Another Perspective of the French in Mexico

Today in Mexico, the narrative that has been taught is that Emperor Maximilian was a cruel despot, the French were merciless invaders and the republicans of Benito Juarez were the great heroes. Even those that are more even-handed can usually only bring themselves to say that Emperor Maximilian was, at best, a good but naive man who was duped into being the instrument of evil in Mexico. The truth, needless to say, is quite different and the extent of the French impact on Mexico consisted of far more noble things that simply executions by firing squad (though most of those were actually beneficial too, but good luck with that).

Bazaine family

The French, more so the further back in history one goes, believed in what they called the 'mission to civilize' the less developed parts of the world and they applied this to Mexico. The country was, truth be told, in dire need of development and good government. It is also true that the French were not uniformly contemptuous and xenophobic regarding the Mexicans. They certainly had a low opinion of many but, remember, there was a sizable faction in Mexico, the traditional conservatives, who were on the side of the French from the beginning. Though, it would perhaps be more correct to say that the French were on *their* side as that is how it all began. The Mexican people turned out to cheer the French soldiers when they marched into Mexico City and the commander of French forces in Mexico, Marshal Achille Bazaine, married a Mexican girl, Pepita de la Pena y Azcarate, whose family, in fact, were staunch Juaristas. Indeed, many of the French thought that Marshal Bazaine was rather too fond of the Mexicans and worried that he was 'going native' and might have plans for his own advancement in the country. Certainly, his relations with Emperor Maximilian were never terribly friendly.

When Emperor Maximilian and his Belgian bride arrived in Mexico in 1864, they came over the same route that the great Cortez had traveled in his conquest of the country for the House of Habsburg centuries before. The road was terrible and at one point was so bad that they had to get out and walk. When Maximilian asked one of the Mexican officers on his escort when the last time was that the road had been repaired, the man replied that it had never been repaired since being constructed. When Maximilian then asked when it had been constructed, the man replied that he could not remember as it had been built by the Spanish! In all the years since Mexican independence in 1821 the primary road from the capital to the coast had never once been maintained. Likewise, when Maximilian and Carlota arrived in the capital, the new Emperor had to spend his first night in the National Palace sleeping on a billiard table as he had been chased out of his bed by vermin. The place was so deteriorated because no one had ever lived in it long enough to undertake basic upkeep. It was for that reason that Maximilian decided to refurbish Chapultapec Castle and make that his primary residence.

Mexico was in need of improvement and the Imperial couple, backed by the French army, were there to make it happen. Empress Carlota referred to the root of the problem as "a nothingness" which permeated the population, making them apathetic and passive in the face of their own misery. They would fight against it to the last. It was during the French stay in Mexico that the capital city gained its first trolley line, connecting the inner city to the outer suburbs. Telegraphs lines were put up, railroads were built on the coast and small villages in the interior of Mexico experienced something they had never known before, reliable mail delivery, all thanks to the French army. Such small villages were also protected from bandit attacks as they had never been. Bandit raids had become a common fact of life for many remote Mexican villages but, the bandits being very cowardly like most bullies tend to be, the very sight of the French army was enough to keep them well away. In fact, when the French began pulling out of Mexico, one village begged for even just a single French soldier to stay behind as the sight of him alone would protect them from the bandits coming back again to steal the food from their mouths. But, of course, to the likes of Benito Juarez and President Johnson in Washington DC, republican principles were more important than starving Mexican peasants.

The truth is that the French did much good in Mexico, not all good certainly, but a great deal more than they will ever get credit for and they allowed for the importation of Emperor Maximilian and Empress Carlota who did a great deal themselves. The former Confederate naval officer turned Imperial Minister of Immigration, Matthew F. Maury, said that the industrious Belgian Empress Carlota could do more business in a day than all the Emperor's ministers combined could do in a week. She agreed and, given some knowledge of most of the Mexican Ministers the Emperor appointed, this may not have been much of an exaggeration at all. Unfortunately, it was not to last. The French were finally pressured into pulling out, after a heroic last stand the Emperor was captured and executed and soon Mexico reverted back to its prior state of power-struggles, banditry, corruption and poverty. All very sad, and unjust that the heroes are today portrayed as the villains. Yet, for a brief few years, thanks to the French, Emperor Maximilian had given Mexico a glimpse of what it could be, which is more than they have had since.

The Military Might of the Kingdom of Spain

Although it may not seem so today, the Spanish have been a fighting nation and a country of great martial glory for the vast majority of their history. Perhaps because the Spanish had the good sense to stay out of the two World Wars, many people tend to forget this, particularly in the present when most of the countries of Europe have ceased to take the issue of national defense seriously. However, Spain is a country that was, in a sense, created on the field of battle, born out of the longest war in the history of the world. This produced a proud nation forged from the most intense flames of holy war. In the aftermath, innovation, a politically advantageous royal marriage or two and intense zeal surged the Kingdom of Spain rapidly forward as the most militarily powerful country in the western world, on land or sea, even though it had only recently freed itself from the shackles of foreign rule. The King of Spain had no equal in Europe and so looked to the west, from the “Land of the Setting Sun” to distant shores where the Spanish conquered the first empire upon which “the sun never sets”. This period of dominance was not able to be maintained but in the centuries that followed, the Spanish proved that they were perfectly capable of rising to the top again. Unfortunately, as with most great empires, the decline in Spanish fortunes only became disastrous when the Spanish started fighting each other rather than a foreign foe.

Don Pelayo de Asturias

It would be quite impossible to detail all of the military glories of Spain in a single article, so this will simply be a broad overview, looking at the major points and the major figures which too Spain from a conquered land of subject peoples to a unified nation that dominated entire continents. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the barbarian invasions of the Vandals and Goths, the Visigothic Kingdom of Spain emerged. However, in 711 AD Visigothic Spain was invaded by Muslim forces from North Africa (with the help of non-Christian turncoats in Spain itself) and most of the Iberian Peninsula was swiftly conquered. However, the re-conquest of Spain (la Reconquista) began almost immediately with the critical victory of Don Pelayo at the Battle of Covadonga which established the Kingdom of Asturias as the one corner of the Iberian Peninsula that the Muslims never controlled. This was the beginning of the longest war in history, an often brutal conflict that would last for 800 years until the last Muslim stronghold was destroyed in 1492. Those centuries saw the emergence of several Spanish Christian kingdoms, all of them almost constantly at war with the Muslims and also, sadly, sometimes at war with each other.

This period of the Reconquista produced the great Christian warrior-culture of the Kingdom of Spain. It also produced a number of legendary military heroes such as “El Cid” and King St Fernando III of Castile as well as the great Spanish religious-military orders of knighthood; the Order of Calatrava, the Order of Santiago, the Order of Alcantara and the Order of Montesa. As it was a religious war, it also imbued the Spanish with a special regard for the ‘fighting faith’ with particular devotions such as to St James the Moor Slayer and Our Lady of Los Remedios. It was also this long era of struggle which produced the component parts of the Kingdom of Spain as we know it today. Eventually, the Christian states came to be dominated by two factions; the Kingdom of Castile (or Leon-Castile) and the Kingdom of Aragon. The driving force behind the final victory over the Muslims was Queen Isabella I of Castile, a formidable, pious and shrewd woman, and by her marriage to King Fernando of Aragon, Spain became united for the first time.

El Gran Capitan

Even before this was accomplished, however, mostly due to the Kingdom of Aragon, the Spanish had also taken control of southern Italy and when the French moved against them, the Spanish became embroiled in the series of conflicts known as the Italian Wars. It was there that arose one of the greatest soldiers in Spanish history and one of the most influential military commanders in the world; Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba, known to the Spanish as “the Great Captain”. After an initial defeat, he was able to totally upset the French position without fighting a single major engagement and, once he was able, won a brilliant victory against them which was the first significant battlefield victory won by the use of firearms. This has impacted practically every war since up to the present day. It was Cordoba who set the standard, he was the example that the later Spanish conquistadores sought to emulate and he changed the way wars would be fought forever. To overstate the significance Cordoba has had on the art of war would be almost impossible and it was his lessons that influenced the men who would lead Spain to a position of military dominance in the western world.

