2004, Vol., No.11

Korean Review of French History 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.67

pISSN : 1229-702X
https://journal.kci.go.kr/krfh

Fernand Braudel is often regarded wrongly as a representative of the social scientific history. But, he was a thinker who sought to rise above the limitations of his time. He had sure instincts which led him in fact to question historiographical verities, and thereupon, sometimes explicitly, sometimes only implicitly, to indicate new ways out of old dilemmas. Braudel was a historian who drew from the archival research the materials to build a ‘histoire pensée’, and it will be in position of confrontation with the way in which the tradition of modern social science insulated, circumscribed the history. In order to understand and render comprehensible that, this study concentrates upon the critical relation that Braudel maintains with the tradition of modern social science, and upon the effect which he produced on this tradition. We will examine the ‘total history’ and the ‘longue durée’ of Braudel in the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world at the time of Philippe II and the Material Civilization, economy and capitalism, XVe-XVIIIe century, for clarify the problems which he raises and the ideas that he proposes at current time.

During the period of 1788-1789, the Revolution in Toulouse began with the struggle against the Estates Provincial of Languedoc. The struggle evolved into the challenge to the capitouls who had dominated the city in the Old Regime. Merchants and artisans, dissatisfied with the exclusive takeover of Capitoulat by the bourgeoisie de robe, led the struggle. They convened at their own discretion the general assemblies of the Third Estate in the city and established the Intermediary Commission of the Third Estate of Toulouse, the city’s veritable representative body, when the capitouls refused to convene “the Reinforced General Council.” However, the Third Estate of Toulouse did not strike a decisive blow to the capitouls in spite of its revolutionary appearance. The Third Estate in the city was still under the control of the capitouls in drawing up cahier de doléances and designating its deputies. Moreover, it caused the hostile reaction of other towns and cities in the sénéchaussée by requesting the right of sending their special delegates to the Estates General, apart from those of the sénéchaussée, and the continuation of the Parlement of Toulouse. The hostility, in turn, reinforced the Toulousains’ preoccupation with their local interests and weakened the challenge to the capitouls. Therefore, in the course of convening the Estates General, it is worth to pay attention to not only the revolutionary dynamism but also the cautious attitude that moderated the revolutionary intensity. Let alone their active demonstration of the cumulative discontent and the resistance to the municipal authorities, the Toulousains also showed their respect for the city authorities and the union of citizens especially in coping with the intimidated interests of the city.

The expenditure per inhabitant of Boulogne-Billancourt was smaller than that of poor communist towns such as Saint-Denis and Gennevilliers and that of rich gaullist town such as Neuilly-sur-Seine. This low level of Boulogne-Billancourt was due to the small size expenditure in the area of road, education and welfare. The low level expenditure limited the intervention of the socialist municipal government of the town. Furthermore, the proportion of personnel expenses and contingents exceeded greatly that of Saint-Denis, Suresnes and Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1949-1965, even if the annuity of Boulogne-Billancourt remains at a low level. As a result, this socialist government of the town between 1949 and 1965 had greater unchangeable expenditure than Saint-Denis and Neuilly-sur-Seine. If we consider that Boulogne-Billancourt was one of the communes in the Seine which attained the highest taxable wealth, it’s relatively low expenditure and it’s highest unchangeable expenses were resulted from the timid policy of the socialist municipal government of Boulogne- Billancourt. Therefore, it was in these unfavorable conditions of the communal autonomy relatively limited that the socialist government should deploy their municipal politics in 1949-1965.