![Francophile restaurant](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Francophile_restaurant.JPG)
A Francophile, also known as Gallophile, is a person who has a strong affinity towards any or all of the
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
,
French history
The first written records for the history of France appeared in the Iron Age. What is now France made up the bulk of the region known to the Romans as Gaul. The first writings on indigenous populations mainly start in the first century BC. Greek ...
,
French culture
The culture of France has been shaped by geography, by historical events, and by foreign and internal forces and groups. France, and in particular Paris, has played an important role as a center of high culture since the 17th century and from t ...
and/or
French people
The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France.
The French people, especially the nati ...
. That affinity may include France itself or its history, language,
cuisine
A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, techniques and dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, customs, and ingredients combine to ...
,
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
, etc. The term "Francophile" can be contrasted with
Francophobe
Anti-French sentiment (Francophobia or Gallophobia) is fear or antagonism of France, the French people, French culture, the French government or the Francophonie (set of political entities that use French as an official language or whose French-s ...
(or Gallophobe), someone who shows hatred or other forms of negative feelings towards all that is French.
Francophilia often arises in former
French colonies
From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the First French colonial empire stretched from a total area at its peak in 1680 to over , the second largest empire in the world at the time behind only the Spanish Empire. During the 19th and 20th centuri ...
, where the
elite
In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...
spoke French and adopted many French habits. In other European countries such as
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, French culture has also long been popular among the
upper class
Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is gen ...
. Historically, Francophilia has been associated with supporters of the
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
of
Enlightenment during and after the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, where
democratic uprisings challenged the
autocratic
Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perh ...
regimes of
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
.
Europe
Armenia
The Armenians of
Cilicia
Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...
welcomed the
Frankish
Frankish may refer to:
* Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture
** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages
* Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany
* East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...
, or
French,
Crusaders
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
of the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
as fellow
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
. There was much exchange, and the last dynasty to rule Armenian
Cilicia
Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...
, the
Lusignan
The House of Lusignan ( ; ) was a royal house of French origin, which at various times ruled several principalities in Europe and the Levant, including the kingdoms of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Armenia, from the 12th through the 15th centuries du ...
s (who ruled
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
), was of French origin.
During the reign of
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
, many Armenian manuscripts were taken into the National Library of France.
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
and Armenian characters are featured in the works of
Montesquieu
Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher.
He is the principa ...
,
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...
, and
Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...
. The first instance of
Armenian studies
Armenian studies or Armenology ( hy, հայագիտություն, ) is a field of humanities covering Armenian history, language and culture. The emergence of modern Armenian studies is associated with the foundation of the Catholic Mechitarist o ...
began with the creation of an Armenian department in the
School of Oriental languages, at the initiative of
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
.
An important figure of Armenian Francophilia was that of
Stepan Vosganian (1825–1901). Arguably the first Armenian "intellectual" and literary critic, Vosganian "represents the prototype of a long line of Armenian intellectuals nurtured in and identified with European, and particularly French, culture". Educated in Paris, he was a champion of
liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
and the
positivist philosophy of
Auguste Comte
Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense ...
, and he took part in the French
Revolution of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...
.
The French political classes were on the whole supportive of the
Armenian national movement
The Armenian national movement ( hy, Հայ ազգային-ազատագրական շարժում ''Hay azgayin-azatagrakan sharzhum'') included social, cultural, but primarily political and military movements that reached their height during Worl ...
. The French–Armenian Agreement (1916) was a political and military accord to create the
Armenian Legion in the
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...
to fight on the Allied side of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, in return for promises of recognition of Armenian independence. The Armenian Legion engaged successfully in
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
and
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, particularly at the
Battle of Arara
The Battle of Arara took place on 19 September 1918 during the Battle of Sharon, which along with the Battle of Nablus formed the set piece Battle of Megiddo fought between 19 and 25 September in the last months of the Sinai and Palestine Camp ...
and during the
Franco-Turkish War
The Franco–Turkish War, known as the Cilicia Campaign (french: La campagne de Cilicie) in France and as the Southern Front ( tr, Güney Cephesi) of the Turkish War of Independence in Turkey, was a series of conflicts fought between France (the ...
.
Belgium
Francophilia or ''
Rattachism
Rattachism (french: Rattachisme, , "reattach-ism") or Reunionism (''Réunionisme'') is a minor political ideology which calls for the French-speaking part of Belgium or Wallonia to secede from Belgium and become part of France. Brussels, which ...
'' is a marginal political ideology in some parts of Belgium. Rattachism would mean the incorporation of French-speaking Belgium,
Wallonia
Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...
(and sometimes
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
; more rarely of entire Belgium) into
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. This movement has existed since the
Belgian state came into existence in 1830.
The
Manifesto for Walloon culture
The Manifesto for Walloon Culture (french: Manifeste pour la culture wallonne, links=no), was published in Liège on 15 September 1983 and signed by seventy-five "key figures in artistic, journalistic and university circles" of Wallonia.
Wall ...
of 1983 relaunched in 2003, and a series of discussions witnessed a will of
emancipation
Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchis ...
.
Cyprus
The establishment of the Crusader
Kingdom of Cyprus
The Kingdom of Cyprus (french: Royaume de Chypre, la, Regnum Cypri) was a state that existed between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan. It comprised not only the island of Cyprus, but it also had a foothold on the Anat ...
