Who was J.F. Dupleix ? He was the son of René François Dupleix, CEO of the Compagnie des Indes Orientales, who had trained his son to become a businessman and who sent him to India first in 1715, aged 18.

What was the CFIO – Compagnie Française des Indes Orientales ? Probably the richest of all the French Trading Compagnies built up by JB. Colbert (1619-1683), brilliant Finance Minister of the Sun king (1665-1683) about 40 years earlier

Dupleix had built the first organization of a Franco-Indian Army, called the Cipayes, with French officers and Indian soldiers, with such French officers reputedly not looking down to the population but having a spirit to be listening to their soldiers, families and to all local authorities involved. Such an organisation was so successful that it got copied by the Brits some 15 years later.

Dupleix had also built brilliant cities with famous French architects in Tamil Nadu, most famous among them were Puducherry and Madras (now called Chennaï), which was so famous in France in the 18th century that ‘Madras tissues’ were very common among the French aristocracy and well off families. Dupleix had also built a number of forts which were holding French positions in more than 50 regional cities of Southern India and had also massively developped trade with the French colonies of ‘Ile de France’ (which became successful ‘Mauritius’) and ‘Ile de Bourbon’ (which became successfull ‘Ile de la Réunion = Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean).

Following Colbert’s (The Sun King Finance & PM for 18 years) development of ‘Compagnie des Indes’ some 40 years earlier, the French colonies of India were developping at a fast pace under Dupleix, with Trade reaching 9 figures in textile, fruit and building industries.

So much so that such a brilliant success with French officers commonly speaking Hindi or Portuguese (Goa) strongly annoyed the British businessmen in the North of India (Calcutta = Kolkata) who requested British spies to look into Dupleix successes and influence the French king, then Louis the 15th in Versailles. This came at a time where the French king, not as brilliant as his great grandfather (The Sun king), was highly distracted by young women in Versailles (parc aux biches) and by his official mistress, Madame de Pompadour, and had not the slightest idea of what really boiled up under the highly competent Governor Dupleix. He had left many of his key competences to amateur administrators or ministers, including Machault.

The results were that a bunch of skillful British spies and diplomats at the French Court ended up in buzzing in the wrong ears that Governor Dupleix had taken some money back from the king, which was absolutely untrue.

With such biased information, the French king Louis the 15th was wrongly advised by Machault to have Dupleix back to France and to be judged (He defended himself courageously but it took him until the end of his life to win back, while he was ruined in the process having sold his French riches to invest them in India) and wrongly replaced by an incompetent aristocrat, who was not listening to the experienced French officers being there for 5 to 25 years. This all resulted in such brilliant officers losing their motivation and for some fleeing away from such an incompetent and abusive new manager.

Of Course, the British army took advantage of this and attacked the French forts, one by one, against a far less motivated set of French officers. Plus the defeat of Montcalm in Montreal and the Treaty of Paris were terribly mismanaged by the French king who had the worse ever results in deals and diplomacy in the last 3 centuries for France. The Brits forced the French king to reduce the French presence in India to 5 Business Counters, of which Puducherry, Mahé and Chandernagor, where you still have in this 21st century about 1m French speakers, some of them living in France, with brilliant doctors, engineers, architects, scientists and teachers among others.

So yes, Governor Dupleix did an absolute brilliant work for the 25 years he spent in India where he had promised to finish his life.

And yes, Dupleix would have developped the Southern half of India further up with his brilliant team of Officers and Administrators, had he been supported by French public clerks of those times, who were alas far too often poorly working aristocrats and not higly motivated and competent businessmen. Dupleix had gathered all such skills : Overall and Long Term View, Organization skills, turned towards fast business development, speaking 3 Indian languages while his wife spoke at least 15 of them and highly empathetic both to his teams and officers and to the Indian diverse populations.

