Hermann Goering

I seem to be on a bit of a WWII kick this week, so to add to the post on Vichy France here is a quote from German politician Hermann Goering. He was a member of the Nazi Party, and this quote shows well that party's policy of control and manipulation. This quote comes from during the Nuremberg trials after WWII.

“Naturally the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. …Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

Gustav Giblert: Nuremberg Diaries
 

Goering committed suicide in 1946 just two hours before his execution.

Vichy France

On June 14, 1940 Paris fell to the Germans. The French government were divided on whether or not to keep fighting or to surrender and call for peace. Premier Paul Reynaud wanted to keep fighting, however General Maxim Weygand and vice premier Marshal Phillipe Petain insisted on calling an armistice. Petain succeeded Reynaud as premier and quickly asked the Germans for a cease-fire.

A jubilant Hitler travelled to Paris and announced that his terms of an armistice included German occupation of two-thirds of France including Paris and all of the Atlantic Coast. The French got to keep the rest of the country, except for those few places where the Italians (under the direction of Benito Mussolini, Hitler’s ally) had captured during their invasion. The French re-established a government in the resort town of Vichy, the new capital of un-occupied France. This leads to the term Vichy French.

However, luckily for the French, there was one more who refused to give up. His name was Charles de Gaulle. And from the safety of London he was able to organise a “Free France” military force, with himself as leader. The Vichy French government were now German allies and the collaboration of De Gaulle's liberation force and the resistance fighters who remained in Paris led to the liberation of France from German occupation on 19 August 1944. The Vichy French government were exiled to Sigmaringen in Germany. 

Source: World War II: An Expanded History, prepared by Theodore A. Wilson, with excerpts from World War II: A Short History, by Michael. J. Lyons, Pearson Custom Publishing, 2000

Leaders and Rulers

                                      Ludovico Sforza, Zanetto Bugatto

During the mid-1300's and early 1400's, a number of major Italian cities came under the control of one family. For example, the Visconti family governed Milan from the early 1300's until 1447, when the last male member died. Soon after, the Sforza family took control of Milan and governed the city until the late 1400's. Other ruling families in Italy included the Este family in Ferrara, the Gonzaga family in Mantua, and the Montefeltro family in Urbino.

The form of government established by the ruling families of the Italian cities was called the signoria, and the chief official was known as the signore. All power was concentrated in the signore and his friends and relatives. An elaborate court slowly grew up around each signorial government. At the court, the area's leading artists, intellectuals, and politicians gathered under the sponsorship of the signore.

Other Italian cities had a form of government known as republicanism. In republican cities, a ruling class controlled the government. Members of the ruling class considered themselves superior to the other residents of the city. The most important examples of republican government were in Florence and Venice.

In the republican government of Florence, about 800 of the city's wealthiest families made up the ruling class. The members of these Florentine families intermarried and lived in large, beautiful palaces built by Renaissance architects. They paid for the construction of great religious and civic buildings and impressive monuments throughout Florence. They also supported artists and intellectuals. In addition, the ruling class encouraged the study of ancient Greek and Roman authors in the desire to have their society resemble the cultures of classical antiquity.

 
Cosimo de Medici, Jacopo da Pontormo, 1519

By the 1430's, the Medici family dominated the ruling class of Florence. The family controlled the largest bank in Europe and was headed by a series of talented and ambitious men. Under Medici domination, the government of Florence resembled a signorial government.

About 180 families controlled the republican government of Venice. All government leaders came from these families. A law passed in 1297 restricted membership in the Great Council, the principal governing body, to descendants of families that had already sat in the council. Like Florence, Venice became a leading center of Renaissance art under the support of the ruling class.

Attica

                                     Arcadia, Thomas Eakins, c1883

"There is perhaps no part of Europe, which more deservedly...excites the curiosity of the Lovers of polite Literature than...Attica, and Athens its Capital City: whether we reflect on the Figure it makes in History, on account of the excellent men it has produced in every Art...or whether we consider the Antiquities which are said to be still remaining there...the most perfect Models of what is excellent in Sculpture and Architecture."

 - James Stuart and Nicholas Revett, in  The Victorians and Ancient Greece, R.Jenkins, Harvard University Press, 1980