, in 1192, was the beginning of intense French influence on the island for the next three centuries. That influence, which touched almost every aspect of life on the island, would endure even after the end of
Lusignan
The House of Lusignan ( ; ) was a royal house of French origin, which at various times ruled several principalities in Europe and the Levant, including the kingdoms of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Armenia, from the 12th through the 15th centuries du ...
domination. It survives as part of
Cypriot culture. The
Republic of Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
became an associate member of the
Francophonie
Francophonie is the quality of speaking French. The term designates the ensemble of people, organisations and governments that share the use of French on a daily basis and as administrative language, teaching language or chosen language. The ...
in 2006.
Germany
In the 18th century, French was the language of German elites. A notable Francophile was King
Frederick the Great
Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...
of Prussia or Frédéric as he preferred to call himself. Frederick spoke and wrote notably better French than he did German, and all of his books were written in French, a choice of language that was of considerable embarrassment to German nationalists in the 19th and 20th centuries when Frederick became the preeminent German national hero. One source noted: "Nor did Frederick have any time for German cultural chauvinism. As an ardent Francophile in matters literary and artistic, he took a low view of the German language, spoke it imperfectly himself, and once boasted that he had not read a book in German since his early youth. His preferences in music, art and architecture were overwhelmingly Italian and French". The French ''philosophe''
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...
when he visited Berlin to meet his admirer Frederick noted that everyone at the Prussian Court spoke the most exquisite French and German was only used when addressing servants and soldiers. Another German Francophile was King
Ludwig II of Bavaria
Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886) was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He is sometimes called the Swan King or ('the Fairy Tale King'). He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the ...
, a.k.a. "Mad King Ludwig". Ludwig felt a great deal of affinity for King Louis XIV of France, the "Sun King" and liked to call himself the "Moon King" to suggest a parallel between himself and his hero. Ludwig loved to collect memorabilia relating to Louis and his
Linderhof Palace
Linderhof Palace (german: Schloss Linderhof) is a Schloss in Germany, in southwest Bavaria near the village of Ettal. It is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed.
Deve ...
was modelled after the Palace of Trianon. An even more striking example of Ludwig's architectural Francophilia was the Palace of
Herrenchiemsee
Herrenchiemsee is a complex of royal buildings on Herreninsel, the largest island in the Chiemsee lake, in southern Bavaria, Germany. Together with the neighbouring isle of Frauenchiemsee and the uninhabited Krautinsel, it forms the municipality ...
, which was a copy of the Palace of Versailles.
Romania
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
has a long and deeply entrenched tradition of Francophilia beginning after the
Enlightenment and
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.
...
periods.
[Lucian Boia, "History and myth in Romanian consciousness", Central European University Press, 2001, (p.160)] No doubt the most famous contemporary Romanian Francophile is
Eugen Weber
Eugen Joseph Weber (April 24, 1925 – May 17, 2007) was a Romanian-born American historian with a special focus on Western world, Western civilization.
Weber became a historian because of his interest in politics, an interest dating back to a ...
(1925–2007), a prodigious author and lecturer in Romania on
French history
The first written records for the history of France appeared in the Iron Age. What is now France made up the bulk of the region known to the Romans as Gaul. The first writings on indigenous populations mainly start in the first century BC. Greek ...
. In his book "My France: politics, culture, myth", he writes: "Social relations, manners, attitudes that others had to learn from books, I lived in my early years. Romanian francophilia, Romanian francophony.... Many Romanians, in my day, dreamed of France; not many got there".
With the efforts to build Romania into a modern nation-state, with a national language and common national heritage, in the 19th century, the Romanian language was deliberately reoriented to its Latin heritage by a steady import of French neologisms suited to contemporary civilization and culture. "For ordinary Romanians, keen on the idea of the Latin roots of their language, 'Romance' meant 'French.'" An estimated 39% of Romanian vocabulary consists of borrowings from French, with an estimated 20% of "everyday" Romanian vocabulary.
Boia writes: "Once launched on the road of Westernization, the Romanian elite threw itself into the arms of France, the great Latin sister in the West. When we speak of the Western model, what is to be understood is first and foremost the French model, which comes far ahead of the other Western reference points."
He quotes no less than the leading Romanian politician
Dimitrie Drăghicescu, writing in 1907: "As the nations of Europe acquire their definitive borders and their social life becomes elaborated and crystallized within the precise limits of these borders, so their spiritual accomplishments will approach those of the French, and the immaterial substance of their souls will take on the luminous clarity, the smoothness and brilliance of the French mentality."
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
was rebuilt in the style of Paris in the 19th century, giving the city the nickname the "Paris of the East".
Other notable Romanian Francophiles include
Georges Enesco
George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor and teacher. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history, Enescu is featured on the Romanian five lei.
Biogr ...
,
Constantin Brâncuși
Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian Sculpture, sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century and a pioneer of ...
,
Emil Cioran
Emil Mihai Cioran (, ; 8 April 1911 – 20 June 1995) was a Romanian philosopher, aphorist and essayist, who published works in both Romanian and French. His work has been noted for its pervasive philosophical pessimism, style, and aphorisms. H ...
