Connolly, James E;
(2024)
A peacetime battleground: national symbols, patriotism and prestige in the French-occupied Rhineland, 1920–23.
French History
, 38
(2)
pp. 214-231.
10.1093/fh/crad053.
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Abstract
Tensions and violence were central to the French interwar occupation of the Rhineland. This article examines symbolic opposition and violence carried out by locals, as perceived by the French authorities, mainly involving attacks on flags, singing banned patriotic songs, or displaying German patriotic colours. Although rarer than physical violence, the ways in which French officials documented and responded to such incidents allow for an insight into the mindset of the French occupiers. The victorious but sensitive French were especially concerned with notions of prestige, dignity and authority, drawing on colonial ideas, and quick to punish attacks on symbols of French power. Even during the beginning of the organized ‘passive resistance’ campaign in 1923, French authorities were as concerned with songs and flags as with demonstrations and physical violence. French sensitivity around national symbols betrayed deeper insecurities and uncertainties regarding their role both in the occupied territory and the wider world.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | A peacetime battleground: national symbols, patriotism and prestige in the French-occupied Rhineland, 1920–23 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1093/fh/crad053 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1093/fh/crad053 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for the Study of French History. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > SELCS |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10185652 |
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