French Revolution and Napoleon

The imprecision of contemporary sources makes it difficult to establish an exhaustive list of objects transferred to Paris of the territories conquered by the revolutionary French armies. The first general inventory of these shipments dates back to the First Empire: it consists of an inventory of the art works kept in the Emperor's House. These records tell us how these riches were used on French soil before most were repatriated to their regions of origin after the fall of the Empire. Commonly known as the Napoleon Inventory, now kept at the National Archives of Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, they can serve as a framework for investigation and specify the list and relative importance of groups of the same geographical origin such as the group of "Belgian" paintings ‒ to refer a terminology used in this manuscript for their returns. After a necessary in-depth presentation of this source, it is therefore to note the relative importance of these works, before estimating their importance according to this manuscript.

En mai 2018, un an à peine après son élection au terme d'une campagne « européiste » en diable, Emmanuel Macron se laissa aller à une bien étrange confidence : « Paradoxalement, ce qui me rend optimiste, c'est que l'histoire que nous vivons en Europe redevient tragique… Ce vieux continent de petits-bourgeois se sentant à l'abri dans le confort matériel entre dans une nouvelle aventure où le tragique s'invite. » Provocation gratuite ? Pas tout à fait. Le même mois, lors d'une tournée dans l'Indo-Pacifique, le président français devait déclarer à cinq reprises : « Je crois beaucoup à la force d'un nouvel axe Paris-New Delhi-Canberra ». Consciemment ou non, c'était là renouer avec le « rêve inassouvi » Napoléon. 1

“A … Whimsical Admixture”: Fashioning the Anglo-Gallic Interior, 1785-1865

In 1853 the Observer newspaper described the opulent Waterloo Gallery at the Duke of Wellington’s Apsley House, created by the architect Benjamin Dean Wyatt from 1828,  as: “a rather whimsical admixture of the classical, renaissance, Louis Quatorze, and what the French call Rococo, styles.”  Inspired by the Galerie des Glaces at Versailles, the room was a very British and essentially picturesque evocation of the historic French interior. Contemporaries described this decorative style as “Louis XIV” but its mix of French and British furnishings, old and new and of all dates and styles, often displayed in Palladian room settings, is best described as Anglo-Gallic. With its vibrant colours in textiles and drapery and extensive gilding, nothing could have been more different to the refined cohesion and pastel colourways of the Adam interiors which preceded it. However, the neo-classical was integral to the Anglo-Gallic interior, as in the architectural renovations of Henry Holland at Carlton House, presented to the Prince of Wales in 1783, in the new Empire furnishings bought in Paris by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin for his Greek Revival house, Broomhall, and in the goût grec furniture made by Nicholas Morel for Orlando Bridgeman at Weston Park.  This talk will explore the origins of this new taste, founded in the dispersal of art objects and architectural elements after the French Revolution, the instrumental role of the dealers, architects and makers who fashioned these elite interiors and the patrons they supplied.

Compte rendu du livre L'exécution du roi, 21 janvier 1789, Perrin, 2021, sur le blog Veni Vidi Sensi
https://venividisensivvs.wordpress.com/2021/03/10/quand-jean-clement-martin-re-execute-le-roi/?fbclid=IwAR21mtKXzNx4cKDn0GbjA82cCz22b_ACTRiZGZ26TyhHiotRDlGMXLq8kPY
du 10 mars 2021

Il faut savoir s'adapter. Sans doute est-il naïf ou présomptueux de publier des livres de plus de 150 pages et d'exposer dans le détail la complexité des événements et les stratégies des acteurs, grands et petits. Dont acte. Alors en une page, le pitch.

Заплахата от разпространението на крайните революционни идеи в Европа, особено след като якобинците взимат властта в Париж през 1792 г., заварва Великобритания в особено труден момент. Опирайки се върху концепцията на Едмънд Бърк, развита в неговите „Размисли за революцията във Франция“, публикувани още през 1790 г., британският политически елит възприема ясна и категорична позиция на противопоставяне срещу всички признаци на революция в самата Великобритания. Но ако Бърк е главният идеолог на британския консерватизъм, Уилям Пит-младши прилага тези идеи на практика, извеждайки антиреволюционната реторика в основна управленска доктрина. Британският премиер намира подкрепа сред консервативния политически елит, поземлената аристокрация и крал Джордж III. На тази влиятелна прослойка се противопоставят голяма част от вигите, значителен брой републиканци и левите общественици, известни в политическия живот на страната като радикали. Докато Франция преживява многобройни революционни сътресения и бруталната военна диктатура на Наполеон Бонапарт, Острова става арена на епохален сблъсък между идеи и личности, борба за свободи и цензура, идеология и пропаганда. Вътрешните проблеми на британците са отражение на международното положение, което следва динамичното темпо на агресивно настроената Франция.

