#Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (1841-1929) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

indiscreetdiary · 27 days ago

Text

Henry ‘Chips’ Channon: The Diaries (vol. 1), 1918-38, entry for Thursday, 16th May 1918

It is dreadful my life, dreadful yet wonderful to skim the cream off life … gliding along oceans of delight when the world is mourning and is suffering. In the world drenched with misery, is one drop of happiness a sin? Electric waves of depression seem to sweep over Paris. The theatres are all open and the streets and restaurants are crowded. The giant balloons placed in conspicuous places have restored confidence, the idea being that the wires suspended from them impede the progress of the Boche planes. Really they are probably useless, but as a matter of fact there has not been a successful read for three weeks. The people in the know believe the English forces and possibly the French will fall back, that the Ypres salient will be abandoned and that they will take back Amiens or Arras. Then the tide will turn and it will be the Allied hour backed by the Americans to victory …¹ Chaponay² is more cheerful since the duc de Lévis-Mirepoix³ has been acquitted. He is supposed to have left letters written by the Queen Mother of Spain⁴ in a taxicab wrapped in a pair of stays. There are vague rumours that they were left in the house of a well-known actress playing at the Capucines. He was court-martialled, in spite of the opposition of Foch and Clemenceau,⁵ (the ‘Tiger’⁶ ever delighted to persecute an aristocrat) and was freed from blame. The Lévis-Mirepoix are most arrogant and they claim descent from Levi⁷ — and always refer to the Virgin Mary as ‘notre cousine’. The tact of the usually tactless Prince de Beauvau⁸ in not getting into this scrape at Madrid is much commented on. Table-turning⁹ this evening predicted the fall of Clemenceau. Of course the monde¹⁰ hat him and are most Clemenceauphobe,¹¹ although they have no candidate to suggest. I am like them, anti-Pershing,¹² anti-Clemenceau, for no reason unless it is type-antipathy.

Which is remarkably similar to what happened.

Marquis Antoine Marie François de Chaponay-Morancé (1893-1956). In 1923 he would marry Geneviève d’Orléans (1901-83), Princess de France, daughter of the 8th duc de Vendôme.

Antoine Pierre Marie François Joseph de Lévis-Mirepoix (1884-1981) was a historian and novelist. He inherited the dukedom from his father in 1915. He would later become a member of the Académie française. He had fought in the French army but by 1918 was engaged on diplomatic work.

Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria (1858–1929).

Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (1841–1929) was Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and from 1917 to 1920.

Clemenceau’s nickname. Channon perhaps insufficiently draws attention to the irony of the Prime Minister’s relative leniency in this matter.

In the Book of Genesis, Levi is the son of Jacob and Leah, and Moses’s great-grandfather.

Charles-Louis de Beauvau-Craon (1878–1942), 6th Prince of Beauvau, was a veteran of a society scandal in 1909 when, while already married, he fell in love with the married Princesse Bibesco (née Marthe Lahovary) (1886–1973).

A form of seance becoming fashionable in Paris as part of the vogue for spiritualism during the Great War.

Fashionable people.

Because his radical politics held little appeal for the privileged denizens of the faubourg.

General John Joseph ‘Black Jack’ Pershing (1860–1948) was Commander of the American Expeditionary Force on the Western Front.

#*#channon diaries #chips channon #antoine chaponay #antoine lévis-mirepoix #maria christina of austria #ferdinand foch #georges clemenceau #charles-louis beauvau #john pershing

0 notes

historysandwich · 5 years ago

Text

【常威近代史】（三百三十二回）

大軍閥平反系列

中國南北和談暫時僵住，我哋返番去法國梵爾賽宮舉行緊嘅巴黎和會，和會分別由美國總統威爾遜（Thomas Woodrow Wilson，1856－1924）、大衛·勞合·喬治（David Lloyd George, 1863－1945年）以及法國總理克里蒙梭（Georges Benjamin Clemenceau，1841－1929）三人主導，其中美國總統威爾遜嘗試以一種全新嘅普世價值觀，加諸響歐洲列強原本嘅帝國主義俱樂部中，希望藉此改變整個世界嘅秩序同玩法，防止一如一戰嘅大規模殲滅戰爭再發生。

之前已經講過，美國嘅動機係美好嘅，唔需要懷疑。今集有時間，不如講少少美國。19世紀世界出現嘅問題，或者第一次世界大戰嘅成因，一如列寧所講，係「帝國主義」氾濫嘅問題，唔同嘅歐陸帝國為咗掠奪全世界資源、海外市場及殖民地，出現巨大爭拗，最後不得不用戰爭手法解決。

1776年，由一群歐洲移民橫越大西洋到達新大陸所建立嘅美利堅合眾國，似乎由一開始，已經脫離咗歐洲強權體系嘅帝國主義者玩法，當然建立美國本身，亦都揹負住屠殺印第安人土著嘅黑暗歷史。不過美利堅合眾國以「自由民主平等」等普世價值為核心政治信仰立國，似乎由一開始，就搵啱咗發展新方向。

