France now has one of the highest rates of inherited wealth in the western world. Makes you wonder if the bloodbath of the Great Terror of Robespierre ever achieved anything.
Here are the lyrics of the Marseillaise (French anthem) in English. Draw your own conclusions. --
Arise children of the fatherland The day of glory has arrived Against us tyranny's Bloody standard is raised Listen to the sound in the fields The howling of these fearsome soldiers They are coming into our midst To cut the throats of your sons and consorts
To arms citizens Form your battalions March, march Let impure blood Water our furrows
What do they want this horde of slaves Of traitors and conspiratorial kings? For whom these vile chains These long-prepared irons? Frenchmen, for us, ah! What outrage What methods must be taken? It is us they dare plan To return to the old slavery!
What! These foreign cohorts! They would make laws in our courts! What! These mercenary phalanxes Would cut down our warrior sons Good Lord! By chained hands Our brow would yield under the yoke The vile despots would have themselves be The masters of destiny
Tremble, tyrants and traitors The shame of all good men Tremble! Your parricidal schemes Will receive their just reward Against you we are all soldiers If they fall, our young heros France will bear new ones Ready to join the fight against you
Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors Bear or hold back your blows Spare these sad victims That they regret taking up arms against us But not these bloody despots These accomplices of Bouillé All these tigers who pitilessly Ripped out their mothers' wombs
We too shall enlist When our elders' time has come To add to the list of deeds Inscribed upon their tombs We are much less jealous of surviving them Than of sharing their coffins We shall have the sublime pride Of avenging or joining them
Drive on sacred patriotism Support our avenging arms Liberty, cherished liberty Join the struggle with your defenders Under our flags, let victory Hurry to your manly tone So that in death your enemies See your triumph and our glory!
It's a battle hymn, dating from when most of the crowned heads of Europe were trying to stamp out the revolution (and incidentally take over France).
Vérité is right, though, it IS very bloodthirsty. At least it talks about the nation and its people. God Save The King/Queen basically only talks about the monarch.
Yeah, I always loved the tune. I had a friend at high school who learned all the words for a charity event. I was really surprised by the meaning. (I see it's gotten banned several times in French history. I think they could have done the Russian trick and reworded it).
The Japanese national anthem is also directed at the emperor and the English version is "May your reign Continue for a thousand, eight thousand generations, Until the tiny pebbles Grow into massive boulders Lush with moss"
I don't think any Japanese emperor has managed ten generations let alone ten thousand.
National anthems often have great tunes and bad lyrics!
Only if you think of the entity of the Crown in terms of individual people. I don't. The institution of the Crown is the essence of Britain, its established way of life. When the Queen, or King, is saved or victorious, doing well etc., then the people are doing well. MV.
kentish Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Words or no words it is a rousing anthem. > Probably top of the anthem charts.
My favorite is probably the Welsh national anthem. It can be very moving.
The best in terms of tune - but not lyrics! - is the current Russian one. The lyrics to that one, especially during the Stalin era were pretty abysmal. But that tune is incredible. The 1990s anthem by Glinka sounds like "O Canada!"
I prefer "America the Beautiful" to "Star Spangled Banner". Both the lyrics and the tune.
Worst anthem? Tough choice. There are a lot of awful ones. My vote goes to some of the anthems in the Gulf Arab countries. Some bad ones there. The Republic of Ireland's anthem has a bit in it which sounds like "Popeye the Sailor Man". I can never get past that.
I agree on the Russian anthem. Very stirring and second after the French anthem. I like the Canadian anthem especially when sung in French. While obviously God Save the Queen is meaningful, best version, I think, was the one performed at the 2012 Last Night of the Proms (on You Tube) there are other songs in Britain that some feel would be more representative or perhaps purely English. I.E. Land of Hope and Glory sung to Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance, and Jerusalem. One I heard recently that touched my heart on You Tube is My England. Bit too modern perhaps. I think America the Beautiful presents a more peaceful majestic side of America
At the all boys school I went to it was a standard sung on many occasions. It is always featured as part of the sing along at Last Night of the Proms Alasnot featured on TV here but always on YT.
The US needed both Great Britain and France to attain independence.
The French push south from Canada was a serious threat to the British colonies, and the Americans had to work hard to persuade the Britons to fight and win the French and Indian War in the 1750s and 1760s.
But once the French were bottled up north of the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, the American attitude changed. London wanted reimbursement for the costs of the war, which was fought for the American colonists, and suddenly the latter hypocritically decided that taxation without representation was unjust. In short, they would not pay for what they had demanded of the empire.
Thence arose the Revolutionary War. The Britons could have won that but they were preoccupied with the situation in Europe--primarily the threat posed by France--and hence could not apply their full force against the colonies. It was thus France's presence in Europe rather than overt military support that enabled Washington's armies to prevail.
The balance of power in Europe was critical to the US for the next century as well. It was the need to focus resources in Europe that stopped any of the European powers from intervening forcefully in North America (1812 notwithstanding). Thus Spain relinquished Florida, France ceded the Louisiana Territories, and later the British gave up their position in Oregon. Obviously the British and the French checked each other during the Civil War as well.
So the colonies used the Brits against the French, then the French against the Brits, to achieve independence; and then played several European countries off against each other to maintain and extend that independence. Cynical, yes, but typical of international politics as well.
I'm not sure what you mean by "sending their navy to save our revolution."
The French were involved first with secret supply operations, then later with some small military and naval contingents, but most of those engagements were too limited to be influential. Much more important were the war that France fought in support of the US along the British Channel, including an attempted invasion of Britain; in the Caribbean; and even in India. Again, France forced the British to keep the bulk of their forces in Europe rather than deploying them to the Americas.
That was a huge contribution: much bigger, and much more important, than the French machinations in North America proper.
"Unprincipled lot, the French." and "We can't go cap in hand to the French of all people." Chariots of Fire. You can't trust people who interfere in family squabbles.
The people have no bread, then "Let them eat cake". Marie probably never really said this, but the quote is attributed to her anyway. I think the whole revolution of France thing started there, a complete lack of understanding and empathy and totally out of touch with the poverty of the populace.
Today, Ivanka said, if the people have lost their job, "find something new". Completely out of touch with the working class populace of America and the plight of folks struggling to make a go.
I never really understood why the people of France cut off the heads of Marie and Louis, but now I get it!