Academic Journal
Leaving the Pyrenees: France and Frenchmen as Perceived by British Soldiers in 1813–1814
| Title: | Leaving the Pyrenees: France and Frenchmen as Perceived by British Soldiers in 1813–1814 |
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| Authors: | Tatiana A. Kosykh |
| Contributors: | by the Russian Science Foundation, project 21-78-00078 'Images of the Enemy and Ally in the Reception of the British Participants of the Military Campaigns in the West Mediterranean and the Pyrenees in 1793–1814'., Российский научный фонд, проект № 21-78-00078 «Образы врага и союзника в восприятии британских участников военных кампаний в Западном Средиземноморье и на Пиренеях 1793–1814 гг.». |
| Source: | Известия Уральского федерального университета. Серия 2: Гуманитарные науки, Vol 25, Iss 3, Pp 211-224 (2023) Izvestia. Ural Federal University Journal. Series 2. Humanities and Arts; Том 25, № 3; 211-224 Известия Уральского федерального университета. Серия 2. Гуманитарные науки; Том 25, № 3; 211-224 |
| Publisher Information: | Ural Federal University, 2023. |
| Publication Year: | 2023 |
| Subject Terms: | World History, Language and Literature, галлофобия, британская армия, герцог веллингтон, 16. Peace & justice, имагология, галломания, Napoleonic wars, British Army, imagology, Gallophilia, Gallophobia, Duke of Wellington, History (General) and history of Europe, наполеоновские войны, Наполеоновские войны, герцог Веллингтон, всемирная история |
| Description: | Under the command of Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, the future first Duke of Wellington, the British Army was one of the main participants of the military conflict on the Iberian Peninsula in 1808–1814. In the autumn of 1813, fighting on the side of the Spaniards and the Portuguese against the French Army, Wellington’s army ousted the enemy from the Spanish territories and launched an offensive on French lands. This article focuses on the reception of the image of France and the French in the diaries, letters, and memoirs of British soldiers and officers who participated in the war in France in 1813–1814. After leaving the Pyrenees, the British combatants believed they had returned to enlightened Europe from the “semi-civilized” Spain and Portugal. At the same time, the British image of the French combined elements of Gallophilia and Gallophobia that dominated in English society in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. On the one hand, British military narratives contained favourable characterisations of the locals whom King George III’s soldiers seemed to be freeing from Napoleon’s tyrannical rule. British officers noted such positive qualities of the French as politeness, gallantry, and friendliness. On the other hand, for the British military, the French Army became the personification of the “Other”. The texts of the English combatants described the soldiers of Soult’s army as cruel people capable of robbing and ruining their compatriots, and the French officers were perceived by the British military as self-interested careerists, ready to serve as a tool in the hands of Napoleon for the sake of promotion. |
| Document Type: | Article |
| ISSN: | 2587-6929 2227-2283 |
| DOI: | 10.15826/izv2.2023.25.3.051 |
| Access URL: | https://doaj.org/article/a10ef4898baa4fed937cb4eb2a26ad74 https://journals.urfu.ru/index.php/Izvestia2/article/view/7155 |
| Accession Number: | edsair.doi.dedup.....48fa36b96971f86b49a9028d3232100c |
| Database: | OpenAIRE |
| ISSN: | 25876929 22272283 |
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| DOI: | 10.15826/izv2.2023.25.3.051 |