The lessons of all this are triple

1/ There is no possible generalization among managers or administrators or generals, whichever their origin (French or British) may be. They are all very different. Some may be geniuses (like Dupleix). Some may be boring and uncompetent (like the aristocrat who replaced him in Puducherry)

2/ For 155 years (since 1870 with Napoleon the 3rd end of 2nd French Empire and 1683, year where brilliant Finance Minister JB. Colbert (1619–1683) died, with his long term views), France has often lacked long term views for too many politicians looking short-term at their next reelection, instead of being obsessed by their duly work = France blooming (La Grandeur de la France)

3/ Nowadays there are some 350 millions of French speakers in the world, many of them being skillful entrepreneurs from former French colonies. Their strenghts are : Highly adaptable, world view, highly empathetic and listening to local partners and teams, and often polyglot.

Author : François P. VALLET, Conférencier, Conseil auprès des PME, groupes, start-ups, et auprès de dirigeants et collectivités.

Cet article Would India be better off if France had followed up its colonization under CFIO and Dupleix ? est apparu en premier sur Actualités en France : Start-ups, PME, Arts, Histoire.

Marc BLOCH (1886-1944), ENS Ulm alumni (Elitist French University), polyglot, University professor, ‘Franc-Tireur’ resistance leader in Lyons, tortured by nazi Klaus Barbie, shot with 29 other resisters in St-Didier-sur-Formans, France, on June 16th juin 1944, 10 days after D-Day

« February 20 of that year (1933) was not a date like any other .. They were twenty-four .. Shadows enter the hall of the President of the Assembly’s palace .. Around the table are gathered Gustav Krupp, Albert Vögler, Günther Quandt, Friedrich Flick, Ernst Tengelmann, Fritz Springorum, August Rosberg, Ernst Brandi, Karl Büren, Günther Heubel, Georg von Schnitzler, Hugo Stinnes Jr, Eduard Schulte, Ludwig von Winterfeld, Wolf-Dietrich von Witzleben , Wolfgang Reuter, August Diehn, Erich Fickler, Hans von Loewenstein zu Loewenstein, Ludwig Grauert, Kurt Schmitt, August von Finck (1898-1980, Nazi banker Merck, Finck & Co, took advantage of the war to buy 2 Jewish banks, fortune son August Jr, € 8bn in 2020) and Dr. Stein (1986-1967, doctor, race theory, Nazi) .. Suddenly the doors creak .. The twenty-four lizards get up on their hind legs and stand up straight . Hjalmar Schacht swallows back his saliva. And finally, the President of the Reichstag enters the room smiling; it’s Hermann Goering .. he purred a few words of welcome and immediately referred to the upcoming elections, those of March 5 (1933) .. ”We must put an end to the instability of the regime (Weimar Republic). And, if the Nazi Party gets the majority, Goering adds, these elections will be the last for the next ten years .. « .. At the same time, the new chancellor entered .. Hitler was smiling, relaxed .. They listened .. When Hitler had finished, Gustav (Krupp) stood up .. and, on behalf of all the guests, he thanked him .. Goering spoke .. « to campaign, you needed money » .. Hjalmar Schacht (1877 -1970, Pt Reichsbank, Min. Fin. and Advisor Hitler 1933-1943, same mustache as Hitler) stood up, smiled at the assembly and said: « And now, gentlemen, to the cash register! » ».. Gustav Krupp donated a million, Georg von Schnizler four hundred thousand (RM), and we thus collected a tidy sum .. the twenty-four.. are called BASF, BAYER, Agfa, SIEMENS , Krupp, Allianz, Telefunken .. like twenty four calculating machines at the gates of Hell »

Extract of Prix Goncourt 2017 « L’ordre du jour » by Eric Vuillard.

Forgive those rather lengthy quotes in the preamble, but they seemed necessary to me.

Indeed, these 24 German industrial and financial leaders not only helped Hitler come to power. They collaborated heavily with the Nazi war machine and supplied Zyklon B gas, which killed more than 6 million Jews and other victims in the gas chambers. Worse, they used as slaves more than 700,000 deportees in their factories and medical centers, in often inhuman conditions.

Conversely, Marc Bloch, a great professor and historian, could have fled with his family to Spain or the USA. No, he preferred to fight for France until the end, in his case, until death, in the hands of Klaus Barbie, in Lyon.

But humans have the annoying habit of repeating mistakes made decades or centuries earlier, through ignorance of their history.

