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Education for Empire in Lyon during the Third Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

John F. Laffey
John F. Laffey*
Affiliation:
Concordia University, Montreal
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Extract

France acquired the world's second largest overseas empire during the nineteenth century. This achievement appears all the more remarkable when measured against the scant holdings retained at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the nation's weak industrial base, the banking community's marked preference for investment in the state debts of European and Mediterranean countries, the stagnant demographic pattern, and the mass of the population's distaste for imperialist adventures. Among those clamouring for the extension of imperial holdings could be found many military men and missionaries and a more restricted number of ideologues and politicians. But the strongest support for imperialism came from the business elites of the port cities and the centres of textile production. Despite their frequent invocations of grandeur and the mission civilisatrice, the motives of these bourgeois magnates remained essentially economic. They wanted the semi-colonial areas, as well as the colonies, to supply them with markets, raw materials and more profitable returns on investments. Local Chambers of Commerce, not unnaturally, became the pivotal institutions providing sustained support for imperialist endeavours. The provincial business communities discovered, however, that the realization of their economic dreams required more than economic activity. Most obviously, they had to deploy their substantial political influence in efforts to sway government policy. During the Third Republic, when France's empire reached its greatest extent, they also utilized the Chambers of Commerce to lend support to local geographical societies, colonialist organizations, colonial congresses, and endeavours in the field of imperial education. If these undertakings never completely realized the hopes of their backers, they still enjoyed successes substantial enough to call forth continued support.

Type
Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , Summer 1975 , pp. 169 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © 1975 by New York University 

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References

Notes

Grants from Montreal's Inter-University Centre for European Studies and the Canada Council facilitated the research for this article. I wish to thank both bodies for this aid.

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30. Ibid., p. 348.Google Scholar

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32. Ibid., pp. 343, 345.Google Scholar

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35. “Cours d'enseignement colonial,” CRTCCL, 1901, pp. 461–65, p. 462.Google Scholar

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42. CRTCCL, 1904, p. 165.Google Scholar

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51. “Enseignement colonial,” CRTCCL, 1920, pp. 494–513, 504, 502.Google Scholar

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53. “Enseignement colonial,” CRTCCL, 1923, pp. 405–20, p. 406.Google Scholar

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57. Daladier, Edouard, Discours, Ibid., pp. 608–12.Google Scholar

58. “Souscriptions diverses,” CRTCCL, 1925, p. 387.Google Scholar

59. “Ecole de préparation coloniale et Musée colonial,” Ibid., pp. 553–70, 558–59.Google Scholar

60. “Ecole de préparation coloniale et Musée colonial,” CRTCCL, 1926, pp. 597–611, 599–600.Google Scholar

61. “Ecole de préparation coloniale et Musée colonial,” CRTCCL, 1927, pp. 637–50, p. 639.Google Scholar

62. Ibid., pp. 641–42.Google Scholar

63. “Ecole de préparation coloniale et Musée colonial,” CRTCCL, 1928, pp. 577–90, p. 581.Google Scholar

64. “Ecole de préparation coloniale et Musée colonial,” CRTCCL, 1929, pp. 549–72, p. 557.Google Scholar

65. Ibid.Google Scholar

66. “Expose de la situation industrielle et commerciale de la circonscription de la Chambre de commerce de Lyon pendant l'année 1934,” CRTCCL, 1934, pp. 367–422, p. 373. The 1936 CRTCCL is filled with material related to the Popular Front; see, for example, “Initiatives et demarches de la Chambre de commerce a propos des grèves, occupations d'usines et désordres sociaux,” CRTCCL, 1936, pp. 246–48.Google Scholar

67. “Ecole de préparation coloniale et Musée colonial,” CRTCCL, 1930, pp. 499–506, p. 501; “Ecole de préparation coloniale et Musée colonial,” CRTCCL, 1931, pp. 469–76, p. 471.Google Scholar

68. “Ecole de préparation coloniale et Musée colonial,” CRTCCL, 1932, pp. 63–66, p. 63.Google Scholar

69. Ibid.Google Scholar

70. “Ecole de préparation coloniale et Musée colonial,” CRTCCL, 1933, pp. 98–100, p. 98.Google Scholar

71. “Ecole de préparation coloniale et Musée colonial,” CRTCCL, 1935, pp. 98–100, p. 98.Google Scholar

72. “Service ordinaire de la Chambre,” Ibid., pp. 122–23, p. 123.Google Scholar

73. “Ecole de préparation coloniale et Musée colonial,” CRTCCL, 1936, pp. 425–27, p. 425.Google Scholar

74. “Ecole de préparation coloniale et Musée colonial,” CRTCCL, 1937, pp. 369–71, p. 369.Google Scholar

75. “Ecole de préparation coloniale et Musée colonial,” CRTCCL, 1938, pp. 279–81, p. 279.Google Scholar

76. Herriot, Edouard, Discours, CRTCCL, 1923, pp. 551–53, p. 552.Google Scholar

77. Out of many such examples, see, “La Colonisation en Indo-Chine—Réception de M. Beau, gouverneur général de l'Indo-Chine (Rapport de M. Ulysse Pila),” CRTCCL, 1905, pp. 204–53; “Reception de M. Alapetite, ministre plenipotentiaire, résident général de France à Tunis (20 octobre 1907),” CRTCCL, 1907, pp. 302–21; “Réception de M. le général Lyautey, resident général de France au Maroc,” CRTCCL, 1916, pp. 389–403; “Mission en Syrie. Réception du Géneral Gouraud,” CRTCCL, 1919, pp. 400–55; “Reception de M. Merlin, gouverneur général de l'Indochine; de M. Garbit, gouverneur général de Madagascar, et de M. Carde, gouverneur général de l'Afrique occidentale française,” CRTCCL, 1923, pp. 558–72; “Reception de M. Robin, gouverneur général de l'Indochine,” CRTCCL, 1934, pp. 30–4.Google Scholar

78. “Expose de la situation industrielle et commerciale de la circonscription de la Chambre de commerce de Lyon pendant la année 1914,” CRTCCL, 1914, pp. 1–51, p. 10.Google Scholar