And neighbor, is associate professor of french and history at George Mason University. Her talk this evening, the American Revolution and the French Military enlightenment is being held in conjunction with our current exhibition, revolutionary reflections, french memories of the war for america. Which is on view in our gallery immediately behind this great fireplace. And will be open after the talk this evening. Dr. Pichichero will be discussing war and the enlightenment in the context of french experiences during the American Revolution. Many french officers of this era, such as row shambeu considers themselves philosophers who brought enlightenment and spirit to their enterprises. Their experiences in america had a profound impact on the politics and world views when they returned to france after the war. These themes are at the center of dr. Pichicheros book, the military enlightenment, war and culture in the french empire from louis xiv to napoleon, published by Cornell University press in 2017. Christy pichichero has a bachelor of arts in comparative literature from princeton, a bachelor of music in voice and opera, from the Eastman School of music, and a ph. D. In french studies from stanford university. She has been a member of the George Mason University faculty since 2011. And i just learned this evening, she has recently been elected president of the western society for french history. Among her many other honors, and awards, the society of the cincinnatis tyree lamb fellowship she received to support her research on the military enlightenment. Our fellowship program, which was established in 2007 provides support to bring up to six scholars annually to our library to conduct research. During dr. Pichicheros fell yesship year, i invited her to lunch with her fellow fellows, all the rest of whom were graduate students in the throes of work on their doctoral dissertati dissertations. Ive always remembered the advice the wise professor gave them. This is a wonderful time of your life, make sure you take time to enjoy it. And so, please join me in welcoming dr. Pichichero. [ applause ] good evening. Thank you so much for being here this evening and an enormous thank you to ellen, to kelsey, to the staff here at the anderson house, to the American Revolution institute and to the society of the cincinnati for doing me this great honor of inviting me to give you some information, some thoughts, on this subject of the American Revolution and the French Military enlightenment. It is a tremendous privilege to be here to stand alongside george, who is standing in front of my alma mater, it is really a greem co dream come true, so thank you for sharing this with me. I begin my remarks today as one would expect, in a talk with the American Revolution and the french enlightenment in its title. That is to say i will begin by citing french flophilosopher voltaire making fun of the english. I british us to chapter 23 of voltaires tale published in 1759. In this particular chapter voltaire wielded his sharp and sarcastic pen to critique the seven years war of 1756 to 1763. The war had been go on for three years when comdid was released to the public. Voltaire opened chapter 23 with the tales eponymous protagonist and a dutch philosopher, sailing toward the coast of england and discussing the seven years war. First comes the famous line in which maltan says the english and the french are equally ridiculous for engaging in this war over, i quote, a few acres of snow in canada. Continuing the quote, they spend much more on this beautiful war than the whole of canada is worth. End quote. Yet perhaps more ridiculous and nefarious was the british penal code, which they witness as they near the english shoreline. The coast was lined with crowds of people attentively watching a big man kneeling, his eyes bandaged on the upper deck of a warship in the harbor. Four soldiers were positioned opposite this man. Each of them fired three bullets, point blank into his skull. With all the tranquility in the world. And the whole assembly dispersed, feeling perfectly satisfied. What is all this, said condid and what demon exercises his powers in these parts. Then he asked who was that big man just killed with so much ceremony. He was an admiral, they responded. And why kill this admiral . It is because he did not kill a sufficient number of people. He gave battle to a french admiral and it was found he was not near enough to him. But said condid, the french admiral was just as far from the english admiral as the latter was from him. That is indisputable, they re y replied, but in this country it is seen as good to kill an admiral from time to time in order to encourage the others. Condid was so overwhelmed and shocked by what he saw and heard that he did not want to set foot on shore and made a bargain with the dutch skipp eper to conductm to venice without delay. This episode was based on a shocking true story. Just two years before condid was published, British Naval officer john bing was sentenced to public execution by firing squad on the upper deck of his ship the hms monarch. This disproportionate lly cruel punishment was meted out because of losing the battle in 1756. It was decided that bing had exercised an excess of caution and shown an inability to adapt his traditionalist tactics to changing circumstances as his first line of battleships was battered by the french and second line was unable to advance within canon range of the heavily armed french fleet. With substantial damages to his fleet and none of the french, bing retreated to gibraltar judging as a failure his mission to debilitate the french flotilla and leave the last standing british garrison on the island at port mann. The victory were trumpeted near and far by the french crown and press. It was a triumph of symbolic importance, in the early stage of the war. And of Strategic Value especially when the treaty of paris was devised and it was exchanged for the return of the