Greetings, everyone. I am Ellen Alan Clark and i am the Library Director for the American Revolution institute and it is my special pleasure to welcome you and to introduce our speaker, dr. Christy pichichero. She is the associate professor at george mason university. Her talk this evening is being held in conjunction with our current exhibition revolutionary reflections french memories of the war for america, which is on view behind this fireplace. 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 rochambeau, consider themselves military philosophers who brought enlightenment and philosophical spirit to their military enterprises. Their experiences had a profound impact on their experiences and worldviews when they returned to france after the war. These themes are at the center of her book military war and culture in the french empire from louis the 14th to napoleon. Published by Cornell University press in 2017. She has a bachelor of arts in comparative literature from princeton, a bachelor of music from the Eastman School of music, and a phd and french studies. She has been a member of the george mason faculty since 2011. Among her many other honors and awards, the society of these cincinnatis 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. 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 dissertations. I have always remembered the wise advice the professor gave them. This is a wonderful time in your life. Make sure you take time to enjoy it. Please join me in welcoming dr. Pichichero . applause good evening. Thank you so much for being here this evening. An enormous thank you to ellen, to kelsey, to the staff of the anderson house, to the Revolution Institute and the society of the cincinnati for joining me this great honor of inviting me to give you some information, some thoughts on the subject of the American Revolution. It is a privilege to be here to stand alongside george, who is standing in front of my alma mater. Its a dream come true. Thank you for sharing this with me. I begin my remarks as one would expect in a talk with the American Revolution and the french revolution in his title. I will begin by citing the french philoshopher voltaire making fun of the english. I bring us to chapter 23 of his famed philosophical tale candide. In this particular chapter, voltaire wielded his sharp and sarcastic pen to critique the seven years war. The war have been going on for three years when candide was released to the public and it was a war that voltaire decried as being sublimely foolish. Voltaire opened chapter 23 with the economists protagonist with the protagonist candide and a dutch philosopher discussing the seven years war. First comes the famous line in which martin says the english and the french are equally ridiculous for engaging in this war over a few acres of snow in canada. Continuing the quote, they spend much more on the beautiful war than the whole of canada is worth. But perhaps more ridiculous 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. Four soldiers were positioned opposite this man. Each fired three bullets point bank pointblank into fiscal with all the tranquility in the world and the assembly dispersed. What is all this . What demon exercises his powers in this in these parts. Then he said, who was the big man killed with so much ceremony . He was an admiral, they responded. Why kill this admiral . Because he did not kill a sufficient number of people. He gave battle to a french admiral and he was not near enough to him. But, said candide, the french admiral was just as far from the english admiral as the latter was from him. That is indisputable, they replied, but it is seen as good to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others. Candide was so overwhelmed and shocks he did not want to set foot on shore and made a bargain with the dutch captain to convey him to venice without delay. This episode was based on a shocking true story. Two years before candide was published, a british officer john bing was sentenced to public execution by firing squad on board his ship the hms monarch. It was meted out to penalize him for losing the battle of majorca in 1756. It was decided he had exercised in excess of caution and shown an ability to adapt his traditionalist tactics to changing his circumstances. And the second line advanced. Being retreated to gibraltar, judging as a failure his failure and leaving the last british garrison on the island. The victory and the taking of mallorca were trumpeted near and far in the french press. It was a triumph of symbolic importance in the early stage of the war end of strategic value, especially when the treaty of paris was devised and majorca was exchanged. As this occurred in voltaires narrative events, the cruelty was far beyond battle. Crimes were perpetrated not only by enemies, but the very states for which a military man had been willing to lay down his life in combat. I have lingered on this textual example because it foreground several issues i will speak about this evening. First, this is set in the seven years war. Revenge, they say, is a dish best served cold in the decade or so between the close of the seven years war and the initiation of french aid for the american cause allow the french to hit back at england to rebalance the system of global imperial power. Second, the humiliating loss not only fueled, in part, the french engagement in the french of revolution, but it contributed to growing national prejudice in france. Between the wars of louis 14th and the french revolution, france experienced a dramatic military decline that stunned not just the armed forces, but the entire nation. Important political aims were met, but france suffered military defeats all over europe as they march to their armies toward paris, successfully defeating the french. Save for a handful of of victories, bungling and ineffectiveness severely hampered french performance. French naval power