,
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanians, Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who establ ...
,
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...
and
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
winner
Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored Elie Wiesel b ...
.
Russia
18th and 19th century Russian Francophilia is familiar to many from
Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
's ''
War and Peace
''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...
'' and ''
Anna Karenina
''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, «Анна Каренина», p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever writte ...
'', and his characters from the Russian aristocracy converse in French and give themselves French names. At the time, the language of diplomacy and higher education across much of Europe was French. Russia, recently "modernized", or "Westernized", by the rule of sovereigns from
Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
to
Catherine the Great
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
was no exception. The Russian elite, in the early 18th century, was educated in the French tradition and made a conscious effort to imitate the manners of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. Their descendants, a generation or two later, were no longer "imitating" French customs but grew up with them, and the strong impact of the French culture on Russian upper and even middle classes was evident, on a smaller scale than in the 18th century, until the
Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...
.
Serbia
![Monument to France](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Monument_to_France.jpg)
The oldest documented possible contact between the two sides was the marriage of
Stephen Uroš I of Serbia
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...
and
Helen of Anjou
Helen of Anjou ( sr, Јелена Анжујска / Jelena Anžujska, ; c. 1235 – 8 February 1314) was the queen consort of the Serbian Kingdom, as the spouse of King Stefan Uroš I, who ruled from 1243 to 1276. Their sons were later Serbian ...
in the 13th century.
The first important contacts of
French and
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
came only in the 19th century, when the first French travel writers wrote about their travels to Serbia.
[Francusko-srpski odnosi u XIX i XX veku](_blank)
At that time
Karađorđe Petrović
Đorđe Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Ђорђе Петровић, ), better known by the sobriquet Karađorđe ( sr-Cyrl, Карађорђе, lit=Black George, ; – ), was a Serbian revolutionary who led the struggle for his country's independ ...
, the leader of the
Serbian Revolution
The Serbian Revolution ( sr, Српска револуција / ''Srpska revolucija'') was a national uprising and constitutional change in Serbia that took place between 1804 and 1835, during which this territory evolved from an Ottoman prov ...
, sent a letter to
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
expressing his admiration. On the other hand, in the
French parliament
The French Parliament (french: Parlement français) is the bicameral legislature of the French Republic, consisting of the Senate () and the National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessions at separate locations in Paris: ...
,
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
asked France to assist in protecting Serbia and the Serbian population from
Ottoman crimes. Diplomatic relations with France were established on 18 January 1879. Rapid development of bilateral relations done that people in Serbia in "mighty France" seen great new friend that will protect them from the
Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
and
Habsburgs
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
.
Relations between
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
and France would go upwards until the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, when the "common struggle" against a common enemy would reach its peak. Before the war, France would win sympathy of local population by building railways by opening of French schools and a consulate and a Bank. Several Serbian kings were at universities in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
as well as a large part of the future diplomats.
Serbs have built a sense of Francophilia because the activities moved them away from the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires.
For Serbs until 1914, French have become major allies what were even a threat for traditional inclination towards Russia. The great humanitarian and military assistance that France sent to Serbia during First World War, assistance in the evacuation of children, civilians and military at the end, and the support of French newspaper headlines even today are deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness of large number of Serbs.
Notable Serbian Francophiles include
Ilija Garašanin
Ilija Garašanin ( sr-cyr, Илија Гарашанин; 28 January 1812 – 22 June 1874) was a Serbian statesman who served as the prime minister of Serbia between 1852 and 1853 and again from 1861 to 1867.
Ilija Garašanin was conservati ...
and
Sava Šumanović
Sava Šumanović ( sr-Cyrl, Сава Шумановић; 22 January 1896 – 30 August 1942) was a Serbian painter. He is considered to be one of the most important Serbian painters of the 20th century. Šumanović's opus includes around 800 pa ...
.
Spain
Francophilia in Spain can be documented from the establishment of the
Bourbon monarchy
The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a European dynasty of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Kingdom of Navarre, Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, memb ...
in the early 18th century, when the political model associated with
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
, that of the centralised Catholic
absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constitut ...
, was developed under his nephew king
Philip V Philip V may refer to:
* Philip V of Macedon (221–179 BC)
* Philip V of France (1293–1322)
* Philip II of Spain, also Philip V, Duke of Burgundy (1526–1598)
* Philip V of Spain
Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was ...
of Spain.
Between 1700 and the mid 20th century, francophilia played a major role in Spain both culturally and politically, comparable to the
Atlanticism
Atlanticism, also known as Transatlanticism, is the belief in or support for a close relationship between the peoples and governments in Northern America (the United States and Canada) and those in Europe (the countries of the European Union, the ...
-
Americanophilia that emerged in the second half of the 20th century. Francophilia was closely linked both to a cultural appreciation for French civilisation, but also to a desire to see France (or a certain interpretation of France) as a political model. Often rival groups in Spain, clashing over their desired political vision, would each turn to a different French example to legitimise their arguments.
Francophilia in Spain can be documented from at least the establishment of the
Bourbon monarchy
The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a European dynasty of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Kingdom of Navarre, Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, memb ...
in 1700, when the political model associated with
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
, that of the centralised Catholic
absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constitut ...
