A presentation for the Twin Cities "Let's Nerd Out" event on Jan. 10, 2017, about how democracy emerged in 1870s France despite the odds being stacked against it.

1. a case study in history & democracy
The
Accidental Republic
by David H. Montgomery
dhmontgomery.com
@dhmontgomery
1/10/2017

2. How does democracy emerge?

3. The people are revolting
 France’s governments,
1771-1871
o Absolute monarchy
o Constitutional monarchy
o Republic
o Republican dictatorship
o Empire
o Conservative monarchy
o Empire
o Conservative monarchy
o Liberal monarchy
o Republic
o Empire

4. Long live the king?

5. Long live the kings?

6. Légitimist and Orléanist
Henri, Count of Chambord
Légitimist (Bourbon) claimant
Philippe, Count of Paris
Orléanist claimant

7. Fusion or fission

8. All that for a napkin

9. Things fall apart

10. Meanwhile on the left

11. Learning from the past
Adolphe Thiers Léon Gambetta

12. Dénouement

13. Lessons
 Compromise
 Process vs. policy
 Custom
 Divisions change but endure

14. To learn more
 In essay form: dhmontgomery.com/2015/03/the-
accidental-republic
 Books:
 Frederick Brown, For the Soul of France: Culture Wars
in the Age of Dreyfus (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010)
 René Rémond, The Right Wing in France: From 1815 to
De Gaulle, trans. James M. Laux (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1969)
 Mike Rapport, 1848: Year of Revolution (New York:
Basic Books, 2009)
 Graphs made with R & ggplot using Wikipedia data