How France's elites used soft power to pursue their imperial ambitions
in the nineteenth century
After Napoleon's downfall in 1815, France embraced a mostly informal
style of empire, one that emphasized economic and cultural influence
rather than military conquest. A Velvet Empire is a global history of
French imperialism in the nineteenth century, providing new insights
into the mechanisms of imperial collaboration that extended France's
power from the Middle East to Latin America and ushered in the modern
age of globalization.
David Todd shows how French elites pursued a cunning strategy of
imperial expansion in which conspicuous commodities such as champagne
and silk textiles, together with loans to client states, contributed to
a global campaign of seduction. French imperialism was no less brutal
than that of the British. But while Britain widened its imperial reach
through settler colonialism and the acquisition of far-flung
territories, France built a "velvet" empire backed by frequent military
interventions and a broadening extraterritorial jurisdiction. Todd
demonstrates how France drew vast benefits from these asymmetric,
imperial-like relations until a succession of setbacks around the world
brought about their unravelling in the 1870s.
A Velvet Empire sheds light on France's neglected contribution to the
conservative reinvention of modernity and offers a new interpretation of
the resurgence of French colonialism on a global scale after 1880. This
panoramic book also highlights the crucial role of collaboration among
European empires during this period--including archrivals Britain and
France--and cooperation with indigenous elites in facilitating imperial
expansion and the globalization of capitalism.
