Comments on: Original Keepa, 1870: Franco-Prussian War

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:09:59 +0000

Anne, I must confess that I didn't come up with that one on my own. Some years back, I read about the decision to change the London terminus of the Eurostar trains from Waterloo to St. Pancras, and someone commented then that it might indeed take some of the sting out for the French (in the interests of international comity, I just typed "French" in place of a slang term which they might not think complimentary) when buying tickets to London to not be reminded of Wellington and Blucher and all that. Here's the money quote, from a Times article published March 12, 2004:

The closure would at least please those French politicians who have claimed that it is humilating for their countrymen to arrive in London at a station named after Wellington’s victory in 1815 over Napoleon. In a letter appealing to Tony Blair to rename Waterloo, Florent Longuepée, a member of the national executive of President Chirac’s RPR party, wrote: “You will understand, I am sure, the discomfort the French feel when they are welcomed by the name Waterloo after crossing the Channel tunnel, a symbol of co-ordination and co-operation between our two nations.”

For the whole article, go here.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:31:24 +0000

No matter how often it happens — very — exchanges like this still catch me by happy surprise.

By: Anne (U.K)

Anne (U.K) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:14:25 +0000

Eric- your ‘which one’ comment made me snort my fizzy water. Excellent.

I had never heard the story of the little Alsatian boy…Keepa triumphs again. And Mark, from someone whose maternal family lived in the grim Dickensian shadow of Waterloo station all their lives- it had never occurred to me before reading your post how ironic the Waterloo issue was!

I *heart* Keepa for posts and comments such as these….

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:11:27 +0000

Merci!

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:09:27 +0000

I should have included a link Or, if you'd prefer it in French, try this.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:06:18 +0000

Alphonse Daudet, “La Derniere Classe” (“The Last Class”).

Thanks Google, you make me look like a genius! : )

Believe it or not, that came up on the following search:

“short stories Alsatian boy french Franco Prussian War”

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:57:07 +0000

I think my son would have been overjoyed at any excuse for getting out of French class.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:34:55 +0000

All I heard in school about the Franco-Prussian War was in an English class, not history. We read a short story that is probably by someone famous, but I’ll be darned if I know who. A young boy in either Alsace or Lorraine hated the tedium of grammar drills in his French class and he played hookey one day. When he came down from the hills or up from the streams or wherever he had been playing, he found that the war had come and that his town was now German, and that his funny little French teacher would never drill him again on his verb forms, and, of course, every little inflection of his native language became suddenly very precious to him. I thought they ought to teach that story in our French classes rather than in English.

Anybody recognize the story from my 30+-year-old memory?

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:29:17 +0000

Eric, FTW!!

But, luckily my British cousins are beyond all that! Do the trains from France still arrive at Waterloo Station? How unfortunate that they come into St. Pancras International now! Can’t we change that back? Nothing like a little reminder every time they buy a ticket!

And, let’s hear it for Agincourt, we happy few, we band of brothers (not freres)! Heck, it’s only five and a half years until the 600th anniversary.

By: Steve C.

Steve C. — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:26:21 +0000

Anne (UK), Your comments connecting the Treaty of Frankfurt (1871) to the Treaty of Versailles (1919) are very important and something that I try to emphasize to my students. The annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, the heavy indemnity and the occupation after the Franco-Prussian War certainly sowed the seeds of discontent between Germany and France for many years to come.