lucrative french antilles and e belisle off the coast. The cruelty and cost of war extended far beyond battles themselves. Crimes were perpetrated not only by enemies, but also by the very state for which a military man had been willing to lay down his life in combat. Ive lingered on this textural example because it foregrounds several of the issues i will speak about this evening. First, this episode in condid is set in the seven years war, whose disastrous outcome for the french motivated louis xvi and his ministers to take up arms in the American Revolution. Revenge, they say, okay, revenge, they say, is a dish best served cold. And the decade or so between the close of the seven years war and the initiation of french aid for the american cause allowed france to prepare to hit back at england in an attempt to partially rebalance the system of global imperial power. Second and relatedly, the humiliating losses of the seven years war not only fueled in part the french engagement in the American Revolution, they also contributed to a growing sense of marshal and National Crisis in france. Between the latter wars of louis xiv and wars of the french revolution, france experienced a dramatic military decline that stunned not just the armed forces, but the entire nation. During the war of spanish succession, important political aims were met, however france suffered military defeats all over West Central Europe as john churchill, duke of marlboro and prince savine marched forward. Defeat the french. Save for a handful of victories, bungling and ineffectiveness also severely hampered military performance in the war of successi succession. French naval power was virtually annihilated and they endured tremendous losses in europe, india, africa and the americas. So coming to the tiny state of prussia on the continent and losing nearly all overseas. For the largest wealthiest and most populous country in western europe, one that had achieved great military glory in its far removed and recent past. The losses were no less than a national disaster. Losing this war was not just an exacerbating force but a critical motivator for both the critiques and the reforms of what we call the military enlightenment. While many equate it with pass fiscalism and wholesale in all of its forms. In reality, the world of the french enlightenment met and conjoined with the military sphere in many, various and significant ways. In the passage from candide, voltaire didnt dismiss war or leave it at condemning the seven years war in particular. En instead, he engaged with the event and the harshness of the British Naval penal code. In the French Military enlightenment which i will discuss in more detail, voltaire, military leadership and many others were deeply involved and thinking about rules and military policy, from philosophical and practical perspectives. Instead of simply condemning war, they fostered things that could aid in frances marshalls and National Crisis and at the same time alleviate the multifair yus brutality of war. Understanding this broader context in france is critical for interpreting the writing of french officers who crossed the atlantic to fight in the American Revolution. This brings me to my third and final reason for relaying the vignette from chapter 23 in can d candide. One of those present recorded details of the entire campaign in his memoirs and this is none other than jeanbaptiste many scholars and enthusiasts are accustomed to reading the translated and abridged version of the memoirs relative to the independence of the United States published in 1838. However, this is a section only about 100 panls of his 400some page memoirs. He records details and personal impressions of his entire military career which spanned more than 50 years. He chronicles his experiences of the war of austrian succession, the seven years war, the American Revolution and the french revolutionary wars. These wars brought him to different parts of the world from the mediterranean to flanders to yorktown. In my talk today, i will focus on him and make mention of a few other officers and their memoirs on the American Revolution. I will argue that these revolutionary reflexctions shoud be in this era of global warfare. In thinking about the subject, revolutionary reflections, french memories of the war for america, were encouraged to contemplate experiences from the u. S. War for independence from multiple perspectives in time. There is a time that french officers recorded in their memoirs, but in writing memoirs, there is also looking back into the past to recollect whether it be hours, days, or years later. The memoirs were published in 1808. It is likely that he wrote them in part after his military career had come to a close. So memories and reimagining have a role here. We look at a point of departure, we that look forward to it being significance and influence in france. Especially during the french revolution. The latter line of inquiry has been of particular interest of historians that long sought to trace the influence of political ideals like liberty and natural rights and cultures of leadership and warfare from the american to the french revolution. Scholars research and teach atlantic revolutions analyzing the american, french, and haitian revolutions together. There is a wonderful society, the consortium on revolutionary era, which is getting ready to celebrate its 50th anniversary coming up in 2020 and it is dedicated to studying a fascinating age in history in a global context. Examination the memoirs in their entirety unsettled nuanced many of my assumptions about the heros of the American Revolution, about the camaraderie with the view of American Culture, the war for independence, and what mattered to these officers that we may not have expected. One of my favorite anecdotes regards our dear friend who transformed himself from a tragically awkward but wealthy and wellconnected fish out of water in versailles to a hero and champion of