 75.  As for Émile Zola, he died of carbon monoxide poisoning in 1902.  It may have been an accidental death, but it may also have been murder.

Britannica concludes that “[f]rom the turmoil of which it was the centre emerged a sharper alignment of political and social forces, leading to such drastic anticlerical measures as the separation of church and state in 1905 and to a cleavage between right-wing nationalists and left-wing antimilitarists that haunted French life until 1914 and even later,” and adds that “[a]t best, it evoked a passionate repudiation of anti-Semitism, which did France honour[.]”[vi]  But the Dreyfus Affair seems yet another tug of war between extremists, liberals versus conservatives, not to mention a major case of scapegoating at the expense of Jews.

Regarding the connection between Haydn’s patrons and Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy, it is simply very unfortunate.  However, it could well be that Péter Esterházy (born 14 April 1950 in Budapest), a likeable individual, is the most prominent among current Hungarian writers.

History has had a lot of very bad days, and it keeps repeating itself.

© Micheline Walker
_________________________

[i] “Georges Picquart”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2013
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/459533/Georges-Picquart>.

[ii] “Dreyfus affair”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2013
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/171538/Dreyfus-affair>.

[iii] “Alfred Dreyfus”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2013
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/171509/Alfred-Dreyfus>.

[iv] “Dreyfus affair”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2013
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/171538/Dreyfus-affair>.

[v] “Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2013
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/193419/Ferdinand-Walsin-Esterhazy>.

[vi]  “Dreyfus affair”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2013
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/171538/Dreyfus-affair>.

Franz Joseph Haydn: Serenade

 

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