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Vient de paraître A Velvet Empire : French Informal Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century de David Todd aux Princeton University Press

Le 24 février 2021 à 15h17

Vient de paraître A Velvet Empire : French Informal Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century de David Todd aux Princeton University Press, coll. "Histories of Economic Life", 2021, 368 p. ISBN : 9780691171838 Prix : 34 £ (existe également en version électronique).

"After Napoleon’s downfall in 1815, France embraced a mostly informal style of empire, one that emphasized economic and cultural influence rather than military conquest. A Velvet Empire is a global history of French imperialism in the nineteenth century, providing new insights into the mechanisms of imperial collaboration that extended France’s power from the Middle East to Latin America and ushered in the modern age of globalization.
David Todd shows how French elites pursued a cunning strategy of imperial expansion in which conspicuous commodities such as champagne and silk textiles, together with loans to client states, contributed to a global campaign of seduction. French imperialism was no less brutal than that of the British. But while Britain widened its imperial reach through settler colonialism and the acquisition of far-flung territories, France built a “velvet” empire backed by frequent military interventions and a broadening extraterritorial jurisdiction. Todd demonstrates how France drew vast benefits from these asymmetric, imperial-like relations until a succession of setbacks around the world brought about their unravelling in the 1870s.
A Velvet Empire sheds light on France’s neglected contribution to the conservative reinvention of modernity and offers a new interpretation of the resurgence of French colonialism on a global scale after 1880. This panoramic book also highlights the crucial role of collaboration among European empires during this period—including archrivals Britain and France—and cooperation with indigenous elites in facilitating imperial expansion and the globalization of capitalism."



David Todd (https://twitter.com/DavidTo23288539) is senior lecturer in world history at King’s College London. His books include Free Trade and Its Enemies in France, 1814–1851.

Merci amical et chaleureux à notre collègue Hubert Bonin pour ce signalement précieux