was virtually annihilated and the armed forces endured tremendous losses in europe, india, and the americas, losing nearly all of its strongholds overseas. For the largest, wealthiest, and most populous country in europe, these losses were seen as no less than a national disaster. Losing this war was not just an exacerbating force, but a critical motivator and force and what we call the military enlightenment. The world of the french enlightenment met and conjoined with the military sphere in many very very ways. Full terror did not leave this at condemning the seven years war. In the French Military enlightenment. Public intellectuals were deeply involved in thinking about military policy from practical perspectives. Instead of simply condemning war, they fostered innovations and reforms that could aid Frances Marshall and National Crisis and alleviate, to some extent, the multifarious brutalities of war. Understanding this context in france is critical for interpreting the writings of french officers in the American Revolution. This brings me to my third and final reason for including chapter 23 in candide. One of the French Military officers present recorded details of the campaign in his memoirs and offered this officer is none other than rochambeau. Many scholars and enthusiasts are accustomed to reading the translated version of his memoirs, relative to the independence of the United States, published in 1838. But this is a small section, only 100 pages, of a 400page memoir. 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 American Revolution and the french revolutionary wars. These wars brought him to different parts of the war world from the mediterranean to flanders, to yorktown. I will make mention of a few other french officers. I will argue that these should be seen in connection with military enlightenment in the era of global warfare. In thinking about the subject of the exhibition here, revolutionary reflections, we are encouraged to contemplate french experiences from multiple perspectives in time. There is a sense of the present in the firsthand, phenomenological experience of fighting that french officers recorded in their memoirs, but in writing memoirs, there is looking backward into the past, to recollect these experiences, whether it be hours, days, or years later. His memoirs were published in 1808 and its likely he wrote them after his military career came to a close. Some memory and reimagining have a role here. We are also curious to take this as a point of departure and look forward to hypothesize their influence on france in the time that followed. The latter line of inquiry has been of particular interest to historians pursuing ideals like liberty and natural rights from the american to the french revolution. Scholars research and teach, analyzing the american, french, and haitian revolution is together, theres a wonderful consortium that is getting ready to celebrate its anniversary in 2020 and is entirely dedicated to studying this history in a global context. Examining rochambeaus memoirs in their entirety, unsettled or nuanced many of my assumptions about the heroes of the American Revolution. About the camaraderie, the lenses through which french officers viewed American Culture and the war for independend and what mattered to these officers that they may not have expected. One of my favorite anecdote in his memoirs regards our dear friends lafayette, our dear friend lafayette, who transformed himself from a tragically awkward fish out of water to a champion of the American Revolution. We know him as a darling of George Washington. Perhaps the first americana file samericanophile. French elites rubbed elbows with the jeffersons and others at lafayettes american dinners where english was the language of choice for conversation and evening entertainment was offered by his own children. Even the invitations to these soirees were printed in english. They were intended to be authentic and succeeded, as even the puritanical as Abigail Adams felt at home. But lafayettes enthusiasm for the american cause created issues, notably in communications between washington and rochambeau. Since there was a language barrier, the latter decided he would send lafayette to me with full powers from him. During the protracted period of tension with the British Forces mobilizing in new york and long island, lafayette came to speak about possible ways forward. Rochambeau recalls as soon as lafayette returned to washingtons headquarters, he wrote me the most depressing dispatches and urging me to join him immediately, to attempt an attack on the island of new york. He finished with a species of summons, implying that the campaign was the last effort of his, washingtons patriotism. By the same courier, i received letters from general washington himself, and not a single sentence a leave it to the proposed problem plans of lafayette. Rochambeau ascertained that lafayette was perhaps more than washington anxious to strike a decisive blow by attacking the center of the enemy position. Rochambeau wrote back to in french and to explain his perspective on why this attack was ill advised and that all communications between him and washington be direct and not without the interference of a third person. Lafayettes enthusiasm for america could go a little too far sometimes. If you think back to his home in paris that is filled with objects from america and Little George washington singing songs in english, you could think a lot of french would think it was a little much. But lafayette immediately defended his zeal, saying washington for gave this as well, often referring to the youthful ardor of his friend to express washingtons sentiments with greater energy. He interrupts what could be a rather dry narrative of events to relay impressions are some of the most interesting part of his writings and have not received sufficient attention. They are key to understanding the cultural