Настоящата статия прави опит да потърси различни от досегаш-
ните тълкувания на ролята на личността и творчеството на печално известния маркиз Дьо Сад. Темата е актуална, защото творчеството на Дьо Сад е важно
и за съвремието ни. Неговото влияние се отпечатва върху идеите на редица
известни философи, писатели и обществени дейци. Тук се обсъжда въпросът
доколко това влияние се базира върху правилното тълкуване на скандалното
творчество на либертинския писател.
This article is an attempt to explore and offer new interpretations of
the personality and works of the notorious Marquis de Sade. A topical matter, de
Sade’s literature is important today, as it was back in the past. His impact has shaped
the ideas of several famous philosophers, writers, and public figures. The question
on debate here is to what extent this impact has been analyzed correctly from the
historical perspective.

The Consulate and the Empire's cultural policy for the theatres was torn between a republican heritage of revolutionary festivals and the progressive restoration of Ancien Régime practices, as all the while Napoleon's personal grip on power tightened. The commemorations of the storming of the Bastille and of the proclamation of the Republic were eventually put aside and replaced at the end of the Consulate by Napoleon's birthday celebrations (August 15) and the anniversary of his coronation (December 2). During the French Empire, the number of festivals increased with the major victories, campaigns, and other events for the dynasty, such as the Austrian wedding and the birth of Napoleon's heir. This paper examines the organization of these festivities in Paris for the forty free performances (gratis) during the years 1800-1813 and reconstructs the theatrical programme of the eight official playhouses authorized by the 1806 and 1807 decrees. Each institution mainly chose plays from the major plays of its repertoire, but opportune flattery was still a possibility: we see the theatres mixing the political stakes of patriotic propaganda, self-promotion, and branding. When looking at these programmes, three main trends appear: propaganda plays (pièces de circonstance), national and historical dramas, and plays (both new and old) which were supposed to illustrate the French cultural patrimony and glory. As a part of the political ritual, the "gratis" performances shed light on Napoleon's plans for the concepts of power, the people and contemporary culture.

There are many terms being thrown around to describe the events in Washington DC on 6 January: sedition, insurrection, protest, riot, mob, even coup. The most historically accurate term is a putsch, with any number of examples of angry mobs being channelled to overthrow civilian authority. It may have started as a protest and turned into a mob, but it ended as a putsch.

Mardin Artuklu Üniversitesi'nin "Akademisyen Yetiştirme Programı" kapsamında hazırlanan bu ders, Fransız Devrimi'ni hazırlayan koşullardan başlayarak devrimin belli başlı dönüm noktalarını ve özellikle de 1793-1794'te uygulanan "Devrimci Terör" ortamını aktarmayı amaçlamıştır. Devrim'in ilk 5 yılı üç ayrı meclisin çalışmalarıyla şekillenir: 1- Tabakalar Meclisi'nden doğan Kurucu Ulusal Meclis (1789-1791), 2- Yasama Meclisi (1791-1792), 3- Ulusal Konvansiyon (1792-1795). Bu dönemler aktarıldıktan sonra da Direktörlük, Konsüllük ve I. İmparatorluk rejimlerinin temel özellikleri tanıtılmaya çalışılmıştır. Dileyen herkes alıp kullanabilir, istediği değişiklikleri yapabilir.

The People’s Republic of China arguably represents the world’s most politically significant deviation from the liberal democratic model. Anglo-American foreign policy discussions frequently express frustration at China’s defiance of liberal democratic norms, especially in recent years, as the China debate re-ideologized. Under Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, the White House rebranded the technology-oriented Trade War as a world-spanning ideological struggle between the US-led “Free World” and “the Beijing regime.” Pompeo’s suggestion that the Chinese people should be liberated from an evil regime echoes not only American neo-conservatism but also, ultimately, the anti-regime-ism of the French Revolution. The overthrow of the Ancien Régime—from which the contemporary ‘regime’ semantic derives—is the paradigmatic modern regime change. Since Napoleon exported this regime change and styled himself “the first soldier” of liberty’s global propagation, one may call the liberationist strand in modern political idealism ‘Napoleonic’. ‘Napoleonic’ criticisms of China’s political system treat it as an ‘ancien régime’ standing in the way of liberty’s global march. Pompeo’s suggestions of bringing regime change to China seem so unserious, however, that it might be better understood as a hyper-real simulacrum of Napoleonism. Such Neo-Napoleonic rhetoric seeks to delegitimize China’s political leadership, sketching a dichotomy between the ‘evil’ Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the ‘good’ Chinese people. This moral dichotomization may seem sympathetic and humanistic as it exonerates ‘the people’, yet it, in fact, serves to justify and encourage unrestrained ideological aggression against the CCP by painting it as a target isolable from the rest of Chinese society. In response, mainland-Chinese political theorists often conceptualize the West’s ideological aggression as the civilizational antithesis of China’s supposedly harmonious Tianxia tradition. However, this overdrawn civilizational dualism is complicated by the fact that the CCP, ironically, also comes out of the anti-regime-ist modern revolutionary tradition.