And, what they do not know, alas, is that history in its broad outline is made only by a few, courageous, who rose up against the Nazis in 1940, like Churchill and De Gaulle. (call of June 18, 1940 from London) or those who submit, such as Chamberlain (PM UK) and Daladier (PM France) in 1938 in Munich. Or worse, who finance the Nazi Party, like these twenty-four leaders on February 20, 1933, in Berlin.

The companions of the Liberation are 1,061, i.e. 1,038 natural persons, 5 municipalities (including Nantes and Grenoble) and 18 combatant units, which in fact represents thousands of French and foreigners (of 25 nationalities) who fought for France during the 2nd world War. In fact, more than 100,000 resistance fighters rose up and took action, and those who protected or hid refugees or Jews, risking their lives, were even more numerous.

Today, faced with an EARTH attacked from all sides by armies of polluters, conveyed or not, and by millions of tons of plastics, a few million human beings stood up and said: Enough! More than 15 million walked in the streets of large towns on Earth during the FFF, Fridays For Future, initiated by Greta Thunberg.

And they need a lot of courage, these young people, these actors in the field, or each of the entrepreneurs who engage, in the face of the weight of habits, the jeers and the discrediting or demonizing campaigns carried out against scientists by Monsanto. , BAYER, Syngenta, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, Exxon, SHELL (leaks in 2004-2007 in Nigeria Atlantic delta, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NxLooQPOMA), BP (Deepwater Horizon oil leak, 2010, 1mt oil spilled in Gulf of Mexico, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIlp4_9ZlZc), Amoco (now a BP subsidiary, Shipwreck and oil spill in Brittany, France, 1974) and many other global groups polluting or destroying lives by the millions (atmospheric pollution) or by the billions (insects, birds, small mammals, phytoplankton..).

Explosion de la plateforme pétrolière Deepwater Horizon En 2010, la plateforme pétrolière Deepwater Horizon située dans le Golfe du Mexique a explosé et brûlé avant de couler deux jours plus tard, impliquant de nombreuses conséquences humaines et environnementales. Plus d’informations : http://www.nationalgeographic.fr/ Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/NatGeoFrance/ Instagram : https://www … www.youtube.com

Nigeria farmers win 13 year battle with Shell Four Nigerian farmers who accused Shell of pipeline leaks that destroyed their farms in the Delta have won their 13 year battle in a Dutch court. An appeal court in the Netherlands ruled that the oil giant should pay compensation for leaks from a pipeline in the Niger Delta which covered an area equal to 60 football pitches. Sky’s Ivor Bennett … www.youtube.com

However, to know how to contain pollution, and the effects of pollution and the destruction of animal and human species (first peoples living in the Amazonian, African, Indonesian, Malaysian, Borneo, Siberian forests, etc.), you need to know who the polluters in CO2, CH4 and chemicals are.

The 15 largest CO2 polluting countries are (2017-2020 CO2 mt, according to available figures and % of CO2 world emission), i.e. around 75% of CO2 emissions for the first 8 countries :

1/ China 12,5 mt CO2 (30%)

2/ USA   6 mt  (16%)

3/ India 3mt (8%)

4/ Brasil 2,8mt (7%)

5/ Russia 2,5 mt (6%)

6/ Japan 1,5 mt (4%)

7/ Canada 1,1mt (2,4%)

8/ Germany 1mt (2,2%)

9/ Australia 2%

10/ South Korea 675.000t (1,8%)

11/ Indonesia 670.000t (1,78%)

12/ Iran 1,75%

13/ Saudi Arabia 1,75%

14/ RD. Congo 1,69%

15/ Mexico 1,5%

Next comes the UK in 16th position, which is currently hosting COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland.

What are the most polluting and most dangerous industries for the survival of the EARTH and the Terrans?

** Coal and lignite mining (fine dust dangerous for the lungs & carcinogens, in addition to GHGs).

** Oil and gas exploration.

** agro-chemical industries (pesticides, herbicides, indiscriminately killing billions of pollinating insects, birds and bats).