Conquistadores

The year that King Fernando and Queen Isabella defeated the last of the Muslim forces in Spain, 1492, was also the year that a certain Italian navigator named Christopher Columbus set out on his voyage of discovery which ultimately opened the Americas to European colonization. The Kingdom of Spain would ultimately come to dominate the whole of South America, other than Brazil, all of Central America and much of North America though this last point is sometimes forgotten. Spanish control encircled the Gulf of Mexico, reached the Great Plains and farther north in California than is generally known. However, in all of this conquest, two incredible victories stand out as the most dramatic and these were the conquest of the Aztecs of Mexico by Hernan Cortez and the Incas of Peru by Francisco Pizzaro. Today these men, particularly Pizzaro, tend to be vilified but what they accomplished was unparalleled in the history of the world. With only a few thousand men they were able to conquer entire empires and the victory of Cortez over the Aztecs, won by a combination of superior weaponry and tactics as well as diplomatic skill in winning over native allies, represents what is quite possibly the greatest single military campaign in world history. With less than 2,000 Spanish soldiers, Cortez was able to prevail over hundreds of thousands of Aztec warriors. That is a feat unparalleled in military history. This was, of course, a long affair with military campaigns ranging from what is now the United States to Chile and Argentina, with some defeats along the way of course, but ultimately the Spanish were successful in conquering a vast, bi-continental American empire.

Meanwhile, closer to home, the Spanish combination of pikemen and musketeers quickly rose to dominate the battlefields of Europe. Habsburg Spain possessed the most powerful navy in the world and, contrary to some assertions, this did not end with the defeat of the mis-named “Invincible Armada” in 1588, though that was certainly a blow. One of the most important naval victories was, of course, the Battle of Lepanto which was fought by a largely Italian fleet against the Ottoman Turks, however, there was a sizeable Spanish contingent and it was a Spaniard, Don Juan of Austria, who was in command. On land, the Spanish were also heavily engaged in the Dutch Revolt and The Netherlands really became, for a time at least, the epicenter of the Catholic-Protestant war that was raging across Europe. The Dutch proved to be extremely formidable foes, yet they seemed to have met their match in the person of the Italian soldier Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma, who commanded the Spanish army (and was the son of a natural daughter of the King of Spain).

Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma

The Duke of Parma is widely considered the most brilliant soldier of his day and he led the Spanish forces to victory after victory. Under his command, the Spanish army recaptured all of Belgium, securing it for the Catholic side and continued to push on into The Netherlands itself until the Dutch were cornered and facing certain doom. It was only the timely intervention of the English fleet which saved them. However, across the border in France, the Wars of Religion were still raging and when the Protestants began to gain the upper hand it was the Spanish army of the Duke of Parma which defeated the Protestant forces besieging Paris and then another Protestant army that was besieging Rouen. However, soon after a minor wound ultimately brought about Parma’s untimely death in 1592. As the Catholic-Protestant conflict continued, Spanish soldiers also saw extensive service in the Thirty Years War across Germany and central Europe aiding in significant Catholic victories such as the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, the Battle of Stadtlohn in 1623 and the Battle of Nordlingen in 1634. After the intervention of the French, the Spanish forces won a number of victories and came close to capturing Paris itself in 1636. The French backed a Portuguese revolt against Spain which, combined with the emergence of the great French commander the Prince de Conde, forced the Spanish on to the defensive.

The era that followed saw a decline in Spanish fortunes which coincided with the rising power of France and during this period, any Spanish loss was usually France’s gain. Spain was also badly hit by the War of Spanish Succession (Queen Anne’s War for Americans) in which Spanish forces were engaged on both sides. Spain lost numerous territories in Italy, the Mediterranean and had to hand Belgium over to Austria but the loss of Gibraltar would prove the point that has hurt the most, obsessing Spanish governments ever since. However, this overall period of decline did not go on indefinitely and during the reign of King Carlos III, the Kingdom of Spain was able to regain that glorious reputation from the past. During the American War for Independence, Spanish forces were almost everywhere successful, taking back total control of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, repelling a British invasion of Central America, retaking Minorca and capturing Pensacola, Florida. Spanish forces in North America raided British outposts to a greater extent than most are aware, even capturing a British fort in southern Michigan. The only Spanish operation which failed was the effort to re-take Gibraltar. Other than that, though, the Spanish forces had achieved every goal on their agenda.

El marques de la Romana

Unfortunately, this great victory was not capitalized upon but was followed by a period of decline which saw the Spanish military, particularly the army, reduced to a disastrous condition by the time of the outbreak of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. The top Spanish general of the period, Don Gregorio de la Cuesta, was not the best and certainly not a “team player” in working with the British in the campaign to free the Iberian Peninsula from French rule. There were some heroic defensive battles in certain cities but, overall, the regular Spanish army performed quite poorly. However, there were still bright spots and signs that, with the proper care, Spain could have accomplished much more. It is generally agreed that the best Spanish commander of the period was General Pedro Caro, Marquis of La Romana. When King Carlos IV had been forced into an uneasy alliance with the French, La Romana led the Spanish contingent which served in northern Germany and Denmark. However, when Spain joined the Allies, La Romana used his considerable espionage talents to successfully withdraw most of his men to British ships where they were sent to join the fight for their homeland. La Romana faced a no-win scenario when he got home but still fought with great tenacity and secured numerous small-scale victories against the French before his untimely death in 1811. However, even at this time, the martial spirit of Spain survived among the people and while the regular army may have been lacking, the Spanish guerillas behind the lines waged an unrelenting campaign against the French which drained Napoleon’s forces considerably and played an absolutely crucial part in the ultimate Allied victory.

There were also a number of notable Spanish victories in the colonies during this period. In 1806-07, when Spain was allied to France, Spanish colonial forces successfully repelled a British invasion of what is now Argentina/Uruguay and in 1813 another Spanish colonial army defeated an army of Mexican revolutionaries and American land pirates at the Battle of Medina in Texas. In 1812 rebel forces in Venezuela were defeated by General Juan Domingo de Monteverde at the Battle of San Mateo, stopping the first republican effort at independence in that area. A year previously, the Count of Calderon, after a brilliantly fought campaign, led Spanish forces to victory at the Battle of Calderon bridge, defeating 100,000 Mexican rebels with only 6,000 royalists which put off Mexican independence for another decade. 1809 had similarly seen Jose Manuel de Goyeneche defeat rebel forces in Bolivia and blocked the expansion of the revolutionary movement out of Argentina until he was outflanked by General Belgrano and forced to retreat. Throughout all of this period, the Spanish forces were obviously capable of success and achieved incredible victories, however, the overall war effort was crippled by the internal divisions that would plague Spain for most of the rest of the century.

Tomas de Zumalacarregui

The original division, and one which was responsible for the success of numerous independence movements in the Spanish empire, was the conflict between those who favored a constitutional monarchy and those who backed King Fernando VII in restoring the absolute power. This lasted until the death of the King in 1833, by which time most of the empire had been lost and then followed a series of succession wars from 1833 to 1876 with brief respites in between the three major clashes. Spain stagnated while the country was locked in this bitter cycle of civil conflict. The Carlists (those who favored the succession of the King’s brother Don Carlos rather than his daughter Isabella II) came close to success on occasion but never quite achieved it. One problem was their lack of expert military leadership. There was, however, one man who emerged from the Carlist ranks who stood above the rest in talent and martial valor and that was General Tomas de Zumalacarregui who was devout, fearless and extremely skilled, winning one victory after another. However, Zumalacarregui was an asset that the Carlist leadership did not make best use of and following his death in 1835 there was really never another Carlist general that could measure up to his matchless talent.

