WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.520 I'm Jesse Alexander and thank you for supporting 00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:05.580 this companion episode of Glory and Defeat. 00:00:05.580 --> 00:00:09.090 Both German and French painters tried to create 00:00:09.090 --> 00:00:13.770 a positive national narrative about the Franco-Prussian War for the public. WEBVTT 00:00:13.770 --> 00:00:17.360 To do this, German artists favored certain themes. 00:00:17.360 --> 00:00:21.335 A confident aristocratic commander connected to his soldiers, WEBVTT 00:01:44.540 --> 00:01:50.435 shows a captured French messenger who proudly confronts his arrogant German captures. WEBVTT 00:01:50.435 --> 00:01:53.930 He represents the hero who's prepared to die for 00:01:53.930 --> 00:01:57.635 France rather than give the enemy any information. 00:01:57.635 --> 00:02:00.530 The main motif and French paintings is WEBVTT 00:02:00.530 --> 00:02:05.550 the brave soldier who fights to the end even in a hopeless situation. 00:02:05.550 --> 00:02:12.085 De Neuville uses this motif in his famous 1873 painting Les Dernières Cartouches, WEBVTT 00:02:12.085 --> 00:02:15.330 which shows French marines in [inaudible]. 00:02:15.330 --> 00:02:21.095 In his 1881 depiction of the German attack on the cemetery at the battle of St. Privat. WEBVTT 00:02:21.095 --> 00:02:24.260 Here we see French troops doggedly defending 00:02:24.260 --> 00:02:28.245 their country against a superior and savage enemy. 00:02:28.245 --> 00:02:31.670 Some artists like [inaudible] did not WEBVTT 00:02:31.670 --> 00:02:35.180 want to paint heroic battle scenes and questioned whether, 00:02:35.180 --> 00:02:38.200 "Atrocity must be painted at all." 00:02:38.200 --> 00:02:40.100 But for most contemporaries, WEBVTT 00:02:40.100 --> 00:02:42.500 battle paintings were serious art. 00:02:42.500 --> 00:02:45.080 That's why they are important sources for us to 00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:48.230 understand how past generations understood 1870, 00:02:48.230 --> 00:02:53.310 '71 and eventually plunged into war again in 1914. WEBVTT 00:02:53.310 --> 00:02:55.845 Thanks again for supporting Glory and Defeat. 00:02:55.845 --> 00:02:58.600 I'll see you next week. WEBVTT 00:00:21.335 --> 00:00:25.055 a brave officer who sacrifices himself in an attack. 00:00:25.055 --> 00:00:30.325 A family father who has a good relationship with French civilians and above all, WEBVTT 00:00:30.325 --> 00:00:34.355 an obedient conscript who follows any orders. 00:00:34.355 --> 00:00:37.520 Like the soldiers shown in [inaudible] depiction of 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:41.460 the storming of the Red Mountain at the Battle of [inaudible]. WEBVTT 00:00:41.460 --> 00:00:44.030 French artists often chose a more patriotic, 00:00:44.030 --> 00:00:50.290 sometimes anti-German tone that celebrates resistance against the sinister enemy. WEBVTT 00:00:50.290 --> 00:00:53.240 Painters in France faced the problem of how to 00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:56.225 give meaning to the war in inspirational images, 00:00:56.225 --> 00:00:59.075 even though it was a catastrophic defeat. 00:00:59.075 --> 00:01:02.275 They concentrated on three main themes. WEBVTT 00:01:02.275 --> 00:01:04.084 The idea of revenge, 00:01:04.084 --> 00:01:08.165 legitimizing the Third Republic by denouncing the Second Empire, 00:01:08.165 --> 00:01:12.050 but highlighting the sacrifice of soldiers for imperial France, WEBVTT 00:01:12.050 --> 00:01:14.900 and celebrating republican resistance. 00:01:14.900 --> 00:01:19.040 In [inaudible] of 1884, 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:22.190 we see a dramatic scene in which desperate Frenchmen WEBVTT 00:01:22.190 --> 00:01:25.730 gather around the [inaudible] in gloomy surroundings. 00:01:25.730 --> 00:01:28.760 While a scrawny and bare breasted personification of 00:01:28.760 --> 00:01:32.900 death flies up with the Prussian eagle on her arm. WEBVTT 00:01:32.900 --> 00:01:38.785 This depiction of death is inspired by [inaudible] earlier portrayal of witches. 00:01:38.785 --> 00:01:44.540 Alphonse de Neuville's 1881 painting the dispatch runner [inaudible],