Au début du XVIIIe siècle, la Hongrie et les Pays-Bas méridionaux sont l’objet de la convoitise de la diplomatie française. Ces provinces périphériques de l’Empire habsbourgeois s’opposent aux politiques de centralisation menées par Madrid et Vienne. Afin de réaliser ses ambitions dynastiques, Louis XIV utilise ce contexte pour déstabiliser ces territoires dans le cadre d’une guerre de Succession d’Espagne engendrée par le décès de Charles II d’Espagne, le premier novembre 1700. Le Roi-Soleil mobilise ses armées et ses diplomates, dans la continuité des alliances de revers forgées lors des siècles précédents. Le marquis des Alleurs et le président Pierre Rouillé de Marbeuf, agents de Louis XIV, mi-espions, mi-ambassadeurs, sont respectivement envoyés en Hongrie auprès du prince hongrois rebelle François Rakóczi et aux Pays-Bas méridionaux aux côtés du gouverneur général de la province et maître de l’Électorat de Bavière, Maximilien-Emmanuel de Wittelsbach. Loin du fracas des champs de bataille de la guerre de Succession d’Espagne, une guerre de l’ombre se fait plus dure. La quête du renseignement devient la préoccupation croissante des cours européennes. La confidentialité des correspondances épistolaires est l’objet de toutes les attentions. Cette étude a l’ambition de retracer le cadre des ambitions françaises en Hongrie et aux Pays-Bas méridionaux au début du XVIIIe siècle. Les alliances de revers et les manœuvres militaires de la guerre de Succession d’Espagne replacent ces deux pays d’Europe au cœur des luttes dynastiques, diplomatiques, et militaires opposant les Bourbons et les Habsbourg pour la domination de l’Europe. / At the beginning of the 18th century, Hungary and the Southern Netherlands are coveted by the French diplomacy. Those peripheral provinces of The Habsburg Empire oppose the centralization policy lead by Madrid and Vienna. In order to realize his dynastic ambitions, Louis XIV uses this context to destabilize these territories during the War of the Spanish Succession triggered by the death of the last Habsburg King of Spain, Charles II, the first November 1700. Louis XIV mobilizes his army and his ambassadors in the continuity of the foreign alliances « Alliance de revers » that have been conducted during centuries. The marquis des Alleurs and the president Pierre Rouillé de Marbeuf, agents of Louis XIV, half spy, half ambassadors, are respectively send in Hungary nearby the rebel prince François Rakoczi and in the Southern Netherlands nearby the general governor of the province and Elector of Bavaria, Maximilien-Emmanuel de Wittelsbach. Far from the din of the battlefield of the Spanish Succession, another war hardens. The battle for information’s became the first preoccupation of European courts. The confidentiality of the epistolary correspondences is a crucial object of attention. The purpose of this study is to define the framework of the French ambitions in Hungary and the Southern Netherlands at the beginning of the 18th century. The « alliance de revers » and military moves during the War of the Spanish Succession replace those two European countries at the heart of dynastic, diplomatic and military conflicts opposing the Bourbon’s and the Habsburg’s for European hegemony.

This study deals with Gertrud Kolmar's literary texts, those that center upon the topic of the French Revolution. It endeavors to examine her poetic discourse dealing with the possibility of an alternative political leadership in a time of crisis. The texts comprise the essay "Bildnis Robespierres," the Robespierre cycle of poems, and the play Cecile Renault. These texts, in which Robespierre takes center stage, stand out from within the complete works of Kolmar. They were written between the fall of 1933 and March 1935 and may be read as texts of resistance against the Nazi dictatorship. / Since these texts have to be seen as a direct reaction to the historical developments of the period, they are being closely examined herein, hoping to unearth their political and ideological intent. Drawing upon the theories and conclusions of New Historicism, which assumes that the writer and her subject cannot exist outside their socio-historical environment, important historical influences have been taken into consideration, in an effort to establish possible aspects that have entered into Kolmar's literary message. / A close reading of these texts demonstrates that, by first using the genre of the essay, Kolmar searched for a positive alternative paradigm of power to counter the fascist totalitarian regime. She finds this ideal in the figure of Robespierre because of his virtue and strong sense of justice. Because Kolmar interprets the Revolution as incomplete--since the Jacobin adhered to his principles up to his death--these texts may be considered as a revolutionary call to take up the fight for human rights once again. In her poems, Kolmar poetically creates a model of ideal leadership in the figure of Robespierre. She propagates his strict and harsh rule, as he presented himself to his fellow citizens and accepts violence as necessary in order to establish justice. Thus, Kolmar's model is problematic, since it mirrors, and therefore, confirms the given dictatorial power structures of the National Socialists. In an attempt to justify the use of violence and force, Kolmar immerses her protagonist in the messianic-idea. In her play, she adheres to her model of Robespierre as a messianic figure. But in the light of the altruistic attributes and the fate of the young Cecile Renault, whom Robespierre sacrifices, he appears questioned in his role as the only possible redeemer figure. Therefore, this last Robespierre-text reveals an expanded awareness and an altered attitude of the author towards her historical environment.