The Carlist Wars also meant that focus tended to shift away from the remnants of the Spanish empire and major insurrections broke out in The Philippines and Cuba. The long, bitter struggle in Cuba eventually prompted intervention from the United States and the result was the Spanish-American War of 1898. Spain was outmatched and easily defeated at sea, however, if one looks at the battles fought in Cuba, one could still see the gallantry and determination of the glory days of Spain. The Spanish forces were defeated but they showed immense courage and inflicted considerably more losses on the enemy than they sustained themselves. Their valor and gallantry in the midst of a hopeless struggle was so impressive that they earned the admiration of their American foes. However, as the situation in Spain became, at least temporarily, more stable, military victories were still possible. In the First Melillan campaign (aka First Rif War) in Morocco, Spanish colonial forces won a decisive victory. The Second Melillan campaign (or Second Rif War) of 1909-1910 was a bit more intense and Spain took some heavy blows at the outset but, in the end, the Spanish army was once more victorious and the Spanish foothold in North Africa was expanded.

Spanish troops landing in Morocco

The Kingdom of Spain stayed out of World War I, showing better judgment than most European powers, but was soon forced back into another colonial conflict with the outbreak of the Third Rif War which lasted from 1920 to 1926. Once again, the Spanish were caught off guard and took the worst of it in the early stages of the conflict but, as before, in the end it was the Spanish forces that won the day, though this time they also had the support of the French who had a similar interest to seeing this problem dealt with for good. Not long after, the Spanish monarchy was overthrown and the horrific Second Spanish Republic was declared but the establishment, because of the last Rif War, of the Army of Africa and a Spanish Foreign Legion would prove important in the ultimate demise of the monstrous regime. The Army of Africa ultimately came under the command of General Francisco Franco and when a coup was launched in 1936 these forces were airlifted to the mainland and the Spanish Civil War ensued with the republican forces being aided by Mexico, the Soviet Union and communists and leftists from around the world (as well as subtle aid from France) while the nationalist forces, led by Franco received assistance from Germany and the Kingdom of Italy.

The civil war was a brutal and nasty business but there still stands out numerous examples of the finest martial tradition of the heroes of Spain. One such illustration was the heroic stand of General Jose Moscardo Ituarte at the siege of the Alcazar in Toledo where a thousand nationalists held out against a republican force eight times larger and with the general’s own son as a hostage. Franco took his army to relieve the siege and the result was a decisive nationalist victory. In 1937 Spanish nationalists with Italian support won a decisive victory at the Battle of Malaga which opened the way for a major string of successes for the nationalist side. In fact, the 1937 Battle of Guadalajara would largely be the only major republican victory of the entire war. Even in battles in which they held superior forces on land and in the air, the republicans proved unable to match the nationalists whose ranks included most of the professional soldiers of the Spanish army. In March of 1939 the last major nationalist offensive was launched and by April 1 Generalissimo Francisco Franco was able to announce the end of the war and his ultimate victory.

Agustin Munoz Grandes

The Spanish Civil War was extremely significant, not just for Spanish history but for the history of Europe in general as a republican victory may well have enabled the forces of international communism to dominate the continent. It was also the conflict that has been called the “dress rehearsal” for World War II, where many men and tactics were first tried that later rose to prominence in the largest war in history. Again, the Spanish had the good sense to stay out of World War II but some Spanish soldiers were involved. Franco allowed the formation of a volunteer unit, the “Blue Division” along with air support in the form of the “Blue Squadron” to aid the Axis war effort on the condition that they only be used on the eastern front to fight the Soviets and never against the western allies. Eventually, Allied pressure forced Franco to withdraw the Blue Division but they performed extremely well on what was arguably the harshest front of the war. Led by General Agustin Munoz Grandes, the division served with Army Group North in the siege of Leningrad and surrounding engagements. Hitler himself said that the Spanish Blue Division was, “equal to the best German ones”. While critical of their habits, Hitler nevertheless said that, when confronted by the Russians, “…the Spaniards have never yielded an inch of ground. One can’t imagine more fearless fellows. They scarcely take cover. They flout death. I know, in any case, that our men are always glad to have Spaniards as neighbors in their sector.”

After World War II, Spanish military activities have grown increasingly limited but still achieved success in the modest operations undertaken. There was the “Forgotten War” in Spanish West Africa fought in late 1957 to early 1958, assisted by the French, which ended in a Spanish victory. However, the Western Sahara War which lasted officially from 1975 to 1991 saw Spain abandon the area which remains disputed by several native groups all claiming ownership of the region. In the decades since, Spain has undertaken no major military operations but has participated modestly in numerous NATO military campaigns. The Kingdom of Spain sent a medical team to the Vietnam conflict, a team of engineers to the First Gulf War, engaged several aircraft in the NATO interventions in Bosnia, Kosovo and Libya. In the (ongoing) war in Afghanistan, Spain contributed a rapid response force, logistical support personnel and military instructors but operated under orders not to engage the enemy, not to leave their area of operations and to fight only when directly attacked. Leadership of this international force is on a rotational basis and the Spanish contingent has declined to take charge each time their turn has come. To date, 102 Spanish military personnel have been killed in Afghanistan from all causes.

Spanish troops parade in Afghanistan

From 2003 to 2004 the Kingdom of Spain was officially a participant in the Iraq War (Second Persian Gulf War etc, names vary) or at least the aftermath with 1,300 military personnel serving, mostly in policing duties with 11 being killed during their time in the field. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, once elected to power, kept his promise to withdraw Spanish military forces from Iraq though, by that time, only 260 remained in the country. None of this is much out of the ordinary for European countries which, in the last fifty years or so, have drastically increased spending on social welfare programs while just as drastically downsizing their military forces, confident in their NATO membership that the United States military will handle any significant defense crisis that should arise. In short, Spain, like most European countries, have largely stopped taking national defense seriously, preferring to focus inwardly and on the European project rather than making their own way in the world at large.

In conclusion, we can see that the proper will, ambition and unity is all that is holding Spain back from being as powerful as it once was. Like many others, the people today have become comfortable with being a less than top-tier power. Throughout its history, the Kingdom of Spain has accomplished some of the greatest military feats of all time and those heroes of the past like Cordoba or Cortez possessed no magic, their blood was the same as that which flows through Spanish veins today. No one now would consider Spain a significant military power and they would have a number of explanations for this and excuses for why it cannot be otherwise. However, consider that, in economic terms, Spain is about equal to Russia. Yet, Russia is much more militarily significant because they devote more of their economy to national defense and developed their own nuclear deterrent. In other words, even with an economy little if any more productive than that of Spain, they have made different choices, they have made their military and an independent foreign policy their top priorities. Spain, as these pages have shown, can be and has been an extremely strong nation, a top-tier power and there is no reason that Spain cannot be again with the right decisions, a united people and something more than the material to believe in. ¡Viva el Rey! ¡Arriba España!

A Final Word on the French Contest

The hour of irrevocable decision for France has come. I would prefer that the choice being demanded was a different one, a more fundamental one, I would prefer the choice would be do away with the French presidency entirely. I would prefer the candidates were not the candidates on offer but that is not how the world works. The situation is what it is and the choices are who they are. France will have a president and it will be Macron or Le Pen. The pollsters say it will be Macron and that is certainly the candidate that the ruling elite and the mainstream media is instructing the French to vote for. Everyone from German Chancellor Angela Merkl to EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to former U.S. President Barrack Obama has endorsed Emmanuel Macron and urged French citizens to reject Marine Le Pen. So, the choice is a stark one; if you think that Merkl, Juncker, Obama and the established international order in the western world has been good for France, if you think they are the most committed to doing what is right for France, then Macron is your man. If you think things are terrible in France, that things have been terrible in Germany under Merkl, if you think the Juncker-Obama type leaders of the USA and EU don't have your best interests at heart, then you should vote for Marine Le Pen.

I have already made it clear that, were I a French citizen, I would be voting for Le Pen without hesitation. Is she perfect? No. Do I agree with her on everything? No. Is she the best possible person to govern France? No. Does she stand any chance of winning? If the polls are to be believed, not really, nor would she have any easy time governing with all the other parties in France refusing to deal with her. However, that in itself rather recommends her to me. I detest republican politics and I detest political parties and if the Front National is the one group that all the other parties refuse to even speak to, I am going to give the Front National a second look. My vote for Le Pen would be strategic, it would be a vote to buy time, even if just one more hour in the precious life of France. She is not ideal but I would vote for Le Pen even if for no other reason than to annoy Angela Merkl, Jean-Claude Juncker and Barrack Obama. However, there is another reason and that is that I want France to live. I want France to be French. I'm disgusted by what it has become but I want the patient to recover her health and not simply be allowed to die. Already, a quarter of the population of France is Muslim. If something is not done now; then when? When the "Eldest Daughter of the Church" is half Muslim? When France is a majority Muslim country? Oh well, that would probably be too late of course.

