Toward an Ecological Understanding of the Vendée: Old Myths and New Paradigms

• Main Author: Strietelmeier, Paul
• Other Authors: Leggiere, Michael V.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: University of North Texas 2011
• Subjects: Vendée; genocide; Civil Constitution of the Clergy; French Revolution
• Online Access: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc84285/

This work explores the motivations of the two major parties in the civil war in the Vendée from 1793 to 1796. It suggests that traditional understandings overemphasize simplistic notions of the idealistic crusade; the Revolutionaries fought for Republican ideals, while the locals fought to defend traditional Catholicism. This thesis suggests that the major motive for both sides was a fight for survival that was framed and expressed in political and religious terms rather than motivated by them. The reason that these motives have been confused is a long misunderstood connection between the means of discourse, the structure of social values, and their connection to any individual’s perceived sense of safety, which suggests an ecological, or holistic, rather than a Manichaean framework.