** chemical industries (contamination of soil and groundwater, becoming unfit for human or animal consumption).

** textile industries and dye industries.

** plastic industries.

** concrete (overexploitation of sand & gravel, which weakens river ecosystems and coasts) and all construction industries (road bitumen, glass, steel, aluminum, tiles, linoleum, carpets, weight of materials transported and modes of transport , etc).

** blast furnaces and metallurgical industries.

** palm oil (destruction of forests), corn (water) and soy industries (Amazonia being deforested, with heavy CO2 consequences).

** non-restorative mining industries (eg: bituminous oil extraction, with forest felling, without new plantings and monitoring, gold extraction with mercury, without mercury filtering / recovery and discharge into rivers and oceans).

** automotive, maritime (and tank bottom degassing) and air industries, with discharges of heavy carcinogenic and GHG pollutants, and metals used in chemical batteries.

** transport, and in particular diesel locomotives (USA, Australia, etc.), heavy fuel oil freighters, fuel oil trucks, jumbo planes taking off and landing.

** massive road transport, automobile pollution, with triple pollution 1 / noise, 2 / chemical (CO2 and other GHGs) and 3 / local pollution (respiratory diseases).

** coal, oil and gas thermal stations and all non-sustainable fossil fuel heating installations.

** military transport (yes, wars are bad for the climate).

Let us summarize what costs the most to our Mother EARTH (Pachamama in the Andean cosmogony) and to human ecosystems.

** accelerate and brake (land and sea vehicles).

** take off and land (aviation and aerospace).

** heating furnaces, thermal power stations or boilers, duration of the rise and heating.

** waste heating and fuel due to lack of insulation (construction, all public and private buildings, hospitals, etc.).

** make empty transports (cars, trucks, freighters, planes, boats, trains).

** waste and not recycle: concrete, plastics, textiles, furniture, toys, electronics.

** any mortality or endangerment of pollinators (bees, insects, birds, bats, small mammals).

** any endangerment of groundwater and the level of rivers, streams and streams (melting glaciers and snow, absent or sudden rains).

** all sudden variations in temperature and drought, forest fires (with massive rejection of CO2 from fires into the atmosphere).

** all earthquakes linked to massive injections of liquids into rocks (shale gas) or brutal mining (explosions and destabilization of the equilibrium of rocks and water tables or basement structures).

** ocean pollution (endangering ice floes, the Arctic, Antarctica and marine mammals).

** ocean warming (volumes of melting ice, expansion of water particles, hurricanes and typhoons, rising water levels, flooding of coastal cities and the Atlantic and Pacific plains).

However, the decrease in the volumes of the Himalayan glaciers, and therefore of meltwater, due to global warming of human origin, has already lowered the volume of Chinese dams and therefore the production of blue hydroelectric energy. of China between 2010 and 2020.

And wind and solar power production is hampered by the drop in winds and the current of the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, but also by the weakness of submarine cables or high-power energy highways between regions (USA, Indonesian archipelago, Russia and so on), between countries (EU, Africa and so on), and from places of production to places of consumption, but especially on their unavailability at night and often 50% to 75% of the time, due to climatic hazards.

Which solutions for Mother EARTH ?

** Simple principle of Polluters paying for their Pollution payeur, à acter ento become law in Europe and in all countries to make all actors responsible.

** International Market of CO2 and CH4 to build, boost & accelerate in trading, with a rapid growth of CO2 credits to deter pollution and motivate all industrials to quickly reduce their  CO2 and CH4 footprints before 2030 or latest 2040.

** Interconnect as a Top Priority all energy producers to fluidize energy availibility everywhere (except in villages where solar or BioGas are the best solutions) and prevent loss of massive Green energy production, due to lack of batteries or solutions to reuse them later on, as they are not used immediately. Energize the international mlarket of energies and share ressources.

** Forbid burning torches on all gas and oil fields.

** Filter 100% of all pollutants CO2 and other gases, toxic fumes and toxic byproducts sent to rivers or oceans, with heavy controls and fines to make pollution too costly and prevent it.