lens through which many french officers interpreted their experiences during the American Revolution. Take for example a digression that occurs at the end of the u. S. War for independence. Rochembeau remarks, i have never mentioned the multitude of addresses the towns and assemblies general of the different states of america presented to the general, and all of which were expressive of their feelings of sincere gratitude toward france. Some also expressed wishes for the success of future operations. Others for the army. I will only speak of one of these on account of its eccentricity. I added the asterisk. That word is a problem. Its a translators liberty. Continue. A depuation of the ancient society of friends in philadelphia, the quakers, a costed me. General, explained the eldest of the party, it is not on account of your military abilities. We carry not we care not for your accomplishments. But you are one of mankind and therefore we have come to pay our respects to thee. Why, of all the expressions of praise and gratitude, why did this one why was this one the one that rochambeau chose to memorialize in his writings . It was not because of his eccentricity. That word was added by the translator. Its because these marks reflect a system of values and warfare. They are reflective of what is called the military enlightenments. The military enlightenment, as i mentioned, was born of the marshall crisis that plagued france, but also the experiences of the first global wars. The light meant is perhaps best understood as a development by which here i quote dan edelstein. The present age was enlightens because the philosophical spirit of the scientific revolution had spread to the educated classes. Participants saw themselves as actors in the history of progress and they shared convention conviction that warfare needed to be improved. Agents of the military enlightenment applied a philosophical spirit, what the french called a philosophy, to acquire a deeper understanding of war and the military and to propose and implement a myriad of force. It was in part philosophical, contemplating war and its conduct. Ideal characteristics. The relationship between war and citizenship. And the cost of war in its economic, moral, physical, and emotional terms. It was also practical and technical. Military, aiming to achieve tactics, drill, and medicine. These dialogues and debates were not bound by the chambers in versailles, nor where they confined to the army, the navy, and their administrations. They engaged a far greater public. The public intellectuals of the day, the elite, theorists, poets, historians, doctors, mathematicians, and more. They were vital for members of the aristocracy, whose justification of socioeconomic socioeconomic folk of france marched off to war and sheltered the the wars were arenas of national concern. The military enlightenment was part of a broader phenomena of enlightenment, engaging in the same narrative and embracing philosophy to make war reflective of a new age. Philosophically and politically, participants brought a wide range of perspectives. Some are atheists. Some were deists. Some championed universal principles, while others acknowledged human fallibility, when confronting infinite contingency. Some advocated for classical republicanism while others were unabashed royalists. The overarching project emerged, one that entails a bipartite ambition. The first was to achieve marshall objectives while sparing costs and precious resources, especially manpower. The second goal was to wage war humanely. Including the rationality and dignity of the human race. French military officers of all ranks saw themselves as leaders in the environment in the enlightenment and they are filled with memoranda and letters. Many of them were considered military philosophers who were dedicated to truth and the morality of making good war. This involved rationality and innate empathy to conduct more inhumane fashion and build bonds with comrades. War, its sentiment, and lexicon, subtle feeling, as adam smith put it, represented a departure from traditional themes. They were the development of this time in history. While rochambeau never declared himself a military philosopher, is understanding as an agent of military enlightenment is clear. He opened his memoirs with a declaration to devotion ruling the truth and only the truth. He wrote and this is my translation the truth must be the basis of history. I can only write what i saw or heard of. I preferred to be quiet rather than to risk violating this first principle, from which one must never stray. Rochambeau had an attachment to the moral values of waging war humanely as a friend of humankind. It is for this reason, i believe, that he cherished his story of the quaker above all others and only recorded this conversation in his memoirs. It is important to recall that military officers were among the most prolific world travelers during this time during due to the wars of empire. France had dispatched missionaries and scientific teams, colonized lands on six of seven continents, excluding antarctica and had sailed six oceans. Merchants were active in west africa, sugar plantations in the caribbean, fisheries and for trade post in the american colonies, in the indian subcontinent, and china. In this time of mercantilism, they sanctioned monopolies for private companies and works to secure frances firt tier position in the world of trade. This was the premier location in the world. They were keenly focused on colonizing the french part of the island, protecting the human and material cargo transported on ships going to and from the island. Navel, sea, and land units as well as metropolitan regular army units were deployed. Their task was to patrol and protect french interest, interests, a process referred to as colonization, and aid the military, when trade routes and posts became the pathways and locale of warfare. Empire and direc