Tuesday, November 24, 2015

5.1.1. AN ACCOUNT THAT MAKES NO SENSE



THIS SCHOOLBOOK OF 1966 LISTS POLITICAL FACTS DIVORCED FROM TANGIBLE INTERESTS


"Did Polignac* have to retire? The Charter* did not oblige the king to choose his ministers among the Chamber's* majority. Rather than cede, Charles X preferred dissolution, but the electors [what interests do they represent?] returned a hostile majority. Then the king, by the Four Ordinances [useless erudition] pronounced the dissolution of the new Chamber, modified the electoral regime and the regime of the press by his own authority. [What did that mean in practice?] It was a veritable coup d'état: the Charter did not allow the king to make up the law (July 25, 1830). 

*I no longer have the textbook and cannot check whether that figure or institutions or laws are identified elsewhere. However that may be, this kind of account often assumes that readers already know the details. (Take most historical street panels: please click and scroll down.) 

Pushed by secret societies where young republicans were numerous, by journalists, by patrons exciting their workers, the people of Paris revolted against the ordinances [why do they listen?]. The rebels flew the tricolor [meaning?]. After three days of street fighting [error: the first day Parisians were simply surprised] (the "Three Glorious Days," July 27,28, 29 1830) in which the royal guard was engaged — the rest of the army abstained from fighting [why?]  the capital was lost for Charles X."

Recent textbooks divide similar facts into themes and stress individuals. The result is more palatable, but as incomprehensible. 

The economy appears later, in unconnected chapters.  



Try this.

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