David Todd - A Velvet Empire: French Informal Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century

HISTORIES OF ECONOMIC LIFE

Jeremy Adelman, Sunil Amrith, Emma Rothschild, and Francesca Trivellato, Series Editors

A Velvet Empire: French Informal Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century by David Todd

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Todd, David, 1978 author.

Title: A velvet empire : French informal imperialism in the nineteenth century / David Todd.

Description: Princeton ; Oxford : Princeton University Press, [2021] | Series: Histories of economic life | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020022660 (print) | LCCN 2020022661 (ebook) | ISBN 9780691171838 (hardback) | ISBN 9780691205342 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: FranceForeign relations19th century. | FrancePolitics and government19th century. | FranceColoniesHistory19th century. | FranceForeign economic relations19th century. | FranceCommerceHistory19th century.

Classification: LCC DC252 .T63 2021 (print) | LCC DC252 (ebook) | DDC 325/.32094409034dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020022660

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020022661

Version 1.0

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

Editorial: Eric Crahan, Priya Nelson, and Thalia Leaf

Production Editorial: Natalie Baan

Jacket Design: Karl Spurzem

Jacket art: (top) Shutterstock; (bottom) Opening of the Suez Canal on Nov. 17, 1869. At the invitation of the Khedive Ismail, the French empress Eug nies imperial yacht led the procession of ships opening the canal. 1869 engraving with 2011 color / Everett Collection Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo

For my mother

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements ix

List of Abbreviations xi

Introduction

Forgotten Empire

Counter-Revolutionary Empire

Collaborative Empire

Empire without Sovereignty: The Political Economy of French Informal Imperialism

Talleyrands Imperial Vision

The Invention of Neo-Colonialism

Celebrating European Civilization

Saint-Simonian Economics and Empire

A French Imperialism of Free Trade

A Turn to Formal Empire

Algeria, Informal Empire Manqu

The Ideological Origins of French Algeria

The Bourbon Restorations Colonial Scheme

The Politics and Geopolitics of the 1830 Expedition

Collaboration with Abd al-Qadir

Economic Failure

The Arab Kingdom, a Failed Revival of Informal Empire

Champagne Capitalism: The Commodification of Luxury and the French Empire of Taste

The Acceleration of Globalization in France

The Banality of Luxury

Foundations of Neo-Courtly Economic Growth

The Global Commodification of French Taste

The Imperialism of the Empire of Taste

Conquest by Money: The Geopolitics and Logistics of Investment Colonization

The Global Scale of French Foreign Lending

Debt and Empire in French Political Economy

The Haitian Origins of French Capital Exports

Conquest by Money in the Middle East

Financial Imperial Overreach in Mexico

Agents of Informal Empire: French Expatriates and Extraterritorial Jurisdiction in Egypt

French Imperial Expatriates

The Colonys Influence

A French Legal Borderland

The Imperial Profits of Extraterritoriality

The Crisis of French Extraterritoriality in Egypt

End of French Ascendancy

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

THIS BOOK originates in a conversation with the late Christopher Bayly, who, around ten years ago, asked me a series of stimulating questions about the place of France in the world in the nineteenth century. I am still deeply grateful for the way in which his insightful suggestions redirected my research interests towards the global and imperial dimension of French history. The book also owes a lot, more than I could express here, to the pioneering scholarship and warm encouragement of Emma Rothschild.

As the project developed, it benefited from the suggestions and criticisms of too many scholars for me to recall, let alone list here. Still, I would especially like to thank Jeremy Adelman, Sunil Amrith, David Armitage, Andrew Arsan, David Bell, Maxine Berg, H l ne Blais, John Brewer, Martin Daunton, Nicolas Delalande, Quentin Deluermoz, James Fichter, Michael Goebel, Jerome Greenfield, Jean H brard, Simon Jackson, Harold James, Fran ois Jarrige, Colin Jones, Michael Kwass, Michael Ledger-Lomas, Claire Lemercier, Renaud Morieux, William Nelson, Patrick OBrien, Ozan Ozavci, Gabriel Paquette, Jennifer Pitts, Lucy Riall, Anne-Isabelle Richard, Pernille R ge, Stephen Sawyer, John Shovlin, Pierre Singarav lou, Melissa Teixeira, Frank Trentmann, Francesca Trivellato, Alexia Yates, and the late Donald Winch, because I can still associate each of them with distinct major or minor points I make in the book. I am also very grateful to the organizers of several seminars and conferences where I presented aspects of the projectat the Casa de Velasquez in Madrid, the University of Cambridge, the Conservatoire National des Arts et M tiers, the cole Normale Sup rieure, the cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales, the European University Institute in Florence, the Freie Universit t in Berlin, Harvard University, the Institute of Historical Research in London, Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University, Utrecht University and Warwick University. The enthusiasm and skepticism I encountered at these presentations inspired me, in equal measure, to complete the project.

I would also like to thank my students at Kings College London for having put up with me for the past nine years and for having often served as the first, semi-captive audience of several aspects of the books argument. I am especially grateful to two PhD students, Laura Forster and Leonard Hodges, whose research influenced my own understanding of nineteenth-century France. I cannot thank my colleagues in Kings History Department warmly enough for making it such an exciting and friendly environment in which to research and teach.

All historical research owes more to the help of librarians and archivists than meets the eye, and this work is no exception. I feel especially indebted to Sylvie Prudon from the Archives Diplomatiques in La Courneuve, who helped me navigate the archival series of French consulates in the Middle East. The finished product of historical research owes an enormous deal to publishers, and I was very impressed by the professionalism and kindness of all those I have worked with at Princeton University Press, especially Brigitta van Rheinberg, Amanda Peery and Eric Crahan. I also wish to thank the Leverhulme Trust for funding an extended sabbatical leave, from 2013 to 2015, during which time a great deal of the original research for the project was completed.