** Transfer 30% to 40% of all road transports towards rail, river and cycling transports or any low CO2 solution (especially, urban local deliveries, such as French start-up K_Ryole, a supplier to French postal services, Bouygues, Monoprix).

** Grow Agroforestry solutions on all farms, with a potential of 500 to 50,000 trees per farm and millions of farms and cooperatives turning to trees with 3 growth factors 1/ Better productions 2/ Growth of millions of trees and  their CO2 storage 3/ Bring shades and protection on ecosystems and livestock .

** Energize agricultural and forest biotechnologies and aim at enriching soils with vertuous bacteria as does the French start-up BioIntrant, with brilliant researchers with over 30 years of research experience. Invest in BioTech start-ups (banks, insurance companies, business angels).

** REFOREST with varied plants chosen by agronomists in Brasil (Amazonia), Canada, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Borneo, Asia, Africa, America.

Life in Syntropy Visit our channel on vimeo: https://vimeo.com/channels/agendagotsch « Life in Syntropy » is the new short film from Agenda Gotsch made specially to be presented at COP21 – Paris. This film put together some of the most remarkable experiences in Syntropic Agriculture, with brand new images and interviews. « Vida em Sintropia » é o novo curta do … www.youtube.com

** Multiply by 10 BioGas produced  by livestock and farmers and recycle the méthanogenic sludge (French start-ups such as Valogreen, NENUFAR).

** Accelerate all new energy technologies including heat pumps, thermical différentials, tidal turbines, green fuel producing algae.

** Relaunch nuclear power secured stations to have 24/7 available energies to face the fast growing electric vehicle fleets.

** Accelerate research into nuclear fusion, which could produce> 10% of the world’s electricity by 2035 or 2050 at the latest.

You are all welcome to comment and propose adding new complementary sources to this article aiming at SOLUTIONS, with a priority to filed solutions and not pure TV, radio or blabla theories.

François VALLET, ESCP EUROPE Paris-Oxford-Berlin, multilingual speaker, coach in start-ups and mid-size companies in their marketing & international growth, bilingual publisher (French, English).

Cet article More ethics and courage to save the EARTH est apparu en premier sur Actualités en France : Start-ups, PME, Arts, Histoire.

Among these 100 French administrative divisions, GARD county (30) headed by famous Nimes local Prefecture (a 3-hour TGV ride from Paris) is one of the most beautiful with lots of old villages and towns dating from the 8th till 18th centuries.

Easiest way to get there  from Paris is to book a TGV train ticket, both comfortable, cheap and good for the planet EARTH (with very low CO2 consumption). Then book a local rented car to tour around these delicious villages and towns.

Half way between Nimes and Ales (also worth to visit), you’ll find UZES, a Southern pearl with incredible towers, the castle of the former duke of Uzes (le ‘duché’), with most beautiful cathedral and churches (St-Etienne has an impressive old oak door). Try and park your car in one of the many parkings, my favourite being the cathedral one, though very disputed.

You may also book a night around this place as you have so much to see between delicate places and their stone arches, lots of local shops and restaurants, including a local hats and clothes creator, called ‘Petit Béguin’ (means ‘Small love’ in old French), 30 rue du Dr. Blanchard, 30700 UZES. They have incredible original hats and dresses, as well as jewels created by two sisters and the daughter of one of them (photos herewith). You will also find several painting and sculpture galleries with original artists.

This incredible town of UZES owes its riches to both its bishop and duke who have built from the 11th century (most major buildings) to the 16th century. You will also embrace delicate internal courtyards where you dine and stone arches between buildings, most of them thought to be mutually supportive to both buildings, as were built the roman and gothic churches from the 10th to the 15th centuries.

Only 25km from UZES, you will find the delicious small town of SOMMIERES, where the brown colour of the Renaissance painters originated (‘Terre de Sommières’) and alongside the Vidourle river, with the Roman bridge and Town Tower. Do walk along the tiny streets and the colourful places (go to place Jean Jaures, among others) with a visit to local bakeries and patisseries, among which Patisserie Rosso, 30 rue Antonin Paris, 30250 Sommieres. You may also pay a visit to neighbouring château de Pondres, where all rooms and flats as well as restaurant summer bookings are booked long in advance.