As I said elsewhere recently, we can see today quite clearly the stark contrast between the French Republic and the traditional Kingdom of France. The Kingdom of France was a traditional Christian monarchy and it spread Christianity and the Gallic culture all around the world. The Crusades which re-took the Holy Land from the Muslim invaders were a largely French-driven enterprise, it was the French who sent missionaries and established settlements from Canada all the way down the Mississippi River basin. The secular French Republic, on the other hand, has failed to maintain Christianity and the Gallic culture even in France itself. The Kingdom of France was a major power, for lengthy periods of time even the dominant power of the western world. Under the republic, France has become a province of Europe, one of many, taking its orders from a top-heavy talking-shop in Brussels, a city which itself looks increasingly non-European. The Church where Charles "the Hammer" Martel is buried, the place where the man who threw back the Muslim invasion at the Battle of Tours now rests, is today in a Muslim neighborhood. That is all any decent French man or woman should need to know.

The election of Le Pen will not solve everything, she will certainly not be the cure for the sickness afflicting France but what she just might be able to do is buy time, delay the disaster so that the more fundamental issues can be dealt with. As detailed previously (France: Republican By Default), there have been numerous opportunities to begin to correct the fundamental problem in France today (The Root of the Current French Crisis) but on every occasion the royalists failed to put aside their differences and come together to save France from the disastrous republic. In the past, the problems were ones of policy, problems of error and problems of being incorrectly taught. Today, the coming crisis is a demographic one and if it is not stopped and stopped now, there will be no way of correcting it. Once a population is replaced, that cannot be undone. Once a people is gone, they are gone forever. I would prefer that better options were available but they are not. The options are Macron or Le Pen and I have no hesitation about choosing Le Pen in the hope that, however slim, the French might be able to maintain themselves in their own homeland. The current path leads to certain doom and I would grasp anything to postpone such a calamity and work, in the time that is gained, to revive that old French spirit, the spirit of Charles Martel, of St Louis IX, of St Joan of Arc and I would say St Joan of Arc in particular because her agenda is the same agenda that France needs today: to expel the invaders and crown the rightful king. Vive la France.

Monarch Profile: Emperor Komei of Japan

The Meiji Restoration is rightly regarded as one of the pivotal events in Japanese history. It was a turning point after which everything would be different and a critical shift away from the centuries-long rule of the shogunate in favor of the restoration of imperial power. Japan modernized, abandoned isolationism, became wealthy, powerful and one of the major world powers. However, these events have largely overshadowed the reign of the father of Emperor Meiji, the Emperor Komei, whose reign was almost just as pivotal. To a large extent, the events of the Meiji Restoration were set into motion during the reign of Emperor Komei. It was Emperor Komei who had to deal with the return of foreign peoples to the shores of Japan in a major way and it was the process of dealing with that which led directly to the restoration of imperial power and the downfall of the last shogun. The events of the Meiji era would likely have surprised Emperor Komei, but a careful inspection shows that his actions were critical in shaping those events.

Palace gate, Kyoto

Komei was born on July 23, 1831 to His Majesty Emperor Ninko, by tradition the 120th Emperor of Japan, and one of his concubines but who was, by tradition, regarded as the child of the Empress. Being the fourth son, he would not have been expected to inherit the Chrysanthemum Throne but, at a time when the imperial court at Kyoto relied solely on traditional Chinese medicine, sickness often took a heavy toll on the Imperial Family. By the time the future Emperor Komei was born, all of his older brothers had predeceased him and so he, Osahito (his given name) was crown prince. In fact, of the fifteen children of Emperor Ninko, only three lived beyond their third birthday. Emperor Komei would have six children and only one (Mutsuhito, the Meiji Emperor) would survive and of the fifteen children of the Meiji Emperor, only five would reach adulthood. Emperor Meiji himself might not have lived were it not for him being secretly vaccinated for smallpox with Dutch medicine smuggled into the Gosho in the imperial capital of Kyoto.

In keeping with tradition, Crown Prince Osahito (Komei) was raised on the Gosho, 220-acres enclosed by high walls in the city of Kyoto, dominated by the Heian Palace. The Emperor and his family were kept isolated, out of public view, regarded as too lofty, too sacred to be exposed to ordinary people or mundane affairs. They lived a cloistered life of ritual. Little Prince Osahito was taught by private tutors, an education dominated in those days by the “Classic of Filial Piety” by Confucius and traditional Japanese literature. Basic history and geography of the region were virtually the only other subjects deemed worth knowing anything about. There was leisure in the form of traditional entertainments but the Imperial Family lived a fairly austere life for such lofty individuals. They did not live lavishly like wealthy, powerful people but, while they certainly wanted for nothing, rather like members of a religious order in simple but beautiful confinement, though certainly with plenty of time for romance. Given the high mortality rate of Japanese princes and princesses, it was important that the Emperor father as many children as possible.

Emperor Komei

It came as a great shock when HM Emperor Ninko suddenly died in the morning, as the sun was rising, on February 23, 1846. He was only 46-years old, had always been healthy and had been bothered by what seemed no more than a cold. Then, one day, he found he could not walk and he died soon after. This was announced on March 13 and the following week Crown Prince Osahito was formally enthroned as His Majesty the Komei Emperor of Japan. The usual rituals followed but before the year was out, events would be set in motion that would result in dramatic changes. By the middle of October, word reached the new Emperor Komei that foreign ships had arrived at the Japanese capital. This was alarming but not too serious and the Emperor sent a formal message to the shogun about improving the naval and coastal defenses of the country. The Emperor then went to Iwashimizu Shrine to pray for peace and for the gods to spare Japan from anymore foreign ships.

These ships were most likely the American vessels of Commodore James Biddle who tried, and failed, to negotiate a trade agreement with a local Japanese official. A French warship also visited Japan the same year and in each case the response of Emperor Komei was the same, to go to Iwashimizu Shrine and pray for the gods to blow the foreign barbarians far away from ‘the Land of the Gods’. This would prove to be a lifelong concern for Emperor Komei and he never changed his position on it. Foreigners did not belong in Japan and their presence would not be tolerated. Occasionally, some circumstance would strand a foreigner on Japanese shores and the Emperor was not without compassion but they would be allowed to remain only until the first available opportunity to send them away. For Emperor Komei, other than a few bad omens and the usual, occasional, fires, floods or outbreaks of sickness, life carried on as before but the sighting of foreign ships seemed to be increasing and this was a growing concern.

For a time, life went on as usual, there were family matters to deal with, rituals to be observed and so on and then, on July 8, 1853, the “Black Ships” of U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in the port of Uraga, near Edo (Tokyo). The standing order that all foreign ships must be expelled from Japanese waters was shown to Perry, but he refused to leave until he had delivered the message he carried from the President of the United States to a sufficiently high-ranking Japanese official. After being put off for a time, Perry threatened to send an armed landing party to deliver the message to the shogun himself if something was not done. This caused consternation in the Japanese hierarchy where the existing law forbid receiving any foreign communications. Told that the shogun was too ill to receive him, Perry was finally convinced to leave but promised to return for an answer the following year. None of this was immediately known in Kyoto but it caused an uproar in Edo among the Shogun and his advisers. Some favored opening relations with the Americans and other foreigners while others favored continued isolation.

