William Tyler
Languages and Borders: An Introduction to French History
Summary
France’s borders have been fought over for centuries, and arguably were only finally settled in 1945. Because of this, regional differences in France are still profound. Regional languages remain a live issue in French culture, especially in Provence. A fascinating perspective on French history.
William Tyler
William Tyler has spent his entire professional life in adult education, beginning at Kingsgate College in 1969. He has lectured widely for many public bodies, including the University of Cambridge and the WEA, in addition to speaking to many clubs and societies. In 2009, William was awarded the MBE for services to adult education, and he has previously been a scholar in residence at the London Jewish Cultural Centre.
That’s now not true. It was true, it isn’t anymore. They had to give in to the reality.
My own view is that de Gaulle brought the revolution to an end with the Fifth Republic. I think it was uncertain even up to de Gaulle what France was as a modern state. I don’t think there will be a sixth Republic. I don’t think there will be because we in the Fifth Republic has managed to go from left and to right, right to left. Presidents, Mitterrand as president broke the cycle. And so there, I don’t think there needs to be a sixth Republic. The Fifth Republic can cope with change in ways that earlier republics couldn’t. The reasons for it all, we will come to in due course.
Yes, is the answer to the question, and what it did was to create a parliamentary monarchy in Britain, a democracy. So foundations of modern democracy. It is why, although American democracy is different from British, it is why Anglo-American democracy is not European democracy, which is an Napoleonic democracy. And that was the basic problem between Britain and the rest of the E-U. It would be, as Churchill once said, “It will be easy for Britain to become a further state of the United States, but it is very difficult for us to be a country within the EU because our whole basis of democracy is bottom up in Britain and in America. And it’s top down in the Napoleonic concept of democracy.” That’s a big, big question.