In Sommieres, do also pay a visit to the church, with its magnificent architecture and to the tiny courtyards, in the old buildings, as well as the castle.

Author : François P. VALLET, Coach, consultant and lecturer.

Cet article DISCOVER Old towns and villages in the South of France : UZES and Sommieres est apparu en premier sur Actualités en France : Start-ups, PME, Arts, Histoire.

Indeed, the French trains speeding up to 360 kmph get you seated with double-decker trains all the way with joy and positive thoughts all the way in.

French Southeast and Southwest have been inhabited for 45,000 to 190,000 years as the Human remnants and caves have proven the paleontologists in the last decades.

But much closer to us, the first inroads of the Roman legions in the ‘Provincia Romana’, nowadays called French Provence have started about 2,200 years ago, about 2 centuries before Christ. The Greek settlers first came from Rhodes (Rhodanian Valley = Rhone river) from 670 to 620 BC then from Phocea in 600 BC, an Ancient Greek City near current Gediz, on the year they founded Massalia (nowadays Marseilles).

Provence actually takes its name from ‘Provincia’, a Roman name meaning the 1st Roman Province established in France, after the 125 BC victory against the powerful Arverns and Allobroges Gaul people, defending the Rhodanian valley and its trade.

Aix was actually founded in 122 BC by Roman consul Gaius Sextius Calvinus under the name ‘Aquae Sextiae’ (litteraly the ‘Waters of Sextius’) after he beat the final southern alliance of the Salyans (with their Entremont Oppidum) with the Ligurians and the Voconces, three Gaul people. 

Aix waters became rapidly so famous that Amphitheaters and theaters were built and Romans used to come from the full Empire to enjoy the Aix thermal waters and body treatments. 

After Napoleon the 3rd, Emperor of France had revived the French Riviera between 1855 and 1870, Aix also revived all along the periods of its size doubling under the the ‘Prime Minister’ Mazarin who built the ‘Quartier Mazarin’ from 1623 to 1640 and with the continuous presence of archbishops for centuries.

Aix has also remained this international place with its music festivals, its international students attending Law, PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economy) in Sciences-Po Aix, and engineering with ENSAM Aix, also called ‘Arts-et-Métiers’ installed for decades in Aix, and its great solar and Tech start-ups in the Aix-Les-Milles Valley, not far from historical city center and its beautiful architecture and fountains.

After Mazarin, great supporter of French Arts and Architecture in the 17th century, the recent opening of ‘Hôtel de Caumont’ International Art Center in the 2,000s marks a doubling of AIX Art attractivity with the famous Granet Museum, where some of the Cezanne paintings were shown along the last 20 years.

Ideally situated about 100 meters from famous Aix Champs-Elysees, the famous ‘Cour Mirabeau’, Hotel de Caumont Art Center was entirely restaured by the Culture and Espaces Foundation supported by the SUEZ Group and has welcomed so far high-ranking international exhibitions, including fabulous HOKUSAI and Japanese 19th century estampes. (Do order their fabulous HOKUSAI Book after the exhibit) last 2019 and these days one of the late 19th-early 20th century Spanish masters ‘Sorolla’ (1863-1923), famous for its impressionist paintings of the seas, the beaches and the familiar landscapes of Spain and French Southwest in Biarritz.

Seated 3 rue Joseph Cabassol in Aix, Hotel de Caumont would go for a 3 stars in the MICHELIN Green Guide, meaning worth the visit from Paris by itself. Not far from the Cezanne and Zola Lycée (secondary school), this 1715 building with its 4 meter-ceilings has a unique charm, not only for its exhibits but also for its garden, its upper-class café, its trees and wooden carvings as well as 17th and 18th centuries permanent collections, belonging to some former aristocratic families. You may even dream of night Jazz dining around the garden on wednesday & Saturday nights…

https://www.caumont-centredart.com/

You will easily find next door the ‘Fontaine des 4 dauphins’ (4-Dolphins-Fountain), the St-John-of-Malta church, great galeries and 2 quality ice-cream parlours, such as ‘Philippe Faur’ and ‘Ph.Segond’ and also some high quality hotels such as Hôtel de France, Hôtel Negre-Coste or the Thermal Water hotel north of the Town Hall (Hôtel de Ville).