Commodore Perry arrives in Japan

It was not until July 15, 1853 that an official announcement of these events was sent from the Shogun to the Emperor who immediately ordered seventeen days of prayers in seven shrines and seven temples for protection from the gods from the foreign devils. The local daimyos were also informed, given copies of the presidential letter but they had different opinions about how best to proceed. The daimyo of Fukuoka, Kuroda Nagahiro, advised opening up trade but only with America and the Russian Empire while strengthening Japanese coastal defenses and navy. At the moment, he warned, Japan was far too lacking in modern weaponry to risk the wrath of the major powers in Europe and America. If Japan did not open up a little, and modernize, they would be conquered. It was not until August that Emperor Komei himself was given the text of President Fillmore’s request for trade and diplomatic relations and, while some advised opening up only to America (perhaps in a similar way to their long-standing, arms-length relations with the Netherlands) the consensus was against it.

However, what was significant was that the imperial court asked that they be informed by the Shogun prior to his taking any action and the Shogun also asked for the advice of the imperial court which was something that had not happened in 250 years in Japan. This, seemingly small, interaction was the beginning of the shift toward the restoration of the imperial power. The Shogun would not be acting alone but would inform and take advise from the imperial court. The following month, Russian ships arrived in Nagasaki with a note from the Czar and threatened to go to Edo harbor (as the Americans had done) if they were not dealt with. The Japanese officials could not decide what to do and so simply delayed answering the Russians as long as possible. They were finally told that the Japanese government would have an answer in 3 to 5 years. These events caused more Japanese officials to decide that the country had to be opened, particularly after the Russians threatened to annex all of the northern islands if they received no satisfactory answer. The local officials finally convinced the Russians to leave but everyone was convinced that the situation was now serious.

The Shogun agreed that Japan at least needed to take naval defense more seriously and lifted the ban on the building of large ships and even went so far as to order several steam ships from the Dutch and authorized an official flag for Japanese ships to fly, of course, a red sun on a white field. When the Shogun died, Emperor Komei appointed his heir, Tokugawa Iesada, to succeed him along with the urging to drive away all the foreign ships. The new Shogun asked the Emperor to be free with his advise and promised to act according to the Emperor’s wishes at all times. The power shift was well underway. Afterward, Emperor Komei was annoyed that more was not being done to keep the foreigners away for good and sent inquiries about the state of the coastal and naval defenses. When a treaty was subsequently signed with the United States, the Emperor would likely have been outraged when he was informed but a major fire at the palace took up his attention. He was more alarmed when the Russians arrived at Osaka and Emperor Komei ordered the usual prayers as well as fasting which alarmed the public and local daimyos assembled forces to defend the area in case the Russians made a move.

A large earthquake and tsunami which occurred during the negotiations with Russia over opening trade and their northern border was seen by many as another sign of divine disfavor at dealing with the foreigners. Unknown to Emperor Komei, the shogun signed a treaty with the Russians, granting them even more concessions than they had to America, and the Emperor was furious when he found out. He wanted no concessions made to the foreigners at all, no interaction with them and objected to any foreign presence on Japanese soil at all. Still, foreigners continued to come and a Dutch commissioner warned the shogun that the old Japanese attitude was likely to lead to war if things did not change. He advised making trade agreements and lifting the ban on Christianity in the country. At a subsequent meeting of the shogun and his top officials, almost all agreed that Japan had to deal with the outside world. Isolationism would come to an end.

In 1857 the same Dutch commissioner who had warned of trouble if Japan continued to shun foreign contact, informed Japanese officials that the Great Qing Empire had just been defeated in the Opium War by the British, and rather humiliatingly so. Obviously a warning, the commissioner also told of how Shanghai, Canton, Fuchow and other port cities were prospering after being opened to trade. There were, of course, scholars in Japan who had studied information from the west, obtained by their limited contact with the Netherlands, that Japan was woefully behind in the latest technology, medicine, transportation, weaponry and industry and had long urged the government to adapt in order to survive. Emperor Komei, however, saw things in more spiritual terms. The very presence of the foreign barbarians was disturbing the peace of the “land of the gods” and continued to pray that they would all leave and never return. Despite being annoyed at the agreements signed by the shogun without his prior knowledge, the Emperor was given a generous allowance and was not looking to take government into his own hands. While others began to shout, “Respect the emperor and drive out the barbarians!”, Komei himself desired no change with the shogunate, he simply wanted life to go on as it had before the worrisome White demons had appeared off their shores.

Nonetheless, on December 7, 1857 the Shogun Tokugawa Iesada, received an envoy from U.S. President Franklin Pierce who had come to negotiate a permanent trade agreement. The envoy, Harris, warned that France or Britain might make a colony of Japan but that America had no desires beyond trade and diplomatic relations and offered to support Japan against the French or British if they started to become acquisitive. To further differentiate America from Britain, he also promised that American merchants would never sell opium in Japan. When word reached Emperor Komei of these happenings, he was less than pleased and became quite angry when he heard that one official was coming to bring him a large monetary gift. Clearly offended, he said that he could not be bribed, that he would lose the love of the people if he allowed interaction with the foreign devils and warned the other elites of the country not to allow themselves to be influenced by the promise of rewards for accepting relations with alien races.

Ise Grand Shrine

This, finally, led to an outright disagreement as the Shogun decided it would be best to sign a treaty with the United States but Emperor Komei refused to agree, saying it would be detrimental to Japan to have any further interaction with the foreign barbarians. The Emperor still left this political matter up to the Shogun but there were many powerful aristocrats in the country who also opposed any further interaction with the White demons. In 1858, Emperor Komei sent envoys to pray at the Grand Ise Shrine and other major shrines, asking the gods to send another “Divine Wind” to wipe away the foreigners if conflict should erupt and calling down divine retribution on the “disloyal” who favored opening Japan to interaction with the foreign nations. In fact, when Emperor Komei learned that a treaty had been signed with the United States without his prior knowledge or approval (the Shogun saying that there had not been time), he threatened to abdicate the throne, the most drastic act of which he was capable.

Emperor Komei was adamant that the presence of foreigners in Japan was unacceptable, that it was an affront to the gods and that all means necessary had to be employed to expel all foreign elements from the country. He even cast doubts on the imperial system itself, though, from the available information, it seems that this letter never reached the Shogun. Nonetheless, powerful officials in Japan began to align with the Emperor against the Shogun, furthering the division that would ultimately result in the restoration of the imperial power. Ultimately, Emperor Komei relented that the treaty with America had been necessary but he continued to express his displeasure with this state of affairs with the next shogun, Tokugawa Iemochi. He became increasingly free with his opinions and interacted more with the government than any emperor had done in centuries. He tried to intervene in judicial matters but was thwarted by the fact that he had no actual power and the shogun even carried out something of a purge against those who had been in sympathy with the emperor and opposed to the policies of the shogunate.

Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi

It is worth reiterating that the Emperor had never been opposed to the existing political system, still regarding his position as being above government and policy making, however, it was becoming increasingly clear that he could do nothing to change or halt government policies which he regarded as detrimental to the ‘national spirit’. A political marriage was arranged between an imperial princess (Kazu-no-Miya Chikako) and the Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi and during the negotiations for this, the Shogun agreed that the foreigners would be expelled eventually but that greater unity was needed first and Japan had to upgrade and strengthen its military capability. Again, there was a threat of abdication if the Emperor did not gain greater input in national affairs and the bride-to-be backed up her brother in asserting conditions of her own. The result was an agreement that amounted to almost a sharing of power between the Shogun and the Emperor, another significant step in the process of restoring the imperial power.

Dissidents still associated themselves with the emperor, bemoaning the treaties the Shogun had signed with the foreign powers and the poor, backward state of the Japanese armed forces after such a long period of peace and isolation. Some began to go farther and urge Emperor Komei to take command of the country himself and even to demand tribute from the “five continents” of the rest of the world. This culminated, in 1863, with an imperial order from Emperor Komei to ‘expel the barbarians’. The Shogun had no intention of following such an order, fearing that it would result in immediate war with a number of countries that Japan could not hope to defeat in her current state, however, a number of ronin samurai took action on their own, attacking and assassinating foreigners in Japan as well as officials loyal to the Shogun.