, was developed under his grandson king
Philip V Philip V may refer to:
* Philip V of Macedon (221–179 BC)
* Philip V of France (1293–1322)
* Philip II of Spain, also Philip V, Duke of Burgundy (1526–1598)
* Philip V of Spain
Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was ...
of Spain. During this period France served as a model for the monarchy's political and administrative reforms, as well as cultural and intellectual inspiration: the
Real Academia
The Royal Spanish Academy ( es, Real Academia Española, generally abbreviated as RAE) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with ...
for instance, was founded on the model of the
Académie Française
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...
.
During the second half of the 18th century,
Spanish supporters of the
Enlightenment were inspired by ideas from France earning them the name "
Afrancesado
''Afrancesado'' (, ; " Francophile" or "turned-French", lit. "Frenchified" or "French-alike") refers to the Spanish and Portuguese partisan of Enlightenment ideas, Liberalism or the French Revolution.
In principle, ''afrancesados'' were upper- ...
" (lit. "turned-French"). These sought to remake Spanish institutions, society and culture on
humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humani ...
,
rationalist and
constitutionalist
Constitutionalism is "a compound of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law".
Political organizations are constitutional ...
grounds, drawing strongly from the example of the Philosophes. The term later acquired a political dimension following the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
and Napoleon bonaparte, Napoleon Bonaparte's First French Empire, as reformers sought to implement their goals through two rival political models: a Liberalism, constitutional liberalism and Jacobinism inspired by the French First Republic, First French Republic, giving rise to the Spanish Constitution of 1812, Constitution of Cádiz (1812) or a more Napoleonic Enlightenment monarchy during the French Peninsular War, occupation of Iberia and the Spain under Joseph Bonaparte, Constitution of Bayonne (1808). A third group, seeking to restore the absolute monarchy under Ferdinand VII of Spain, Ferdinand VII, also looked to counterrevolutionary France for inspiration and encouragement, culminating in the military assistance of Louis XVIII and the Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis.
In the mid 19th century, francophiles such as Javier de Burgos introduced liberal administrative reforms of the restored Spanish monarchy, modelled on the French administrative reforms of Napoleonic Code, Napoleon and of the July Monarchy. During the 19th century, Spanish political movements were also strongly inspired by ideologies popular in France, such as republicanism, Radicalism (historical), radicalism, socialism and anarchism on the left, as well as right-wing ideologies such as Doctrinaires, doctrinaire liberalism, Orleanism, Constitutional monarchism, bonapartism and Carlism-Legitimists, Legitimism.
During the Second Spanish Republic, Second Republic the democratic regime's governing class were in general strongly francophile and inspired by Republicanism in France, French republicanism, with the cultural and political attachment of figures such as Manuel Azaña, Alejandro Lerroux or Niceto Alcalá-Zamora, Niceto Alcalà-Zamora making Spain a close diplomatic ally of the French Third Republic.
Growing disappointments in French democrats' support and a sense of French political and cultural decline, during the period of the Spanish Civil War, World War II, Second World War and Francoist Spain, Francoism, meant that francophilia in Spain generally declined. Consequently, from the mid-20th-century Spanish elites were generally more likely to express political
Atlanticism
Atlanticism, also known as Transatlanticism, is the belief in or support for a close relationship between the peoples and governments in Northern America (the United States and Canada) and those in Europe (the countries of the European Union, the ...
and cultural
Americanophilia than francophilia.
United Kingdom
Various
* Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu was an "enthusiastic Francophile" who employed Huguenot craftsmen to create the French style Boughton House in Northamptonshire, where French was the preferred language spoken on the house grounds.
* The future war hero Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, Herbert Kitchener was a Francophile who violated the Foreign Enlistment Act by serving as an ambulance driver in the French Army during the Franco-German War of 1870–72. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the resort city of Dieppe was regularly visited by "ardent Francophiles" like Arthur Symons, Ernest Dowson, Aubrey Beardsley and George Moore (novelist), George Moore.
* Colonel T. E. Lawrence, a.k.a. "Lawrence of Arabia" is often depicted as a Francophobe, but the French historian Maurice Larès wrote that far from being a Francophobe as he is usually depicted in France, Lawrence was really a Francophile.
[Larès, Maurice "T.E. Lawrence and France: Friends or Foes?" pages 220-242 from ''The T.E. Lawrence Puzzle'' edited by Stephen Tabachnick, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1984 page 236.] Larès wrote: "But we should note that a man rarely devotes much of his time and effort to the study of a language and of the literature of a people he hates, unless this is in order to work for its destruction (Eichmann's behavior may be an instance of this), which was clearly not Lawrence's case. Had Lawrence really disliked the French, would he, even for financial reasons, have translated French novels into English? The quality of his translation of ''Le Gigantesque'' (''The Forest Giant'') reveals not only his conscientiousness as an artist but also a knowledge of French that can scarcely have derived from unfriendly feelings".
Government & military
* General Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend was a Francophile who liked to be addressed as ""Alphonse" and whose "Frenchified" manners often annoyed his colleagues. The diplomat Sir Robert Vansittart, 1st Baron Vansittart, Robert "Van" Vansittart was a passionate Francophile who worked as a successful playwright in Paris before entering the Foreign Office.