the American Revolution. We know him as the darling of George Washington and perhaps the first great americano file home with his wife on the left bank of paris was a hub of American Culture and franco american political encounters in the city. There french elites rubbed elbows with the jeffersons, the ada adamses, the jays and others at dinners. English was the language of choice for conversation and where evening entertainment as often offered by the children. Even the incompetent invitations for the soirees were on bill et cetera. They were meant to be culturally authentic and they succeeded. Abigail adams felt very much at ease at the lafayettes home. During the war, lafayettes enthusiasm for the american cause created some issues. Notably in communications in between washington and another person. Since there was a language barrier, the latter decided send lafayette to me with full powers. During the protracted period of tension between them and the British Forces mobilizing in new york, long island, he had come to speak about possible ways forward before returning to washingtons camp. He recalls as soon as lafayette returned to general washingtons headquarters, he wrote me the most pressing dispatches reminding me of the substance of our former conversations and concluded by urging me in the name of that general to join him immediately to attempt fort witt an attack on the island of new york. He finished with a species of summons founded on the policy of the country and implying that the campaign was the last effort of his, washingtons patriotism. We were the more displeased at these dispatches as by the same courier, i received letters from general washington himself and not a single sentence of those letters alluded to the proposed plan of lafayette. Quickly ascertained that lafayette was more than washington, another quote, anxious to strike a decisive blow by attacking the very center of the enemys position. He wrote back in french and to washington in english in order to explain his perspectives on why this attack was illadvised and also to request that all future correspondence be direct without the interference of a third person. Lafayettes enthusiasm for american could go a little too far sometimes. If you think back to his home in paris being filled with objects from america, little George Washington lafayette coming out and singing songs in english. Many of them were thinking its a little much. After complaining about his enthusiasm, he celebrated his virtues and defending. Saying that washington forgave this as well. Often referring to, and i quote, the youthful artor of his friend to express washingtons sentiments with greater energy. The digressions in the memoirs, in which he interrupts what can be a rather dry narrative, are among the most interesting parts of his writings have not received sufficient attention. These commentaries aun; ur ah others, i would argue key to our understanding of the cultural lens through which many officers interpreted the American Revolution. Take for example a digression that occurred towards the end in the memoirs. He remarks i have never mentioned the multitude of addresses of the towns and assemblies general of the different states of america presented to the general and all of which were expressive of sincere gratitude toward frances. Some offered the good wishes of the inhabitants for the success of the future operations, others for those of the army. I will only speak of one of these addresses on account of its eccentricity. I added that asterisk. Ill come back to that. That word is a problem. Its a translators liberty. A deputation of the ancient society of friends accosted me clad in their simple costume. The quakers. General explained to the eldest at the party, it is not on account of thy military qualities that we have come to present our amish. We care not for thy achievements but i liveth in perfect order and discipline where for we have come to pay our respects to thee. Why of all of the declarations of praise and gratitude that washington and others received during this time was it this one that he chose to memorialize in his writings. It is not because of its ex sentries at this at all ex sentries at this at all. It was added by the translator. It is because theres a system of values in warfare that he espoused. Ones that he brought from france and that are reflective of what is terms the military enlightenment. The military enlightenment was born of the marshall crisis that plagued france during the 18th century, but also the concomitant rise of the enlightenment and the experiences of the first global wars. The enlightenment is perhaps best understood as a narrative for other historical times. According to this narrative that grew out of the quarrel, and here i quote historian dan edelstein. The present age was enlightened because the philosophical spirit of the scientific revolution had spread to the educated classes. Institutions of learning and even parts of the government. Participants in the military saw themselves as actors in history of progress and they sard a conviction that the functioning of the armed forces and the conditions of warfare more generally needed to be improved. In the name of advancement in these areas, agents of the military enlightenment applied a critical philosophical spirit, to acquire a deeper understanding of war and the military and then to propose an implement, a myriad of reforms. The military enlightenment was in part philosophical, contemplating the nature of war and its nature of conduct, the relationship between military service and citizenship and the costs of war in economic, political, moral, physical and emotional terms. It was also practical and technical. Indeed, military, aiming to effect palpable change in talts, in weaponry, tactics drills and others. These were not bounded by the monarchs chambers in versailles for confined to the army, navy and their administration. They engaged a far greater public. L