One of those killed was Charles Lennox Richardson, an English merchant. When a Royal Navy squadron arrived in Kagoshima demanding reparations for this, the loyal daimyo attacked them and the British ships bombarded the area (which was in the Satsuma domain), destroying property and killing five people who had not been evacuated with the rest. Although, oddly enough, the Satsuma had not been generally anti-foreign and would, in the later Boshin War, be unofficial allies of the British. All the same, this incident caused great alarm that the shogun was unable to maintain effective control of the country to stop actions contrary to its policy, nor was it able to defend Japan from the superior military forces of the foreigners. The stage for the Meji Restoration had clearly been set.

Emperor Komei

It was, though, the Meiji and not the Komei Restoration as the Emperor Komei, after a life of robust health, suddenly became very ill and was diagnosed with smallpox in January of 1867. His condition worsened and Emperor Komei passed away on January 30, 1867 at the age of only 35. This was immediately seized upon by some factions who claimed that he had been assassinated by sympathizers of the Choshu and Satsuma domains who opposed the shogun since the Emperor had continued to support the shogunate and oppose any change to the existing order even while he strenuously disagreed with shogunate policies. In truth, however, he had died of natural causes which, as mentioned at the outset, were far from uncommon among the members of the Imperial Family with their isolation and opposition to modern medicine. He was immediately succeeded by his son, the Meiji Emperor and, as they say, the rest is history.

In conclusion, a final point that must be addressed is the accusation of those who claim that as Emperor Komei had vehemently opposed all foreign contact and that the restoration of the imperial power during the Meiji era result in Japan firmly joining the international community, modernizing and even becoming the first (and only) non-European member of the “Great Powers” of the time, that this represents a sort of repudiation of Emperor Komei or that, to put it even more harshly, the restored imperial power had brought about exactly the state of affairs he had most feared. This, in my view, is incorrect and the result of an overly narrow view. The Meiji era represented a coming together of the valid views of both the shogun, who realized that Japan as it was would be easy prey, offending and provoking wars it could not possibly win, and that interaction and modernization were necessary; as well as those of Emperor Komei who wished to maintain the Japanese ‘national spirit’. Foreigners were never accepted into Japan in any appreciable numbers, nor are large numbers of foreigners allowed into Japan even today. Additionally, the moral arguments of Emperor Komei, his heartfelt concern for the Japanese ‘spirit’ did prevail and Japan, going forward, always maintained traditional Japanese customs and values, the traditional Japanese culture, even while adopting and even improving on western learning and technology. Emperor Komei was, in my view, vital to the survival of Japan as a nation and his fears were not unfounded.

The Fruit of Thy Bounty

Whether from the popular novels or numerous major Hollywood motion pictures, most people have at least heard of “The Mutiny on the Bounty”. The story told in most of these books and films is of a kind-hearted, fun-loving, proper English gentleman named Fletcher Christian who is driven to righteous rebellion by his dishonest, cruel and tyrannical captain, William Bligh. However, the story most know from the movies, while highly entertaining, is an almost totally false one and tends to lead people in the wrong direction. There is a great lesson to be learned from the most famous mutiny in naval history but it is not the one that the most famous film version (1935) stressed so heavily. In fact, of the major motion pictures made about the mutiny in 1935, 1962 and 1984, only the 1984 version, titled simply as “The Bounty” and starring Anthony Hopkins and a young Mel Gibson, is anywhere close to being even-handed in its approach to history. Though not perfect, it was the most accurate and yet it was the classic 1935 version (starring Clark Gable and Charles Loughton), the least accurate and most heavy-handed, which won the most awards, made the most money and became most cemented in the popular imagination.

Lt. William Bligh

The basic facts are that the Bounty, commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh, set sail from England on December 23, 1787 with orders to travel to Tahiti by way of Cape Horn at the bottom of South America, pick up breadfruit plants there and then transport them to Jamaica where they could be cultivated as a cost-effective food source for the slaves on the sugar plantations there and the other British West Indies. The voyage was authorized by King George III at the insistence of the very influential Sir Joseph Banks. However, Bligh and his ship were held in port for a long time and by the time they reached Cape Horn they had missed the only period of favorable weather. Despite their arduous efforts, the ship could make no headway and finally Bligh ordered a course change to head for Tahiti by way of the Cape of Good Hope and the Indian Ocean. During the voyage, he put his friend Fletcher Christian, formerly the Master’s Mate, in the position of second-in-command with the rank of acting second lieutenant. By the time they reached Tahiti and collected their plants, they were woefully behind schedule and the ship, already far too small for such a mission, was crammed full of plants to make amends for their late arrival. However, on the way back toward the Indian Ocean, Fletcher Christian led a mutiny, taking the ship and setting Bligh and his loyal sailors adrift in a small open boat in the middle of the South Pacific.

For years, the popular perception has been that Bligh was a vicious monster, who cheated his sailors of food, starved them of water, flogged them half to death over even the slightest infraction and that the noble, young Christian finally could stand no more of this mistreatment and rebelled. The truth, however, is completely different. In fact, Bligh rarely had anyone flogged at all as historical records clearly show. The accounts of his alleged dishonesty stem from one version of events, told years after the fact, by the Boatswain’s Mate who had himself been a mutineer, only narrowly escaped execution, and who was writing a version of events that would mitigate his guilt. In fact, Bligh was obsessive in his care for his crew, adamant about cleanliness and exercise, disapproving of strong drink and licentious behavior. Actual historians have had to admit that Bligh was not cruel but that he was given to outbursts of anger in his speech and so criticize the insulting and demeaning way he verbally abused his underlings when he found them unsatisfactory.

Fletcher Christian

Obviously, the defense that, “he said mean things that hurt my feelings” does not quite hold up against people who committed the most serious crime of all for any navy in the world. It also tends not to impress anyone who has ever been in the military and can recall how drill instructors routinely speak to those in their charge. In truth, what happened was that a number of the sailors were intoxicated by their time in Tahiti, a place with a nice climate, plentiful fresh food and abundant half-naked women who were perfectly willing to let the Englishmen have their way with them. This, combined with the proud, touchy character of Christian, a man who came from a prominent family which had fallen on hard times and thus tended to think that he was constantly not being treated with sufficient respect, prompted the ultimate act of mutiny. It was only much later that Bligh came to be painted as the villain thanks to the efforts of Fletcher Christian’s brother, Edward Christian, an ambitious, young lawyer, who went to extreme lengths, while Bligh was away on another mission and unable to defend himself, to portray Christian as the righteous rebel and Bligh as the villainous tyrant.

The idea that Bligh was cruel and barbaric is utter nonsense. He had hoped to complete his voyage without any acts of corporal punishment and, as it happened, only ever had four men flogged during his entire time as captain. The propaganda campaign launched by Edward Christian was obviously fairly effective and he enlisted the help of very powerful people in this, notably the abolitionists of the anti-slavery societies. Obviously, slavery had nothing to do with the issue at hand but Bligh, a naval officer simply following the orders given to him, was portrayed as complicit in the guilt of the slavers by importing a new food crop specifically for slaves and the tales of his, entirely false, constant flogging of his crew, could easily be compared with the harsh task master whipping his slaves. Of course, Bligh did no such thing and the sailors of the Bounty were not slaves but were entirely volunteers but facts such as those were left out as inconvenient to the narrative being sold that Bligh was of a kind with a brutal, West Indies slave owner, driving his men forward with constant beatings. Hollywood took this version of events and ran with it, cementing it in the popular imagination as well as claiming a moral victory for the mutineers by stating that the Royal Navy was so appalled by the distasteful actions of Bligh that they shunned him and Royal Navy sailors were never treated badly again.

Breadfruit

Again, this is entirely false. Bligh was hailed as a hero when he returned, was quickly vindicated of the loss of his ship, promoted to captain, given a new vessel to complete his original mission, fought with distinction in the Napoleonic Wars, became a friend of the legendary Lord Nelson and ended his naval career as a Vice-Admiral of the Blue. As far as corporal punishment goes, the mutiny had no effect on how sailors were treated in the Royal Navy whatsoever and flogging remained a legal form of punishment until 1879. If anything, simply looking at the facts might have caused Royal Navy officers to conclude that Bligh had been too lenient and caused them to flog their sailors all the more to avoid the fate which befell him. Nonetheless, while the lessons drawn by the apologists of the mutineers are totally false, there is a real lesson to be gained from this dramatic historical event and one which has broader applications. That lesson is found in the very different fates which befell Bligh and his loyalists on one side and Christian and the mutineers on the other.

