Download or read book Charles Gravier Comte de Vergennes written by Orville T. Murphy and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 1983-06-30 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first complete study of Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes, one of the most distinguished diplomats and statesmen of eighteenth-century France. Vergennes represented France as a diplomat in Germany, Constantinople, and Stockholm, and was Louis XVI's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Orville Murphy traces Vergennes' career as he steadily rose from the provincial nobility of the robe to the ranks of the court aristocracy; from the post of an obscure diplomat to the lofty position of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Murphy, however, has written much more than an interesting biography. The book develops a link between diplomatic personalities, the foreign policies of the French kings Louis XV and Louis XVI, and the contemporary social, economic, and political problems during much of the eighteenth century. Indeed, Vergennes and his policies are central to any study of the American Revolution, the underlying causes of the French Revolution, and of the subsequent "Age of Revolutions" in Europe.
Download or read book The Life of Louis XVI written by John Hardman and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2016-01-01 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thought-provoking, authoritative biography of one of history's most maligned rulers Louis XVI of France, who was guillotined in 1793 during the Revolution and Reign of Terror, is commonly portrayed in fiction and film either as a weak and stupid despot in thrall to his beautiful, shallow wife, Marie Antoinette, or as a cruel and treasonous tyrant. Historian John Hardman disputes both these versions in a fascinating new biography of the ill-fated monarch. Based in part on new scholarship that has emerged over the past two decades, Hardman's illuminating study describes a highly educated ruler who, though indecisive, possessed sharp political insight and a talent for foreign policy; who often saw the dangers ahead but could not or would not prevent them; and whose great misfortune was to be caught in the violent center of a major turning point in history. Hardman's dramatic reassessment of the reign of Louis XVI sheds a bold new light on the man, his actions, his world, and his policies, including the king's support for America's War of Independence, the intricate workings of his court, the disastrous Diamond Necklace Affair, and Louis's famous dash to Varennes.
Download or read book Louis XVI The Silent King and the Estates written by John Hardman and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1994-01-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Study of the reign of Louis XVI
Download or read book Louis XVI and the Comte de Vergennes written by Louis XVI ((roi de France ;) and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The correspondence between Louis XVI and his foreign secretary the comte de Vergennes represents a major new source for the history of French diplomacy and warfare in the last years of the ancien r gime. New light is shed on France's intervention in the American War of Independence - and in particular on how and why the king's decision to intervene was taken; on the Franco-Austrian alliance, and the pacte de famille with Spain. But since Vergennes was also from 1783 chef du conseil royal des finances, we learn too about the credit crisis of 1783 and the abortive attempt to end tax-farming, the diamond necklace affair, and the plans for the Assembly of Notables. Moreover the nearly 200 letters from the king, largely unpublished and still in the possession of the Vergennes family, allow us for the first time to grasp the outlines of the kind's mind and character, his sense of humour, his turn of phrase. Hitherto fewer than fifty of his letters were known for the period before 1789, many of dubious authenticity. Given Louis's extreme taciturnity and shyness it is simply not possible to know the man except through his letters. These are more plentiful for for the revolutionary period, but Louis's character changed at the that time: he became more uxorious, for example, whereas before 1787 he had rigidly excluded Marie-Antoinette from decision-making. In the earlier period, with which this book is concerned, Louis was also harder, more decisive, more on top of his subject - foreign policy - which itself was later displaced as his main concern. The letters are set in context throughout, with extracts from the diplomatic despatches which generate most of them, and the foreign policy of the reign up to the Revolution is reassessed in a substantial introductory essay.
Download or read book The Life and Death of Louis XVI written by Saul Kussiel Padover and published by . This book was released on 1963 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Passionate Sage The Character and Legacy of John Adams written by Joseph J. Ellis and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2011-02-14 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An absorbing, insightful profile of the revolutionary leader, president, husband, and father from one of our best historians, now in a beautiful new package. John Adams was unique among the nation’s founders in leaving a record of his most intimate thoughts and feelings. Instinctively candid and politically incisive, Adams offers the clearest view of the ambitions and principles that drove the revolutionary generation. Passionate Sage offers a brilliant introduction to the second president: his politics, his affinities for family and friendship even with political opponents like Jefferson, and his enduring significance. “Ellis’s palpable affection lends a pleasing glow to his profile of Adams, which is why Passionate Sage is his best book.”—Judith Shulevitz, New York Times Book Review “Impassioned and erudite. . . . A captivating portrait of this Massachusetts native as a wonderfully contrary genius possessed of an uncommon moral intelligence and farsighted political wisdom.”—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times “The best portrait of a Revolutionary-era statesman.”—Evan Thomas, Wall Street Journal
Download or read book How the French Saved America written by Tom Shachtman and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2017-09-12 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Americans today have a love/hate relationship with France, but in How the French Saved America Tom Shachtman shows that without France, there might not be a United States of America. To the rebelling colonies, French assistance made the difference between looming defeat and eventual triumph. Even before the Declaration of Independence was issued, King Louis XVI and French foreign minister Vergennes were aiding the rebels. After the Declaration, that assistance broadened to include wages for our troops; guns, cannon, and ammunition; engineering expertise that enabled victories and prevented defeats; diplomatic recognition; safe havens for privateers; battlefield leadership by veteran officers; and the army and fleet that made possible the Franco-American victory at Yorktown. Nearly ten percent of those who fought and died for the American cause were French. Those who fought and survived, in addition to the well-known Lafayette and Rochambeau, include François de Fleury, who won a Congressional Medal for valor, Louis Duportail, who founded the Army Corps of Engineers, and Admiral de Grasse, whose sea victory sealed the fate of Yorktown. This illuminating narrative history vividly captures the outsize characters of our European brothers, their battlefield and diplomatic bonds and clashes with Americans, and the monumental role they played in America’s fight for independence and democracy.
