The Right in France from the Third Republic to Vichy provides a new history of parliamentary conservatism and the extreme right in France during the successive crises of the years from 1870 to 1945. In it, Kevin Passmore charts royalist opposition to the newly established Republic, the emergence of the nationalist extreme right in the 1890s, and the parallel development of republican conservatism. He moves on to the hitherto unstudied story of conservatism in during the Great War, and then to the Right's victory in the 1919 elections. Passmore charts the crisis of parliamentary conservatism in the interwar years, and explores the Right's response to the rise of Fascism and Communism. He concludes by placing the Vichy regime, which governed France under the German Occupation, in the context of the history of conservative politics. This history is related to the struggle of those who saw themselves as 'elites' to preserve their leadership in the 'age of the masses'. Passmore shows that conservatives of all stripes shared a common culture (notably including organicism and crowd theory), but that different factions used these ideas in different ways, for different purposes. Whereas previous studies have been primarily concerned to 'categorize' conservatives groups, for example as 'fascist',' liberal', or 'modern', this study examines the way in which competing groups used such terms in complex struggles amongst themselves and with the left. The study is based on considerable archival research, as well as on knowledge of the vast body of recently published research in English and French.

About the Author
Kevin Passmore is a specialist in modern French history, and has written also on the question of generic fascism, the history of the relationship between the social sciences and history, and on historiography.

Reviews
an immensely ambitious study, which is based not only on massive secondary reading but also on considerable archival research. This is a major achievement: a book of enormous erudition and scholarship. * Julian Jackson, History Today *
This is a major achievement: a book of enormous erudition and scholarship. ... Although Passmore's prose style is clear, the sheer density of the material he has gathered and the complexity of his arguments require close reading. But those who make the effort will be amply rewarded. * Julian Jackson, History Today *
With The Right in France from the Third Republic to Vichy, Kevin Passmore has added yet another carefully researched and insightful analysis of the French Right to his earlier works on Fascism in Europe. * Sarah Shurts, European History Quarterly *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199658206
Author Kevin Passmore
Format Hardback
Page Count 406
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 762g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 162mm * 29mm