We also recommend the ‘Sainte-Victoire’ cosmetics family made from Provence pure waters with an exceptional enti-age cream and many original present boxes.

François P. VALLET, ESCP EUROPE Business Graduate, Consultant, speaker, former ALCATEL, ALSTOM, SUEZ & SCHLUMBERGER Executive

Pavillon Vendôme – Aix-en-Provence

Pavillon Vendôme – Aix-en-Provence

Jardin du pavillon Vendôme – Aix-en-Provence

Cet article AIX-EN-PROVENCE is marvelous est apparu en premier sur Actualités en France : Start-ups, PME, Arts, Histoire.

On June 5th, the last 3 verses of Verlaine are pronounced to announce the imminent Overtlord operation on 6th of June, 1944, the famous D-Day. And these last 3 verses are « Les sanglots longs des violons de l’automne .. blessent mon cœur d’une langueur monotone » = 

Over 132,000 Allied soldiers will courageously land on the beaches of Normandy served by the most powerful war fleet ever seen and 15,000 airfighters, who will protect the troops and especially the gliders depositing the paratroopers behind the German lines. Over 17,200 of them will die on D-Day as well as 87 French Resistance fighters prisoners of Caen prison, who will be executed by the local Gestapo chief. This major D-Day where British troops will on a very Gentleman-way let the 177 French members of the Kieffer Commando land first on French beaches will lead to capitulation of Nazi Germany and Hitler’s death. Kieffer 177 commandos will get 7 killed and 60 injured on D-Day and will take over Ouistreham, with the British troops. They will keep fighting until the end of the war.

Paul VERLAINE (1844-1896) is one of the greatest French poets of 19th century. Very early, onlu aged 22, in 1866, he writes the ‘Saturnian Poems’, before he meets Arthur Rimbaud in September 1871. Rimbaud will ruin his marriage with Mathilde, with whom he has a child. Their very tumultuous relationship will last from 1871 to 1873.

In March 1875, Verlaine decides to settle in London, where he will teach Greek, Latin, French and drawing. He spends his holidays with his mother in France. He will also meet in London Germain Nouveau, a former friend of Rimbaud, and he will teach in several British cities until June 1877, before coming back to France. Paul Verlaine will thereafter publish several books and sets of poetry as well as some novels (Complete works in Gallimard’s La Pleïade’), but he will also have a strong influence on late 19th century French poetry, and among others on famous Guillaume Apollinaire.

Automn Song

by Paul Verlaine

The long sobs
Of Automn violins
Do hurt my heart
With monotonous
Languor

All suffocating
And pale
When the hour strikes

I do remember
The Ancient days
And I deeply cry
And I walk along
The bad winds

That take me

This way or that way
Where the wind leads me
Like the dead leaf

Out of ‘Poèmes saturniens’ 1866

You will note the originality and soupleness of the French version, assembled and poetic verses of six lines.

We are here nearing The Japanese Haïku, with a number of Verlaine innovations, which will be followed by other French speaking poets.

Please be kind to share with us some of your 6th June, 1944 personal or family memories and of D-Day in Normandy. This OVERLORD operation will change the face of the world and will be decisive towards a victory conclusion of World War II for the Allies. We are looking for complementary documents on the 177 members of the Kieffer commando and their training in Scotland, so as to further share on these incredibly motivated men, who wanted France back to democracy and to freedom. Tribute and honor be given to them and to the British commanders who left them the honour to be landing first in Normandy, with the British commandos following in the next minutes. 

French troops and De Gaulle have been welcomed and equipped by the British government and forces during World War II. We will never forget it.

François P. VALLET, ESCP EUROPE

Cet article POETRY chosen for French resistance fighters of World War II est apparu en premier sur Actualités en France : Start-ups, PME, Arts, Histoire.

Cet article Brexit is not a game ! est apparu en premier sur Actualités en France : Start-ups, PME, Arts, Histoire.