Histoire de la Nation Francaise by Gabriel HanotauxReview by: Oliver L. Spaulding, Jr.The American Historical Review, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Jul., 1926), pp. 759-761Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1840072 .

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Histoire filitaire et Navale 759

Days of Renaissance Rome. But of the Appartamento Borgia, as of the Sistine Chapel and of Botticelli, Pinturicchio, and Signorelli, the author has little to say. The work is evidently intended to narrate the general history of Sixtus, Innocent, and Alexander. It follows in a thin stream, flowing too placidly to stir up murky depths, the narrative of Gregorovius with the addition of a convenient foot-note, the correction of an occa- sional name or date, or the utilization of material (printed, not manu- script) of more recent date than the History of Rome in the Middle Ages. Such is the Projets de Croissade (pp. 236-239), based on the reports of Stefano Taleazzi, published in the Roman Archivio di Storia Patria. The style is that of the annalist, and the writer's French predilections result in expressions which jar, as " Chateau de l'Oeuf" (p. 205)-Why trans- late Castel dell'Uovo anyhow ?-and " Fornoue" (p. 204) for Fornovo. But perhaps the soldiers of Charles VIII. took liberties as flagrant with the names of Italian towns as did the English Tommies who invented "Wipers ", or the Anmerican doughboys who gave us " Harve ".

It is a sumptuous volume, whose place is on the library table rather than the shelves, and whose apparatus of scholarship just misses being too elaborate. The bibliography, while not exhaustive, displays a formi- dable and well-arranged list of titles of printed authorities old and new. German titles are most conspicuous by their absence. The illustrations have a welcome freshness. Besides the portraits from the Pinturicchio frescoes, usual in a book concerned with the Borgia, there are stimulating photogravures of coins and medals, fortifications, palaces, and monuments, all of which go to reinforce the title rather than the text of the book. In the text, the background of the familiar story of worldly pontiffs and their nephews is only suggested by the repetition, dear to writers on the Renaissance, of the details of pageants and ceremonials which the chroni- clers preserved with the zeal of modern society reporters and about as much feeling for the significant.

FREDERICK C. CHURCH.

Histoire de 1 Nation Fran(aise. Dirigee par GABRIEL HANOTAIUX, de l'Academie Frangaise. Tome VII. Histoire Militaire et Navale, voltume I.: Des Origines aux Croisades, par le General J. COLIN; Des Croisades a la Revolution, par le Colonel F. REBOUL. (Paris: Plon-Nourrit et Cie. I925. PP. 59I. So fr.) MILITARY students have long been in the habit of giving special at-

tention to anything written by the author of L'Education Militaire de Napolbon. A foot-note to part I of the present volume shows it to have been his last work, left in manuscript, when he was ordered to Macedonia, where he met his death.

General Colin's part in the present work is brief, only one hundred pages out of nearly six hundred. It shows an effort to make military

AM. HIST. REV., VOL. XXXI.-50.

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760 Reviews of Books

history more than- a miiere narrative of events, by explaining armament, organization, and methods of fighting. Unfortunately, this description is not closely tied into the narrative, and one does not readily form a vivid action-picture of the military machine so well described at rest. The writer is not always consistent; e.g., on page 6 he says, " aucune cavalerie ne sachant manceuvrer dans l'antiquit6 ", evidently forgetting Alexander; oIn page 47, remembering that great captain, " dans les guerres de l'antiquitje, la cavalerie etait souvent I'arme decisive grace 'a sa mobilite, qui la rendait propre aux manceuvres rapides sur les flancs ".

One may regret, also, the enumeration of so many small operations; the mere catalogue makes no impression, while it takes up space which might have been used in giving a better. picture of selected operations of importance. Perhaps these flaws may be explained by the fact, men- tioned in the foot-note, that the writer had no time to give his manu- script final revision before starting on what was to prove his last cam- paign. The book is not entirely up to his usual standard of scholarship, but that standard is hard to maintain.