美國同歐洲一樣，工業革命機械化將全世界帶入工業生產商品時代，巨大嘅工業制度同金融商業制度亦喺美國成長起來，因此美國亦都需要海外市場拓展資本主義。但係點解十九世紀嘅美國唔好似其他帝國主義者一樣，積極發展軍備同採取侵略政策呢？

點解墨西哥冇畀美國完全吞拼？或者好似中國，美國冇好似其他西方列強咁建立一個個殖民地瓜分佢？仲有一個例子，打開日本鎖國大門嘅人係美國，但美國唔同大英帝國一樣，將日本變成另一個印度殖民地體系，將日本變成印度當時美國人絕對有能力咁樣做，美國反而任由呢個國家將自己歐化起嚟，最後發展成為另一個軍事強國，甚至變成自己嘅最大敵人。相信如果歷史有預知，美國人一定會將日本變成印度，所以後來用兩枚原子彈重重懲罰日本，係有一定歷史恩怨。

但奇怪嘅係，就算20世紀初期美國出咗羅斯福（Theodore Roosevelt ，1858－1919）一位咁年輕、好大喜功、能幹好動、具有世界政治傾向、敢作敢為嘅美國總統，美國都無大規模捲入海外領地爭奪戰爭之中，呢個係同美國嘅政治傳統有關。

首先南北戰爭北軍勝利，取締奴隸制，固然係一個重要意識形態元素；其次，美國冇好似其他歐洲國家咁，有專門負責侵略嘅外事部門同外交使團（英帝國嘅殖民地部就係最佳例子，香港歷任總督就係由殖民地部訓練出嚟嘅職業官僚），美國亦冇一批「專家」嚟維持侵略策略嘅傳統。

美國總統掌握大權，但係權力受到人民直接選出嘅參議院所牽制，每項同外國訂立嘅條約，必先取得參議院嘅同意，國家嘅對外關係，處於公眾控制同監察之下，處於依種制度下，締結秘密條約基本上唔可能，當時好多國家都抱怨同美國達成「諒解」係非常困難嘅事，但正正冇枱底交易，令到美國唔能夠從事歐洲諸國長久以來就經常處於戰爭邊緣嗰種枱底交易式外交政策。亦因為呢個緣故，美國冇大規模捲入一戰，到頭來得以保存完整實力。

當然地緣因素亦都非常重要，大西洋分隔歐洲，太平洋分隔亞洲，獨特嘅地理環境，令美國長期處於有利嘅戰略地位，去到今時今日，剋服海洋屏障，攻擊美國本土仍然係一個高難度動作。

19世紀美國並無採用殖民地嘅方式拓展國力，一來佢並非行君主制，本來就冇「國王直轄殖民地」依個概念；二來，美國對其他地區嘅侵略行徑，都係採用一個「killing you softly」迂迴策略，往往直接軍事行動介入之後，首先佢會響當地建立一個親美政權，然後使用同化手段，最後要當地人民順從美國嘅價值觀同民主理念，從而follow佢，成為佢從屬嘅一員。二次世界大戰後嘅英帝國，喺處理殖民地殘留嘅問題上都參考咗美國嘅模式，於是有咗所謂「英聯邦體制」（Common Wealth System）。

其實講到重心，20世紀初期嘅美國，點解唔係好似其他西方列強一樣成為兇悍嘅侵略者？理由大約可以歸納為一點，就係美國擁有完善嘅民主制度，國家領導人並非聖人，好多時候會行錯方向，造出選擇錯誤，但係民主制度本身就係一個能夠修補錯誤嘅機制，直接啲講，如果你做錯嘢，就要下臺，我哋選過第二個！第二個可能更差，但係人民仍有權力選第三個！

君不見今日林鄭月娥瀨咗咁大鑊嘢仍然冇下臺，仲口口聲聲話留低主持大局係最大嘅犧牲同承擔，我真係好想嘔，一個冇民主嘅地方，就先會出現呢啲咁荒謬嘅局面。搵一個犯錯嘅人去修補錯誤？你話修補到錯誤嘅機會會有幾大呢？就算小學雞我個女都明白。

#常威💀 #大軍閥平反系列 #大軍閥 #民國歷史

【常威近代史】第三部《東方維多利亞女王之死》

https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=GaGrDwAAQBAJ

【常威近代史】第二部《中國一百年前第一次開放改革》

https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=_6KMDwAAQBAJ

【常威近代史】第一部《大清亡國關慈禧蛋牛治》

https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=C3hjDwAAQBAJ

【常威近代史】第一部《大清亡國關慈禧蛋牛治》實體購買

https://www.382now.com/product?id=87

【常威近代史】第二部《中國一百年前的第一次改革開放》實體購買

https://www.382now.com/product?id=151

【常威近代史】第三部《東方維多利亞女王之死》實體購買

https://www.382now.com/product?id=165

0 notes