[Doerr, Paul ''British Foreign Policy, 1919-1939'', Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998 page 137] Vansittart always explained his Francophilia and Germanophobia under the grounds that as young man living in Europe the French were always kind to him while the Germans were cruel.
* The British Army officer and Conservative MP General Sir Edward Spears was a Francophile who as a fluent French-speaker served as a liaison officer between the French and British armies in both world wars. Spears was also an opponent of appeasement who founded the Anglo-French Parliamentary Association to bring together like-minded members of the French National Assembly and the British Parliament.
* Sir Winston Churchill was a Francophile who often expressed his admiration for France though the French historian François Kersaudy noted that Churchill's attempts to speak French usually left the French very confused as to what he was trying to say as Churchill's French was atrocious. Churchill often spoke of his love of the French, writing that Marshal Foch represented one aspect of France, "...the France, whose grace and culture, whose etiquette and ceremonial have bestowed its gifts around the world. There was the France of chivalry, the France of Versailles and above all, the France of Joan of Arc".
[Kersaudy, François ''Churchill and de Gaulle'', Saddle Brook: Stratford Press, 1981 page 26.] Kersaudy called Churchill France's most "forceful and vocal champion" in interwar Britain, a time when many people saw the Treaty of Versailles as a vindictive, French-engineered treaty which was too harsh towards Germany, and accordingly Francophobia flourished among circles in Britain in favor of revising Versailles to remove some of the restrictions placed upon the Weimar Republic.
* It was frequently observed of Sir Austen Chamberlain, the Francophile Foreign Secretary 1924-29 that he "loved France like a woman, for her defects and her qualities", an aspect of his personality that Chamberlain was often attacked for.
* The Conservative MP Duff Cooper, Alfred Duff Cooper was in the words of the historian P.H Bell such a "devoted Francophile" that his time as British ambassador to France that he often tried the patience of the Foreign Office by going well beyond his instructions to maintain good relations with France by trying to create an Anglo-French alliance that would dominate post-war Europe.
[Bell, P.H ''France and Britain, 1940-1994: The Long Separation'' London: Routledge, 2014 page 72.]
* Bell also called Sir Anthony Eden a strong "Francophile" noted for his efforts as Foreign Secretary to reviving France as a great power during World War II.
The novelist Nancy Mitford was a great Francophile who lived in Paris from 1946 until her death in 1973, and from 1943 onwards she served as the long-time mistress of Gaston Palewski, the right-hand man of General de Gaulle. The actress Charlotte Rampling who speaks French and often appears in French films calls herself a Francophile. The actress Kristin Scott Thomas is a noted Francophile who lives in Paris and often tried to interest her countrymen in French culture.
Writers
* The classicist Edward Gibbon was fluent in French as he was spent part of his youth in Lausanne, was greatly influenced by the French Enlightenment and was so influenced by French culture that has often been described as being "bi-cultural".
* The writer Charles Dickens was a Francophile who often vacationed in France and in a speech delivered in Paris in 1846 in French called the French "the first people in the universe".
* Another British Francophile was the writer Rudyard Kipling, who argued very strongly after World War I for an Anglo-French alliance to uphold the peace, calling Britain and France in 1920 the "twin fortresses of European civilization".
* The playwright Oscar Wilde was describe as an "ardent Francophile" who spent much of his time in Paris. One of the better known Francophiles during this period was King Edward VII who during his time as Prince of Wales lived for much of the time in France.
* The writer Raymond Mortimer was such a Francophile that he broke down in tears when he heard France had signed an armistice with Nazi Germany on 21 June 1940, saying it was if half of England had just fallen into the sea.
[Bell, P.H ''France and Britain, 1940-1994: The Long Separation'' London: Routledge, 2014 page 22.]
* The Francophile writer and historian Denis William Brogan wrote after hearing of the armistice of 1940 that he very much looked forward to the day when the "eternal France" which he loved would return.
The Francophile novelist Charles Langbridge Morgan dedicated his 1940 novel ''The Voyage'' to two French friends, writing "France is an ideal necessary for civilization and will live again when tyranny is spent".
* The writer, diplomat and National Labour MP Harold Nicolson was a Francophile who when he visited France for the first time in five years in March 1945, he fell to kiss the earth upon landing in France.
[Bell, P.H ''France and Britain, 1940-1994: The Long Separation'' London: Routledge, 2014 page 66.] When a Frenchman asked the prostrate Nicolson "''Monsieur a laissé tomber quelque-chose?''" ("Sir, have you dropped something?"), Nicolson replied "''Non, j'ai retrouvé quelque-chose''" (No, I have recovered something").
Asia
Iran
As with much of the Western world and the Middle East at the time, Francophilia was quite common in Iran in the 19th century, and even so more in the 20th century. In Iran, many key politicians and diplomats of the 20th century were French-educated or avid Francophiles. Among them Teymur Bakhtiar, the founder of the Iranian intelligence agency, SAVAK; Amir-Abbas Hoveida, Prime Minister of Iran from 1965 to 1977; Hassan Pakravan, a diplomat and intelligence figure; Nader Jahanbani, General under the last Shah; and Abdullah Entezam-Saltaneh, another famous diplomat to the West.