General Colin's influence continues, even in part II., for his works are among those cited there. This is not to say that Colonel Reboul, him- self a writer of ability and experience, has not written independently. But whether by agreement, influence, or chance, the character of the two parts is much the same. The same weaknesses are observed; the descriptive and narrative parts are not tied so closely together as to present a single picture, and an over-conscientious effort to mention as many military operations as possible has brought in many passages of slight interest or value, to the exclusion of useful detail on those more important. The same strength appears, too; military mechanism is treated more fully than in most books, and the material is there to enable the careful reader to form for himself a reasonably satisfactory picture.

At the very outset, the writer does justice, as few do, to the military capacity and technical skill of the Crusading leaders. He presents the Crusades tot merely as a grand outburs of enthusiasm, " muddling through somehow ", but as military operations, demanding and demonstrating a considerable degree of organizing ability. He shows what kinds of practical experience the leaders had had, and mentions their eager use of the available material for theoretical study, as illustrated by the popular- ity of Vegetius. At times he seems, in his enthusiasm at finding sound military ideas at work, to overlook some of the unsound. The discus- sion of the military constitution of the Frankish empire in Syria is good, as is also the appreciation of the value of the monastic military orders, with their thorough organization and strict discipline.

The summary of the influence of the Crusades upon French military thought forms an excellent foundation for the study of the development of royal forces. The appearance of the charge of constable, symbolizing royal control, is noted, and the creation of the "grand maitre des

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Histoire des Sciences 76I

arbaletriers ", a dignity marking the rise in importance of foot-troops. The development of infantry is traced, and it is interesting to note the explicit recognition of Machiavelli's influence in the organization of the "legions " of Francis I. Early artillery is not neglected.

The writer clearly states the great problem of the next ensuing period: "le probleme du piquier et du mousquetaire, de ces deux fantassins dif- ferents, qu'il faut accoupler quand meme, est la quadrature du cercle pour les seizieme et dix-septieme siecles! Point de formations rationelles, tant que ce dualisme durera." He treats, all too briefly, the gallant struggles of the old sergeants-major to solve the problem, and shows how out of these there gradually grew a definite and permanent regimental or- ganization.

From this time on, events crowd too closely for even an attempt to follow them here. To outline the treatment of the eighteenth century alone would demand more space than could be allotted to a review of the entire work.

Throughout the volume, the navy is not overlooked, but its treatment is much briefer and less thorough than that of the army. And one misses everywhere the documentation which might help the reader who wishes to follow the subject farther; the few citations given raise the suspicion, perhaps unwarranted, that secondary material has been relied upon more than primary.

The conclusion strikingly summarizes the progress of the French army from chaos to unity, and the development of what the writer con- ceives to be the French doctrine of war. It also brings out those char- acteristics and tendencies of the old royal army that led to its break-up and reconstruction in the Revolution, and opens the way for the promised second volume. It is a sufficient characterization of the present work, to express the hope that the continuation may be as good.

OLIVER L. SPAULDING, JR.

Histoire de la Nation Fran aise. Dirigee par GABRIEL HANOTAUX, de l'Academie Franqaise. Tome XV. Histoire des Science en France, II.: Histoire des Sciences Biologiques, par MAURICE CAULLERY; Histoire de la Philosophie, par RENE' LOTE. (Paris: Plon-Nourrit. IQ25. Pp. 62I. 50 fr.) IN Gabriel Hanotaux's monumental Histoire de 1 Nation Franqaise

we have a notable section on the History of French Philosophy. M. Rene Lote of the University of Grenoble has given a much-needed account of the origin and progress of the nation's thought in the realm of specula- tion. The whole work is written with such subtlety and thoroughness that it gives a unique picture of the development of the Gallic spirit, that unbroken attitude of objective intellectualism, from the break-up of Roman civilization through the Middle Ages to modern times. In spite of the heavy load of ancestral systems and of periods of bitter intolerance

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