Grande Nation

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The Gallic rooster , heraldic animal from 1789 to 1804, is still an animal national allegory for France, also in the ethnophaulistic sense

Grande Nation [ ˌgʀɑ̃dnaˈsjɔ̃ ] (French for "big nation") is used especially in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with a certain article ( Die or La Grande Nation ) - as a synonym for France or the French nation . A combination of the term with the indefinite article ( Une or Eine) is unusual in German. In France itself, the term (even with a specific article) is hardly widespread. The concept of grandeur , the glory or special position of France , is much more common .

Origin of the term

In French, the term La Grande Nation is only used historically, referring to the Napoleonic era. At that time he referred to a France within its “natural” (geographical) borders - in the sense of a united, centrally ruled republic instead of a France of many provinces. In this sense, the term was used in France almost only in the period from 1790 to 1800. Brockhaus from 1907 traces it back to Napoleon during the Italian campaign in 1797. German admirers of the French Revolution such as Christoph Martin Wieland (1790) also used the term as a designation for France.

In the wars of liberation against Napoleon, the term took on a negative connotation and from then on, for example in the Rhine crisis in 1840, in the Franco-German War from 1870/71 to 1945, it was often used derogatory in the context of the idea of Franco-German hereditary enmity (scornful e.g. . by the German newsreel in reports on the French defeat in 1940 ). As a result of the European unification process and especially since the time of Charles de Gaulle , the term has largely lost its negative meaning due to the reconciliation between the two countries . But it can still be found frequently in the German-language press, often with a slightly mocking or condescending meaning, but also admiring in the sense of an unbroken relationship to one's own past.

In Germany there is partly the opinion that the French themselves use the term La Grande Nation as a current self-term for their country - comparable to the German self-term “Land der Dichter und Denker” for Germany. One reason for this can be the patriotic sounding passages in speeches by French politicians: De Gaulle often emphasized the term French “nation” and also spoke of grande nation (without a specific article). Jacques Chirac used the term “  une très grande nation  ” (literally translated as “a very great nation”, meaning also “an important nation”) and said, for example: “  Nos compatriotes sont bien conscients que la France a tous les atouts pour être une grande nation.  »In such addresses by French or French-speaking politicians, however, the indefinite article une zu grande nation is almost always used and an additional adjective is often added (for example,«  une grande nation culturelle  »,“ an important cultural nation ”). If the term La Grande Nation , as usual in German, is used with a certain article and as a synonym for France today, this can lead to confusion and misunderstandings in communication between German and French speakers.

Grandeur de la France

The concept of grandeur is still of importance for understanding foreign policy and France's self-image. The grandeur, the greatness and special position of France, is and was an important aspect of Gaullism , but was also ascribed to it from a leftist perspective, for example by Régis Debray . Both the grandeur and the special position of France can be found at a central point in de Gaulle's war memoirs. It also appears in various relevant novels, such as Balzac Grandeur et décadence and Louis Aragon ( Servitude et Grandeur des Français. Scènes des années terribles, 1945). In 1992 the former ambassador Gilbert Perol wrote a very serious book about the Grandeur de la France.

literature

  • Eva Kreisky, Marion Löffler, Sabine Zelger: State fictions: ideas of modern statehood. facultas.wuv / maudrich, 2011.
  • Klaus Schubert: Nation and Modernitèat as Myths: A Study of the Political Identity of the French. Springer Verlag, 2004.
  • Julia Zeihe: Charles de Gaulle - Boycott against the European integration process. GRIN Verlag, 2007.
  • Hans-Martin Gauger : What we say when we talk. Munich 2004.
  • Hans-Martin Gauger: Once again, the Grande Nation. 2010.
  • Hans-Martin Gauger: Grande nation - about some (gross) linguistic nonsense. ( Memento of March 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF) In: Bulletin. No. 31, University of Freiburg, France Center 2001.

Press reviews

Web links

Wiktionary: Grande Nation  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans-Martin Gauger, see literature. Occasionally, he also noted its use in England.
  2. ^ For example, in a letter to Talleyrand or a speech to the Directory in 1797.
  3. ↑ The term also appears among historians of this time, as in Jacques Godechot in the title of his book La Grande Nation. L'expansion révolutionnaire de la France dans le monde de 1789 à 1799. Paris 1956.
  4. ↑ Focus Online : People of Contemporary History: Charles de Gaulle .
  5. ↑ For example in the title of Alexander von Sobeck's book Can France still be saved? Behind the scenes of the Grande Nation. Berlin 2007.
  6. ↑ Hans-Martin Gauger, see literature.
  7. ↑ Klaus Schubert: Nation and modernity as myths: a study on the political identity of the French. P. 279.
  8. ↑ z. B. in a speech in Strasbourg on April 7, 1947
  9. ^ Farewell address given by President Jacques Chirac on May 15, 2007 at the end of his term of office ( Memento of June 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ See the articles by Hans-Martin Gauger cited in the literature
  11. ^ Henrik Uterwedde: France - Basics of Grandeur . In: Josef Braml , Stefan Mair, Eberhard Sandschneider (eds.): Foreign policy in the economic and financial crisis . Walter de Gruyter, 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-85510-4 ( books.google.com [accessed March 15, 2016]).
  12. ^ Günther Haensch: France: Politics, Society, Economy . CH Beck, 1998, ISBN 3-406-43345-6 , pp. 203 ( books.google.com [accessed March 15, 2016]).
  13. ^ Marieluis Christadler, Henrik Uterwedde: Country Report France: History, Politics, Economy, Society . Springer-Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-322-97412-9 ( books.google.com [accessed on March 15, 2016] Quoted, among others, on page 461 Gilbert Perol, La grandeur de la France, Paris: Albin Michel, 1992 and a hagiographic work by Debrais zu de Gaulle from 1990).