This dissertation is an attempt to portray the revolutionary character of the American Civil War through a comparative methodology utilizing the French Revolution as both point of influence and as a parallel example. Within this novel context, subtle trends in the ideological development of the Republican Party's Radical wing undertake new meaning and an alternative revolutionary heritage takes shape around an idealization of the universalism of the French and Haitian Revolutions of the 1790s. The work argues that through a diffusion of ideas and knowledge of events from the streets of Paris into the fields of Haiti and onto the shores of the American coast, a small faction of militant abolitionists latched onto the ideal of the Haitian Revolution as their own legacy. By the late 1830s, this radical edge of the antislavery movement embarked onto two courses, both derived from and influenced by their newfound ideology. The first was towards violent direct action against slavery while the second aimed at legitimizing radical new legal theories and creating the political structure necessary to bring about their enforcement. While on the one hand John Brown and Gerrit Smith pursued militant action, on the other Alvan Stewart and Salmon P. Chase sought a political and legal redefinition of American society through the Liberty and eventually Republican parties. With the coming of war in the 1860s, these two trends, violence and radical politics, converged in the Union war effort. In the midst of the Civil War and the early fight for Reconstruction, Radical Republicans and their allies in the Union Army displayed themselves as American Jacobins. Through a set of comparisons with French Revolutionary events and political debates, this thesis argues that the result of the ideological development between the American Revolution and the Civil War Era in the United States was the creation of a revolutionary ideology parallel to that of French Jacobinism. By the time of their fall from power, the Radical Republicans had seen their ideals both lambasted as the radical edge of politics and then transformed into the status quo, helping to prepare the nation for modernity.

No description available.

Entre 1477 et 1493, l’État bourguignon traversa la plus grave crise de son existence. Face à Louis XI, les successeurs de Charles le Téméraire durent d’abord défendre l’intégrité territoriale de leurs possessions. À l’intérieur de celles-ci, ils furent confrontés aux revendications des villes de Flandre et de Brabant, porteuses d’un projet politique fondé sur l’autonomie urbaine. Au contexte politique très difficile, s’ajoute une conjoncture défavorable, en raison du très haut niveau des salaires, et donc du coût de la guerre, à la fin du XVe siècle. Les structures financières et militaires de l’État bourguignon montrèrent très vite leurs limites, obligeant les capitaines de Maximilien de Habsbourg à vivre d’expédients, de réquisitions et de pillages. Après la défaite des rebelles de Flandre, de Hollande et de Brabant, l’État bourguignon, désormais recentré sur les Pays-Bas, poursuivit son intégration sous le règne de Philippe le Beau. L’acceptation d’une fiscalité commune, débattue dans les assemblées représentatives des principautés et aux États généraux, est au cœur de ce processus. / Between 1477 and 1493, the Burgundian state was confronted with the most serious crisis of its history. Against Louis XI, the successors of Charles the Bold had to defend the territorial integrity of his heritage. Within the Burgundian Netherlands, they were challenged by the claims of the largest Flemish and Brabantine cities, who promoted a political agenda based on urban autonomy. Besides the political background, the economic environment raised other difficulties, owing to the general high level of wages, which dramatically increased the cost of war at the end of the XVth century. The fiscal and military structures of the Burgundian state quickly found their limits and collapsed several times, forcing Maximilian’s captains to live by one’s wits, requisitioning supplies, extorting money or plundering the countryside, so that the inability of the medieval state to lastingly finance war invariably led to outbursts of violence. After the defeat of the Flemish-Brabantine revolt, the political integration of the Habsburg-Burgundian Netherlands made continuous progress. The rise of a common tax system, discussed at the States-General, without offending the strong particularism of the Netherlands principalities, played a crucial role in this process.