After the mutiny, the two sides which parted company faced grossly uneven odds. Bligh had 18 loyalists crammed into a 23-foot long open boat, abandoned in the middle of the South Pacific with barely enough food and water for about a week. The nearest islands were inhabited by cannibals and the only outposts of western civilization were months away and they had not a single chart. On the other hand, Christian and the mutineers had a ship full of provisions and the means to go anywhere they pleased. By any measure, it was the loyal men who faced all but certain death. The mutineers, after stopping in at Tahiti to pick up some women and a few Tahitian men to work for them and help sail the ship, eventually settled on Pitcairn Island, remote from any fear of discovery by the authorities, with a pleasant enough climate and plenty of food and water. Nonetheless, in spite of all this, Bligh and his miserable little boat had one vital strength that Christian and his mutineers lacked which was discipline. They had an officer with the King’s commission to lead them, an authority they respected and rules they were bound to follow. The mutineers, on the other hand, had broken this bond and this would have an impact on them.

Arrival in Coupang, Timor

In probably the most fantastic naval feat of survival in history, Bligh took his little craft 3,618 miles across the Pacific to Timor in the Dutch East Indies without losing a single man to the sea or privation. From there, they were able to obtain passage to the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope and from there another ship back to England. Of the 19 men who went in the open boat, 13 lived to reach England, 4 died in the Dutch East Indies, 1 died on the way from Batavia to Cape Town and 1 was killed by the native islanders of Tofua (today part of the Kingdom of Tonga) when the launch tried to stop for water. Bligh had taken his men the entire way with only a compass and a pocket watch, no sextant and no charts of any kind, navigating entirely from memory. The mutineers who settled on Pitcairn, however, did not lead an idyllic life in the absence of a higher authority and in the ‘state of nature’. On the contrary, they soon began to fight among themselves. They fought over the women, the Tahitian men fought against the mutineers who saw themselves as their superiors and ultimately they all killed each other until only a single man, the mutineer John Adams was left with the women and children.

What happened to this small group of individuals is no different, in principle, to what has happened to many countries around the world and illustrates why so many revolutions end up eating their own tail. Even in the religious sphere you can see something similar. When Martin Luther started the Protestant movement, he assumed that his teachings would be the only alternative to the Catholic establishment. However, after rejecting the authority of the Pope, no one could regard Luther himself as having any special authority and what was sauce for the goose was sauce for the gander. Protestantism divided further and continued to divide because of what Luther did in rejecting the authority of the Pope and embracing private judgment and a personal, individual interpretation of the Bible. If he could reject the Pope, others could reject him in the same way. It is no coincidence that monarchies, even if one only looks at particular dynasties, tended to last for centuries but once the authority of those dynasties was overthrown, the republican regimes that replaced them tended to last for mere decades or even less before being overthrown and replaced themselves again and again.

Bl. Emperor Charles of Austria

In Russia, for example, the Romanov dynasty ruled for about 304 years. Yet, once the Romanov Czar was overthrown, the Kerensky regime lasted only a few months before being replaced by the Soviet tyranny which lasted only a matter of decades before collapsing and being replaced by the current Russian Federation. The Capet dynasty in the Kingdom of France ruled for over 300 years and for centuries longer through junior branches of the dynasty until the French Revolution. Since that time, aside from the short-lived restorations of the old monarchy, France has had two empires and five republics, none of which lasted even close to one century. The House of Habsburg ruled Austria for over 600 years from 1282 to 1918. Since their overthrow, there has been the short-lived Republic of German-Austria, the First Austrian Republic, the Federal State of Austria, the period of union with Nazi Germany and now (after a period of Allied occupation) the current Republic of Austria. The Chinese, to give a non-European example, had an imperial, monarchical system that lasted for thousands of years, most dynasties lasting numerous centuries and yet within one century of its collapse has had the original Republic of China, a period of fragmentation and rule by warlords, a period of rivalry between nationalist, communist and Japanese-sponsored republics and today there still remains two Chinese republican governments which, officially, each claim to be the legitimate government of the whole of China.

Peoples can, and have, endured oppressive and incompetent government for great periods of time. Human beings are remarkable in their ability to adapt to their situation provided there is stability which gives them the time to adapt as they need to. Good order, proper discipline or, for countries, stability is a precious thing and once it is lost, it is extremely hard to put back. Whether it is mutineers in the Royal Navy or French revolutionaries, that is a lesson that history has taught us time and time again.

French Royals and the Presidential Election

I mentioned it elsewhere, and thought I should here (while other things are in the works), what I know about the French royals regarding the current presidential election which has attracted international attention due to the very dramatic changes promised by one particular candidate. There are, as most monarchists know, several different rival claimants to the French throne, the only two serious ones being HRH Henri and Count of Paris and HRH Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou. There is also HIH Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoleon who is the head of the Bonaparte family but is, as far as I know, is attending school at Harvard. The one who most royal houses recognize as the would-be King of France is Henri, Count of Paris, who also gains more attention since he is French and lives in France. The Count of Paris has often made his political views known but this time said that he was not going to endorse a candidate and would have nothing to do with the whole nasty business. However, not long before the first round of elections, the Count of Paris overcame his aloof attitude and announced that he supported the conservative candidate of Les Republicains, Francois Fillon. The count said that Fillon was the only one who could straighten France out. As we know, Fillon did not win and has since called on his conservative supporters to back the leftist candidate Macron simply to oppose the dangerous "far-right" candidate Marine Le Pen. So far, the Count of Paris has not said whether or not he will do as his preferred candidate wishes and back Macron. It would certainly make news in a big way if he decided Le Pen wasn't so bad after all, it would be rather radical for the famously moderate Orleans branch of the French Royal House.

With the Count of Paris backing the failed Fillon, some have asked whether the legitimiste claimant to the French throne, the Duke of Anjou, had, perhaps, endorsed Marine Le Pen. The answer is, as far as I know, a resounding negative. I have not heard of the Duke of Anjou endorsing any candidate though I could certainly see many of his supporters also supporting the cause of Marine Le Pen. As far as I know, the Duke of Anjou has never endorsed a political candidate (though he may well have and I just never heard about it, I don't hear much about him and the last time I saw him in the news was a picture of him dancing with the former President's niece Lauren Bush). That is, perhaps, not that unusual since the Duke of Anjou is of the Spanish branch of the Bourbon dynasty, was born in Spain, married a Venezuelan and has never lived in France. After marrying, he and his wife lived in Venezuela but, not surprisingly, moved on from there as things went downhill and took up residence in the United States, where they had a little 'anchor baby' before moving back to the Prince's hometown of Madrid in the Kingdom of Spain. I cannot imagine that the current or former King of Spain would be too happy about the Duke of Anjou taking a side in the controversial French election as the Spanish royals have never been happy about him claiming the Crown of France at all and do not wish to be drawn into any royal-on-royal grudge matches. Just in case anyone is worried that a potential Le Pen presidency might see the Duke of Anjou prevented from entering the country, rest assured that, because of his paternal grandmother, the Duke is a French citizen (he is also related to the late Generalissimo Francisco Franco). In any event, failing to endorse a candidate may well be standard operating procedure for the Duke of Anjou.

The Bonaparte family has actually embraced republicanism and the father of the current head of the family, Prince Charles Bonaparte, has even tried his hand at politics on the local level though I don't know what, if any, affiliation he had with a major party. However, the House of Bonaparte did make the news in this election cycle as FN candidate Marine Le Pen stated that, if elected (and odds are she won't be), her administration would return the former French Emperor Napoleon III from his place of burial in exile in England back to the soil of France. Unless a major upset happens, however, it looks as though the second Emperor of the French will continue to take his eternal rest in the land of 'Perfidious Albion' rather than his own homeland.

