Diffusion in Franco-German Relations: A Different Perspective on a History of Cooperation and Conflict

249 Pages·2020·3.125 MB·English

by  Eric Sangar

STUDIES IN DIPLOMACY AND
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Diffusion in
Franco-German Relations
A Different Perspective on a
History of Cooperation and Conflict
Eric Sangar
Studies in Diplomacy and International Relations
Series Editors
Donna Lee
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester, UK
Paul Sharp
College of Liberal Arts
University of Minnesota
Duluth, USA
Marcus Holmes
College of William & Mary
Williamsburg, USA
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14471
Eric Sangar
Diffusion in Franco-
German Relations
A Different Perspective on a History
of Cooperation and Conflict
Eric Sangar
Sciences Po Lille & CERAPS
University of Lille
Lille, France
Studies in Diplomacy and International Relations
ISBN 978-3-030-36039-9 ISBN 978-3-030-36040-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36040-5
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A
cknowledgments
This book would not have been written without the support I received by
Christoph Meyer, Professor of European and International Politics at
King’s College London: not only did he give me a chance to design and
teach the module “Discovering Diffusion: Perspectives on the Interactions
of the Franco-German Couple” whose contents formed the basis for this
book. He also became a stimulating role model thanks to his professional
ethics and his personal kindness.
I thank the students participating in the mentioned module for their
curiosity and commitment that motivated me to transform this course
into a book.
Furthermore, I thank Thierry Balzacq, Alain Dieckhoff, Mathias
Delori, Laurence Dufourg, Mareike König, Thomas Lindemann, Léo
Péria-Peigné, Holger Stritzel, and Pascal Vennesson for their useful feed-
back and advice on various parts of the book.
I am also grateful for research support provided by librarians at the
German Historical Institute in Paris, the King’s College Library, the
Bibliothèque de Sciences Po Paris, and the Bibliothèque nationale
de France.
I would not have been able to finish the book on time without the kind
support of my colleagues at Sciences Po Lille, above all the IR teaching
staff, including Anne Bazin, David Delfolie, Sami Makki, and Charles
Tenenbaum. Not only did they make me feel welcome at my new home
institution but also greatly facilitated my first year as a lecturer.
The countless lunches and coffee breaks with my colleagues and friends
at the BNF, including Mirjam Dageförde, Sabine Dini, Živilė Kalibataitė,
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Wendy Ramadan-Alban, Elise Rousseau, Thomas Scapin, and Achille
Sommo Pende, made me enjoy the long writing sessions between July
2018 and September 2019.
Last but not least I thank Milena for making me discover, besides many
other things, the streets in which the ‘Zabern Affair’ took place more than
one-hundred years ago.
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
2 The Mainstream Narrative of Franco-German Relations
and the Value of ‘Diffusion’ as a Complementary
Analytical Framework 9
3 Exporting Revolutionary Institutions Across the Rhine 35
4 Importing ‘Alien’ or ‘Enlightened’ Law: Understanding
the Partial Diffusion of the Code Napoléon in the
Confederation of the Rhine 59
5 Importing Nationalist Warfare: Prussia’s Emulation of
the Napoleonic Way of War 81
6 Understanding the Incomplete Emulation of Prussian
Warfare by the French Army After the Franco-Prussian
War 103
vii
viii CONTENTS
7 Learning from the Prussian Schulmeister? German
Influences on French Primary Education Before and After
1870 123
8 The ‘Germanisation’ of Local Identities in Alsace-
Lorraine 147
9 Enabling Reconciliation Through the Recognition of
Mutual Entanglement: The Emergence of a Franco-
German Transnational Memory of the First World War 179
10 Understanding the Diffusion of West German Ordoliberal
Ideas Within the Context of the Introduction of the
European Monetary System 203
11 Conclusion: The Added Value of Studying Diffusion in
the Context of Franco-German Relations 227
Index 237
l f
ist of igures
Chart 2.1 Number of Francophone and Germanophone publications
in WorldCat published on Franco-German relations
between 1900 and 2016 18
Chart 6.1 Replacement figures in the French Army, 1835 to 1856.
(Source: Schnapper 1968, p. 293) 111
Chart 7.1 Evolution of the number of municipalities without
schools in France, 1837 to 1876l. (Source: Grew et al.,
1983, p. 39) 129
Chart 7.2 Share of children of 5 to 15 years attending primary
schools, 1850 to 1876. (Source: Diebolt, Jaoul, & San
Martino, 2005, p. 476) 129
Chart 8.1 Literacy rates of Alsatian conscripts between 1875 and
1910, based on official conscription records from 1914
(Source: Harp, 1996, p. 204) 163
Chart 8.2 Conscription rates in the formerly Lorraine area between
1872 and 1895, according to official conscription records
(Source: Roth, 2011, p. 115) 164
Illustration 8.1 Contemporary memorial plaque in Zabern dedicated to
the commemoration of a street protest in November
1913. Picture taken by the author in August 2019 166
Illustration 8.2 Painting “La Tache Noire” by Albert Betannier, 1887.
From Wikimedia Commons under public domain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1887_Bettannier_
Der_Schwarze_Fleck_anagoria.jpg 168
Chart 10.1 Evolution of productive investment in France and West
Germany between 1974 and 1979. (Data source: Ziebura,
2012, p. 274) 210
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