Download or read book The Ruin of a Princess written by Marie-Thérèse Charlotte Angoulême (duchesse d') and published by . This book was released on 1912 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book When The World Spoke French written by Marc Fumaroli and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2011-06-14 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Review Books Original During the eighteenth century, from the death of Louis XIV until the Revolution, French culture set the standard for all of Europe. In Sweden, Austria, Italy, Spain, England, Russia, and Germany, among kings and queens, diplomats, military leaders, writers, aristocrats, and artists, French was the universal language of politics and intellectual life. In When the World Spoke French, Marc Fumaroli presents a gallery of portraits of Europeans and Americans who conversed and corresponded in French, along with excerpts from their letters or other writings. These men and women, despite their differences, were all irresistibly attracted to the ideal of human happiness inspired by the Enlightenment, whose capital was Paris and whose king was Voltaire. Whether they were in Paris or far away, speaking French connected them in spirit with all those who desired to emulate Parisian tastes, style of life, and social pleasures. Their stories are testaments to the appeal of that famous “sweetness of life” nourished by France and its language.
Download or read book Stars and Spies written by Christopher Andrew and published by Random House. This book was released on 2021-10-14 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vastly entertaining and unique history of the interaction between spying and showbiz, from the Elizabethan age to the Cold War and beyond. 'A treasure trove of human ingenuity' The Times Written by two experts in their fields, Stars and Spies is the first history of the extraordinary connections between the intelligence services and show business. We travel back to the golden age of theatre and intelligence in the reign of Elizabeth I. We meet the writers, actors and entertainers drawn into espionage in the Restoration, the Ancien Régime and Civil War America. And we witness the entry of spying into mainstream popular culture throughout the twentieth century and beyond - from the adventures of James Bond to the thrillers of John le Carré and long-running TV series such as The Americans. 'Thoroughly entertaining' Spectator 'Perfect...read as you settle into James Bond on Christmas afternoon.' Daily Telegraph
Download or read book Brothers at Arms written by Larrie D. Ferreiro and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pulitzer Prize Finalist in History Winner of the Journal of the American Revolution 2016 Book of the Year Award At the time the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord the American colonists had little chance, if any, of militarily defeating the British. The nascent American nation had no navy, little in the way of artillery, and a militia bereft even of gunpowder. In his detailed accounts Larrie Ferreiro shows that without the extensive military and financial support of the French and Spanish, the American cause would never have succeeded. Ferreiro adds to the historical records the names of French and Spanish diplomats, merchants, soldiers, and sailors whose contribution is at last given recognition. Instead of viewing the American Revolution in isolation, Brothers at Arms reveals the birth of the American nation as the centerpiece of an international coalition fighting against a common enemy.
Download or read book Sovereignty International Law and the French Revolution written by Edward James Kolla and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-10-12 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that the introduction of popular sovereignty as the basis for government in France facilitated a dramatic transformation in international law in the eighteenth century.
Download or read book The Life of Louis XVI written by John Hardman and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2016-06-14 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thought-provoking, authoritative biography of one of history’s most maligned rulers: France’s Louis XVI “The definitive contribution to our understanding of Louis XVI as a man and a monarch.”—P. M. Jones, English Historical Review “Monumental. . . . Scholars probing the mysteries of the late Old Regime and French Revolution will be working in its shadow for many years to come.”—Thomas E. Kaiser, Journal of Modern History Louis XVI of France, who was guillotined in 1793 during the Revolution and Reign of Terror, is commonly portrayed in fiction and film either as a weak and stupid despot in thrall to his beautiful, shallow wife, Marie Antoinette, or as a cruel and treasonous tyrant. Historian John Hardman disputes both these versions in a fascinating new biography of the ill-fated monarch. Based in part on new scholarship that has emerged over the past two decades, Hardman’s illuminating study describes a highly educated ruler who, though indecisive, possessed sharp political insight and a talent for foreign policy; who often saw the dangers ahead but could not or would not prevent them; and whose great misfortune was to be caught in the violent center of a major turning point in history. Hardman’s dramatic reassessment of the reign of Louis XVI sheds a bold new light on the man, his actions, his world, and his policies, including the king’s support for America’s War of Independence, the intricate workings of his court, the disastrous Diamond Necklace Affair, and Louis’s famous dash to Varennes.
Download or read book The Early Modern Atlantic Economy written by John J. McCusker and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sample Text
Download or read book Index The Papers of the Continental Congress 1774 1789 Quack Zwolle written by and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 1488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Index The Papers of the Continental Congress 1774 1789 written by and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 1502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book From Louis XIV to Napoleon written by Professor Jeremy Black and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-04-03 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much of the period 1661-1815 appeared to be the age of France. France was the greatest power in Western Europe in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and Louis XIV and Napoleon seemed to dominate their periods. yet when Louis XIV died in 1715, and again after Napoleon's attempt to resume power was defeated at Waterloo a century later, France appeared as a waning power. This failure in Europe was matched on the world scale. France was overtaken by Britain in the struggle for maritime predominance, and ended the period with her empire in ruins. From Louis XIV to Napoleon is a scholarly yet accessible account which considers why France was not more successful and throws light on French history, international relations, warfare and the rise and fall of French power.