One thing that I can and will say for certain is that I would prefer either the Count of Paris or the Duke of Anjou as King of France rather than the bureaucrat/banker Macron being President by a country mile. As far as I'm concerned, they could dig up poor old Louis Napoleon and name his corpse 'Emperor of the French' again and I would still prefer that to President Macron. At the very least, the sight of such a thing might at least frighten a few people into staying away from the country and the sight of the Bonaparte bones might get more French people to think about how much greater and more important on the world stage their country used to be and that might make them want to leave the EU or, oh, I don't know, at least more willing to simply survive.

The Order of Calatrava

The Order of Calatrava is the most senior military-religious order of knighthood in the Kingdom of Spain, in fact, the most senior on the Iberian Peninsula, though it was second in terms of being given official sanction by the Roman Pontiff. It was founded in January of 1158 by St Raymond of Fitero (San Raimundo de Fitero) during the reign of King Sancho III of Castile. The fortress of Calatrava la Vieja had been retaken from the Muslims a few years earlier by Sancho III’s father, King Alfonso VII of Castile, and holding it was proving problematic. In those days of private, feudal armies, there was no permanent military force that could be counted on. St Raymond took up the challenge, knowing that there were a number of knights and the sons of knights associated with the recently formed Cistercian Order (a Catholic religious order also known as the “White Monks”) and so began establishing a permanent militia force associated with the order. This was the birth of the Order of Calatrava (sometimes also called the Order of Calatrava la Vieja and later, after moving, the Order of Calatrava la Nueva) which was to play a significant part in the on-going, centuries long struggle to retake the Iberian Peninsula from its Islamic conquerors.

San Raimundo de Fitero

Under their first Grand Master, known only as Don Garcia, the knights of the Order of Calatrava saw their first battles against the Moors. They received their confirmation from Pope Alexander III on September 26, 1164 with their final rule being approved in 1187 by Pope Gregory VIII. And, that rule was a rigorous one intended to instill great religious piety as well as martial discipline on all members of the order. There the basic vows of the Cistercians, a vow of silence in the refectory, dormitory and oratory, a certain number of prayers that had to be said every day, a certain number of fasts to be observed throughout the year, abstinence three days a week,  as well as additional disciplines such as the knights being required to sleep in their armor and so on. The purpose was to give them a secure grounding in the faith they were fighting to defend, the morals they were expected to uphold and to be ready for battle at any time in case of any emergency. Originally situated on the front lines, an area filled with danger which had been easy to take but difficult to hold, they were an elite force that was always prepared to act when and where they were needed.

This made for a magnificent fighting force indeed and in their first battles against the Arab and North African invaders, they proved themselves well worth their keep, winning decisive victories in engagement after engagement. In fact, they were so successful that the neighboring King of Aragon called on them for help in defending his own lands. Yet, this was a long and arduous war that was to know many setbacks as well as victories. The lands that were given as a reward for their many battles won soon became imperiled and divided due to a family dispute between the Castile and Leon branches of the Royal House of Ivrea. Then came the greatest disaster which was a renewed, fierce Muslim invasion by the Almohads of Morocco. The Almohad Caliphate overthrew and supplanted the previous Almoravid dynasty and by 1172 came to rule all of the Islamic areas of the Iberian Peninsula with fundamentalist zeal. At the Battle of Alarcos in 1195 the fortress of Calatrava fell to the Almohads and the order was almost wiped out completely. Those living in the Kingdom of Aragon tried to take charge and set up their own Grand Master but this was objected to by the remnant in Castile so that, while the Castilian knights of Calatrava sheltered and reformed in the Cistercian monasteries where they took refuge, the leader of the knights in Aragon, while not permitted to be Grand Master, was elevated to the status of Grand Commander for Aragon.

Knight of the Order of Calatrava

In Castile, the knights finally began to replenish themselves somewhat and took up residence in Salvatierra Castle, thus being known for a time as the Knights of Salvatierra, but this fortress too fell to the Almohads in 1209. The seriousness of the situation prompted Pope Innocent III to call on the whole of Christendom to rush to the aid of their fellow Christians in Spain and in 1212 the castle of Calatrava itself was (again) retaken and restored to the Grand Master of the order.  After the victorious Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, the tide began to turn and the Muslim forces were pushed back farther and farther. Within a span of three years the order moved their headquarters to Calatrava la Nueva and took into their ranks the members of the Order of Monfrague (founded in 1196 by the Order of Mountjoy knights who had refused to merge with the Knights Templar). This was the start of a period of success and triumph for the Christian forces and the Order of Calatrava oversaw the establishment of new orders of knighthood which would later be famous in their own right such as the Order of Alcantara in Leon and the Order of Avis in Portugal. It was the high point of chivalric Spanish knighthood and culminated with the capture of Cordova in 1235 by King St Ferdinand, Cordova having previously been the capital of the Islamic caliphate.

When other important cities, including Seville, were retaken, King Alfonso X of Castile was feeling so triumphant that he began to plan for a campaign eastward to restore the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem with his Spanish knights. The Order of Calatrava was respected, militarily powerful, largely independent of the local government and quite wealthy with extensive lands of its own. However, these strengths also made them a prize to be fought over and in 1296 an internal dispute broke out with two rival Grand Masters fighting for leadership of the order. By the early years of the Fourteenth Century it became noticeable that the zeal and piety of the early knights had been dissipated by greed and ambition. Plots and intrigues started to be commonplace with rival leaders or factions allying with the secular powers in various power plays. This ultimately resulted in the Kings of Castile becoming ever more involved with the leadership of the order, ultimately forcing the election of the candidate of their choosing to be Grand Master. One was even set to marry Queen Isabella I of Castile until his death prevented it.

Rodrigo Telles Giron

Things had clearly reached a low point when Pope Pius II allowed the Grand Master, Rodrigo Telles Giron, to make his bastard son his heir which left the order under the nominal leadership of an 8-year old child. He was, of course, acted for by guardians but while the order had become a rather extensive empire unto itself, it was also increasingly divided. When Portugal and Aragon fought over the succession to the throne of Castile, different factions within the Order of Calatrava took opposing sides. It was only in their twilight that their honor was fully restored and we saw a glimpse of what the knights used to be under the leadership of Lopez de Padilla who was a respected warrior who led the knights in the last campaign of the war against Granada. He did not live to see the final victory and he would be the last of the independent Grand Masters, but he had provided a last glimmer of light in an otherwise dark decline.

With the expulsion of the last Islamic stronghold in Spain, King Ferdinand of Aragon took control of the Order of Calatrava himself and this was approved by Pope Innocent VIII. By 1540 Pope Paul III removed the vow of celibacy for the knights, replacing it with a vow of conjugal fidelity which greatly changed the nature of the order which began to become increasingly less military-religious and more of an honorary and secular. With the 800-year “Reconquista” having ended in triumph, the knights had lost their original reason for existing. The vow of poverty was later removed by Pope Julius III and though King Philip IV, in 1652, charged with Spanish orders with defending the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, it was clear that the military character of the order was a thing of the past. They became restricted to the aristocracy and upper class with the last thing close to military action being undertaken by them was a call for assistance in suppressing the 1640-50 Catalan rebellion during which time the Order of Calatrava did not participate directly, consisting mostly of wealthy, older men and not young warriors, the order funded the arming and outfitting of an army regiment, along with the other Spanish orders of knighthood, which thus became known as the “Regimen of the Orders”.

King Alfonso XIII

By the time the Spanish Habsburgs were replaced by the Spanish Bourbons, the Order of Calatrava had already largely become a money-making institution rather than a religious or military one. As such, the Bourbons made use of it for that purpose and when King Carlos III founded his own order of knighthood, he required the existing Spanish orders to cough up the money to pay for it. This loss of funds forced the Order of Calatrava to sell off many of its assets which ultimately meant that it was not even fit for service simply as a profitable enterprise anymore. What it did have left was confiscated by King Jose (Bonaparte) in 1808 but later restored by King Ferdinand VII. However, it was finally secularized officially in 1838 though, effectively, this had long been the case. Still, the Order of Calatrava does survive, usually grouped together with the Orders of Santiago, Alcantara and Montesa as “the Spanish orders” with all of their insignia often being seen grouped together. As with all of them, the Order of Calatrava is now a hereditary order with the King of Spain as Grand Master.