Japan
Prince Saionji Kinmochi, a ''genro'' (elder statesmen) was educated in France, where he received a law degree at the Sorbonne. In words of the Canadian historian Margaret Macmillan, Saionji "...loved the French, their culture and their liberal traditions. He even spoke French in his sleep. To the end of his life, he drank Vichy water and wore Houbigant cologne, which had to be imported specially for him". Prince Saionji was merely an extreme case of the Francophilia that characterized Meiji Japan. The Justice Minister, Etō Shimpei was an admirer of the French who modeled the legal and administrative systems together with the police force after that of France.
[Sim, Richard ''French Policy Towards the Bakufu and Meiji Japan 1854-95''Psychology Press, 1998 page 258.] A French lawyer Gustave Boissonade was recruited to draft the Japanese legal code, which is why the Japanese legal code today very closely resembles the Napoleonic Code. Another French lawyer, Prosper Gambet-Gross served as the special advisor to Kawaji Toshiyoshi who created a French-style police force for Japan.
The Japanese educational system from 1872 onward was modeled after the French educational system and in the same year Japan was divided into prefectures as the French administrative system was considered by the Japanese to be the best in Europe.
The Japanese received a French military mission in 1870 to train their army as the French Army was considered the best in the world. After France's defeat in the war of 1870–71, the Japanese sent the French military mission home, to be replaced by a German military mission.
The Japanese writer Kafū Nagai wrote after visiting France:
"No matter how much I wanted to sing Western songs, they were all very difficult. Had I, born in Japan, no choice but to sing Japanese songs? Was there a Japanese song that expressed my present sentiment -- a traveler who had immersed himself in love and the arts in France but was now going back to the extreme end of the Orient where only death would follow monotonous life? . . . I felt totally forsaken. I belonged to a nation that had no music to express swelling emotions and agonized feelings."
Lebanon
In Lebanon, Francophilia is very common among the Christians, Christian Maronites who have since the 19th century viewed the French as their "guardian angels", their special protectors and friends in their struggles against the Muslims. 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war, In 1860, the French intervened to put a stop to the massacres of the Maronites by the Muslims and the Druze which were being permitted by the Ottoman authorities, earning them the lasting thanks of the Maronites. Starting in the 19th century, much of the Maronite elite was educated at Jesuit schools in France, making the Maronites one of the most ardently Francophile groups in the Ottoman Empire.
[Kaufman, Asher "Tell Us Our History': Charles Corm, Mount Lebanon and Lebanese Nationalism" pages 1-28 from ''Middle Eastern Studies'', Vol. 40, No. 3, May 2004 page 3.] The Lebanese writer Charles Corm in a series of poems in French published after World War I portrayed the Lebanese as a "Phoenician" people whose Christianity and Francophilia made them part of the West and who had nothing to do either with the Arabs or Islam.
Ottoman Empire
Orientalism first arose in Early Modern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
with Guillaume Postel and the French Embassy to the court of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Later, when Mehmed IV sent the ambassador Müteferrika Süleyman Ağa to the court of
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
in 1669, it caused a sensation that triggered the Turquerie fashion craze in France and then the rest of Western Europe, which lasted until well into the 19th century.
The Ottoman Empire granted
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
special privileges on account of the Franco-Ottoman alliance. French mercantilism was protected, French subjects were exempt from the taxes and tributes normally required of Christian residents of the Empire, no French subjects could be taken into Ottoman slavery and French subjects were granted full freedom of worship. Thus, France became the unofficial protector of all Catholics in the East.
In the late 18th and 19th centuries, French influence increased in
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
and the Middle East, and the
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
and customs penetrated deep into the Ottoman learned classes and aristocracy; French was the preferred second language, rich Ottomans sent their children to school and universities in France and the Western "
Enlightenment" was associated with French culture. Modern Turkish language, Turkish continues to have many French language, French loanwords that were adopted in this period, and 5,350 Turkish words are of French origin, according to the Turkish Language Society, one eighth of a standard dictionary.
[new-french-cultural-center-opens-in-ankara-2010-05-26]" target="_blank" class="mw-redirect" title="">]
/ref> (See List of replaced loanwords in Turkish#Loanwords of French origin.) Francophilia still exists to a rather limited extent in modern Turkey. Vestiges of the 19th and early 20th century Francophilia include the famous Pera Palace hotel in Istanbul.
The French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
and its ideals of "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity" inspired many secular and progressive movements in Ottoman Turkey, including the Young Turk movement that would go on to create the Republic of Turkey. Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's breaking of the age-old Franco-Ottoman alliance by conquering Ottoman-controlled Egypt also had an effect. Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Muhammad Ali the Great, who became the Ottoman Vali (governor), ''vali'' (governor) of Egypt in 1805 and ruled as a ''de facto'' independent ruler until his death in 1848 had been strongly impressed with the Napoleon's ''Armée d'Orient'', and imported French veterans of the Napoleonic wars to train his army.[Russell, Mona ''Egypt'', Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO 2013 page 205] Egypt was very much in the French sphere of influence politically, economically and culturally in the 19th century, and French was the preferred language of Egypt's elites right up to the 1952 revolution. At the court of the Khedive Isma'il Pasha of Egypt, better known as Isma'il the Magnificent the languages used were French and Turkish. Reflecting his Francophilia, the French-educated Isma'il emulated Georges-Eugène Haussmann, Baron Haussmann by tearing down much of Cairo to rebuild it in the style of Paris. Even today, the architecture of downtown Cairo closely resembles that of downtown Paris.
