Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Despite the scholarship and political activism devoted to keeping the memory of the Paris Commune alive, there still remains much ignorance both in France and elsewhere, about the traumatic civil war of 1871; some 20,000 to 35,000 people were killed on the streets of Paris in just the final week of the conflict.
Colette Wilson identifies a critical blind-spot in French studies and employs new critical approaches to neglected texts, marginalised aspects of the illustrated press, early photography and a selection of novels by Emile Zola. This book will be of interest to students and academics studying France in the nineteenth century from a number of different perspectives war and revolution studies, cultural studies, history and cultural memory, literature, art history, photography, the illustrated press, city studies and human geography. The book will appeal equally to all lovers of Paris who wish to know and understand more about the city's turbulent past.
Synopsis
The most up-to-date and comprehensive English-language study of its kind, From victory to Vichy explores the political mobilisation of the two largest French veterans' associations during the interwar years, the Union f d rale (UF) and the Union nationale des combattants (UNC). Drawing on extensive research into the associations' organisation, policies and tactics, this study argues that French veterans were more of a threat to democracy than previous scholarship has allowed. As France descended into crisis, the UF and the UNC sought to extend their influence into the non-veteran milieu through public demonstrations, propaganda campaigns and the foundation of auxiliary groups. Despite shifting policies and independent initiatives, by the end of the 1930s the UF and the UNC had come together in a campaign for authoritarian political reform, leaving them perfectly placed to become the 'eyes and ears' of Marshal P tain's Vichy regime.
Offering an original contribution to the history of late Third Republican political culture, From victory to Vichy will appeal to students and scholars of modern France and Europe.
Synopsis
From victory to Vichy explores the political culture and mobilisation of the two largest French veterans' associations during the inter-war years, the Union f d rale (UF) and the Union nationale des combattants (UNC). Drawing on extensive research into the associations' organisation, discourse and tactics, this study revises the established interpretation that French veterans were inherently democratic and supportive of the parliamentary Third Republic.
With approximately 900,000 members each, the UF and the UNC were the giants of the veterans' movement. During the 1920s, the UF and the UNC were often bitterly opposed on points of domestic and foreign policy yet could unite in the cause of veterans' rights. The following decade, though both associations claimed to reject politics, their political action intensified. The UNC fought side by side with nationalists against police during the infamous riot of 6 February 1934. During the subsequent polarisation of French politics, the UF and the UNC sought to expand their influence in the non-veteran milieu through public demonstrations, auxiliary groups, propaganda campaigns and, in the case of the UNC, alliance with the extreme Right. Despite shifting policies and independent initiatives, by the end of the 1930s the UF and the UNC had come together in a campaign for authoritarian political reform, leaving them perfectly placed to become the 'eyes and ears' of Marshal P tain's Vichy regime.
Offering an original contribution to the history of late Third Republican political culture, From victory to Vichy will appeal to students and scholars of modern France and Europe.
Synopsis
Explores the political mobilisation of the two largest French veterans' associations during the interwar years, the Union f d rale (UF) and the Union nationale des combattants (UNC).