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Civilizing The Metropole The Role Of Colonial Exhibitions In Universal And Colonial Expositions In Creating Greater France, 1889-1922, Michael Brooks

HIM 1990-2015

During the era of New Imperialism, the French state had the daunting task of convincing the French public of the need to support and to sustain an overseas empire. Stemming from its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and hoping to regain its erstwhile global position, the French state set out to demonstrate the importance of maintaining an empire. Since the vast majority of the French people were apathetic towards colonial ventures, the French state used the 1889 Parisian Universal Exposition and the 1906 and 1922 Colonial Expositions in Marseille not only to educate the French about the economic benefits of …