Africa
Central African Republic
Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the Army of the Central African Republic seized power in 1965 and ruled until he was deposed by French troops in 1979. Bokassa was a great Francophile who maintained extremely close relations with France, often going elephant hunting with the French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. In 1977, Bokassa in imitation of his hero Napoleon crowned himself Emperor and renamed his nation the Central African Empire. Bokassa was also notorious as one of Africa's most brutal dictators, engaging in cannibalism, becoming so vicious that even the French could not stand supporting his regime anymore and thus the French Foreign Legion deposed the Emperor in 1979. Bokassa once nonchalantly told a French diplomat after his overthrow about the banquets he used to organize with the French style cooking that: "You never noticed it, but you ate human flesh."
Gabon
Omar Bongo, the long time dictator of Gabon from 1967 until his death in 2009 was described by ''The Economist'' in 2016 as "every inch the Francophile" who was very close to successive governments in Paris from the time he came to power until his death. In 2012, the country declared an intention to add English as a second official language, as Ali Bongo who succeeded his father as president does not share his father's Francophilia. However, it was later clarified that the country intended to introduce English as a first foreign language in schools, while keeping French as the general medium of instruction and the sole official language.
Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire)
President Félix Houphouët-Boigny of the Côte d'Ivoire was described as a "staunch Francophile" who maintained very close links with France, and successfully insisted that the French name for his country be used instead of the Ivory Coast. It was Houphouet-Boigny who coined the term ''Françafrique, France-Afrique'' (later shortened to ''Françafrique'') to describe the "special relationship" between France and its former African colonies, in which Francophone African nations were in the French political, cultural, military and economic sphere of influence, something which Houphouet-Boigny welcomed, though France's influence in Africa has been highly controversial given that most of the African regimes the French supported have been dictatorships.
North America
Canada
In Canada, the term has two distinct meanings, that of "appreciation of, or support for, France" and, more commonly, "appreciation of, or support for, French as an official language of Canada". With the expansion of French immersion programs in many schools following the passage of ''Official Languages Act of 1969'' which elevated French to an equal official language of the national bureaucracy, many English Canadian, Anglophone Canadians have developed a greater appreciation for the French culture that is a part of the Canadian identity. Graduates of such programs (and others who speak French as an additional language) are called ''francophiles'' in Canada, as opposed to ''francophones'' which is the term typically reserved for native speakers or near-native fluent speakers of French.
Haiti
The Republic of Haiti was once the French colony of Saint-Domingue until a successful slave revolt drove the French out. Despite this history, the Haitian elite was traditionally very Francophile to the point that the Haitian writer Jean Price-Mars published a book in 1928 ''Ainsi Parla l'Oncle'' (So Spoke the Uncle) accusing the elite of ''bovarysme'', of intentionally neglecting and ignoring traditional Haitian folk culture as it had too many West African elements and was not French enough for the elite. About 10% of Haiti's population speak French as their first language while the other 90% speak Haitian Creole, ''Kréyol'' (a mixture of French and various West African languages) that has often been mocked by the Francophile Haitian elite as a bastardized French. In Haiti, the question of whatever one speaks French or ''Kréyol'' is racially charged as the elite tended to be of Afro-European ancestry while the masses are black.
Mexico
General Antonio López de Santa Anna liked to call himself the "Napoleon of the West", and during his rule, the Mexican Army wore uniforms that closely resembled the uniforms of Napoleon's ''Grande Armée''. Since the times of Porfirio Díaz, the Mexican upper class has shown a strong admiration of French culture, language, architecture and customs.
United States
In the United States, there is great interest in French culture, including French food, art, philosophy, politics, as well as the French lifestyle in general. Historically, French style, particularly that of Paris, has long been considered the height of sophistication by Americans of all social classes.
Historical
France in the American Revolutionary War, French support of the American Revolution was a significant factor in shaping American's feelings towards France. Prior to that, the French had been seen as rivals for control of North America until their defeat in the French and Indian War. With the elimination of France as a major colonial power in North America, the rivalry between American colonists and Parliament of Great Britain, Parliament back home came into focus, and France's role switched to that of a potential ally.
The pro-French sentiment was probably strengthened by the overthrow of the French monarchy and the creation of a "brother-republic" in France. Notwithstanding the turmoil of the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
and certain disputes between the two countries (such as the Quasi-War), generally good relations continued. During the Napoleonic era, the Louisiana Purchase, and the entry of the United States into the War of 1812, concurrent with the Napoleonic Wars, gave the two nations common interests and diplomatic relations blossomed.