Marie de Bourgogne (1457–1482), fille unique de Charles le Téméraire et de ce fait « la plus grande héritière qui fust de son temps », a jusqu’ici attiré assez peu d’attention de la part des spécialistes du XVe siècle. Une figure ambiguë, dont l’image oscille entre deux concepts opposés : une duchesse faible et inexpérimentée, qui ne joua qu'un rôle de pion dans la grande partie diplomatique entre l’Empire et la France, – ou bien une princesse résolue et indépendante qui savait ce qu'elle voulait et réussit à imposer sa volonté, Marie reste généralement dans l'ombre de ses proches parents. Il semble bien que cette attitude envers la duchesse est surtout le fait de la politique de ses descendants et successeurs, qui employaient son image dans leurs propres intérêts. Désireux de légitimer la transition du pouvoir de la Maison de Valois à celle des Habsbourg, ils ont opté pour la représentation de Marie comme héritière de Bourgogne, dame noble et pieuse dévouée à son mari et à sa famille, et non comme une femme de pouvoir. Cette image de la princesse semble être si puissante que souvent les historiens furent amenés à croire que l’œuvre politique sous le règne de Marie était principalement l'affaire de son époux. Ils concentrèrent alors leur attention sur Maximilien, le faisant ainsi – volontairement ou non – le héros principal de l'épopée bourguignonne pendant les années de crise qui ont suivi la mort du Téméraire. Or la réalité fut plus complexe. Jamais réellement retirée de la vie politique, ne cessant de voyager à travers ses pays afin d'assurer et affirmer l'omniprésence de l'autorité ducale, suivant de près les affaires politiques, Marie prit aussi un soin tout particulier à la création et la promotion de son image. La jeune duchesse qui, dès son accès inattendu au pouvoir en janvier 1477, dut affronter les attaques et les intrigues de Louis XI ainsi que les émeutes de ses sujets, fut de toute évidence parfaitement consciente, non seulement d’être la dernière héritière de la glorieuse maison de Bourgogne-Valois, mais encore d’être en position de faiblesse de par sa condition de femme. Elle chercha alors des réponses adéquates à ses défis – réponses militaires et diplomatiques ainsi qu’« iconographiques ». Ses ambitions, de souligner les liens dynastiques, d’appuyer la légitimité de sa succession et de son pouvoir suo jure, d’affirmer ses droits aux pays bourguignons, ainsi que d’asseoir son autorité sur les sujets indociles, ont influencé considérablement sa conséquente politique de représentation. Une étude de cette politique, fondée sur le regroupement inédit d’œuvres littéraires, historiographiques et iconographiques, et leur analyse, nous permettra d’abord de souligner la construction et l’évolution symbolique de l’image de Marie de Bourgogne en tant que femme régnante, mais aussi de reconsidérer une période de l’histoire de l’État bourguignon, celle de la transmission du pouvoir de la maison de Valois de Bourgogne à la dynastie des Habsbourg. / Mary of Burgundy (1457-1482) as ruler seems to be rather a non sequitur topic for a study as her short reign – sandwiched between those more important of her belligerent father, Charles the Bold, and her imposing spouse, Maximilian of Austria – is often marginalized by researchers. A somewhat ambiguous figure, whose image hovers somewhere in the space limited by two opposing concepts – an inexperienced and weak duchess, a mere pawn in the great political game played between France and the Holy Roman Empire, and a self-determined young princess who knew what she wanted and managed to dictate her will, praised by her biographers, Mary still remains generally in the shade of her nearest kinsmen despite the abundant publications concerning the Duchy of Burgundy.This attitude towards Mary was mainly formed by the politics of her successors and descendants, who employed her image in their own interests; eager to legitimize the transition of power from the House of Valois to that of the Habsburgs, they opted for the representation of Mary as the heiress of Burgundy, a noble and pious lady devoted to her family, and not as an independent sovereign. This image of “Mary the Rich” appears to be so powerful that often historians focus their attention primarily on Maximilian, thus – involuntarily or not – making him the main hero of the Burgundian epic of the crisis years. The real situation was, however, more complex. Never in fact retired from political life, never ceasing to travel across her lands in order to ensure and state the ubiquity of ducal authority, Mary was taking great care in creating and promoting her image, sending out to her contemporaries easily recognizable signs communicating her strong sense of who she was and how she wished to be seen. Recollected and examined with closer attention, these symbolic messages could depict a different image of this “lady of the country”, who was “revered and feared more than her husband”, according to the omniscient Philippe de Commynes, and reveal the clear political and cultural intentions she wanted to convey. Based on a number of important works of literature, history and iconography associated with the duchess as well as on various accounts on her, provided either by her contemporaries or – in a certain manner – by herself, principally through performing highly symbolic acts or through artistic commissions, the present research aims thus to reassess the person and the actual role of Mary of Burgundy in the history of the Burgundian state.