Among the most famous early American Francophiles was Thomas Jefferson. Even during the excesses of the Reign of Terror, Jefferson refused to disavow the revolution because he was, as Jean Yarbrough wrote, "convinced that the fates of the two republics were indissolubly linked. To back away from France would be to undermine the cause of republicanism in America." Commenting on the continuing revolutions in the Netherlands and France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, Jefferson predicted that "this ball of liberty, I believe most piously, is now so well in motion that it will roll round the globe, at least the enlightened part of it, for light & liberty go together. it is our glory that we first put it into motion." Jefferson would often sign his letters "Affectionately adieu" and commented late in life "France, freed from that monster, Bonaparte, must again become the most agreeable country on earth." The 1995 film ''Jefferson in Paris'' by James Ivory (director), James Ivory, recalls the connection. The "staunchly Francophile" Jefferson and, by extension, his adherents or "Jeffersonian democracy, Jeffersonians", were characterized by his political enemies, the Federalist Party, Federalists, as "decadent, ungodly and immoral Francophiles".
Benjamin Franklin, who spent seven years as the popular United States Ambassador to France was also a Francophile. Massachusetts Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. spent his first three grades in a Parisian school and majored in Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard. Henry Cabot Lodge Sr., his grandfather, was also a Francophile and befriended Jean Jules Jusserand, the French Ambassador to the US.
Various
Many Americans have studied at art schools in France, including the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Beaux Arts academy in Paris, the premier institution of its kind in the country. The students and graduated alumni have been deeply influential on American style, particularly during the 19th and the early 20th centuries.
In the Lost Generation#In literature, 1920s, many American intellectuals and writers, such as Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald, moved to Paris, a city that they linked to an idea of happiness. Other Americans, including several women, did so as well for various reasons. Josephine Baker is one of the most prominent of them all, as witnessed in her song ''J’ai deux amours'', in which she proclaimed her love for both USA and Paris. After World War II, WWII, another generation of Americans were attracted by Paris or southern France as well, including painters such as Jackson Pollock and Sam Francis or future celebrities such as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Jackie Kennedy who used to live in Paris and are still beloved by French people.
Some American politicians have also proclaimed their love for France, and even speak the language. Among them are John Kerry and Antony Blinken.
Francophile sentiment in the US was deeply influential on American public opinion and involvement in both World Wars. The Francophile filmmaker Preston Sturges always considered France his "second home" where he spent much of his childhood, was fluent in French and was greatly influenced by the films of his close friend René Clair. On the subject of cuisine, Julia Child is probably the most famous of many Francophile-American chefs and of many American graduates of French cooking-schools.
Actors
After WWII, Jean Seberg moved to Paris and eventually reached stardom while working there, married two Frenchmen and is buried there. Other notable francophile actors include Bradley Cooper, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bill Maher, Blake Lively, Natalie Portman, Molly Ringwald, Steven Gabrielle and Robert Crawford. The director and actor Woody Allen is a Francophile whose films often made references to French cinema, philosophy and novels. A recurring theme in Allen's films is the celebration of Paris as the ideal place for romantic love. Allen's 1982 film ''A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy'' frequently pays homage to the work of Jean Renoir while Allen has described François Truffaut as his favorite director. The Francophile hero of Allen's 2011 film ''Midnight in Paris'' Gil Pender bears striking similarities with Allen, leading to reviewers to suggest that the character of Pender is a stand-in for the director-writer.
Business
The French-American Chamber of Commerce organization has worked to promote business ties between the two countries. A ''Dallas Morning News'' interview has described the Beaujolais (wine), Beaujolais Wine Festival, the largest such festival in the US, as a major event for those interested in French culture to mix.
Oceania
Australia
Australia is tied to France through history: visit from Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, Lapérouse and assistance during World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Australian also appreciate and look up to French culture and cuisine. Shops often try to make their name sound French and a trip to Paris is a common prize in games or often pictured in advertisements.
Bastille day is celebrated in Sydney though a 4-days festival, drawing up to 500,000 people.
New Zealand
See also
* Francophobia
* Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
* Alliance française
* List of French expressions in English
* ''Alliance israélite universelle'', an association that extended French culture among Sephardi Jews
* ''Afrancesado
''Afrancesado'' (, ; " Francophile" or "turned-French", lit. "Frenchified" or "French-alike") refers to the Spanish and Portuguese partisan of Enlightenment ideas, Liberalism or the French Revolution.
In principle, ''afrancesados'' were upper- ...
'', Spanish Francophiles of the 19th century
* Missão Artística Francesa, French culture mission in Brazil in the 19th and 20th centuries
* Culture of France
* List of French possessions and colonies
* Foreign relations of France
References
External links
PlanetFrancophile.com
PFr is the next generation of social networking websites dedicated to the international Francophiles. Most notably, PFr empowers the users by giving them control of their confidentiality and privileges settings. Since 1998, PFr has connected Francophiles worldwide on a sophisticated network management platform where your privacy is respected.
Francophilia.com
is the world's only English-speaking social network for Francophiles.
FrPhilia.com
MyFrenchLife.org
- My French Life is the world's only social network for French and francophiles wanting to discover France beyond the cliché wherever they live - Magazine . Community . Events . Experiences - Publishing every day - Articles & Interviews in English and French - tips, guides & advice. Established in Melbourne Australia in 2009 offering French speaking events.
{{Cultural appreciation
Admiration of foreign cultures
French culture
French nationalism