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At the border of a colonial empire: Léon Roches, consul of France (1845-1867). Translated from the French by Yulia V. Tkachenko

Messaoudi Alain

   The article is devoted to the life and activity of Leon Roches, a French diplomat of the middle of the 19th century, the period of formation of the second colonial Empire of France. Based on materials of the French diplomatic archives, the author analyzes the main stages of the career of Roches, who served as Consul in Tangier, Trieste, Tripoli, Tunisia, and Edo (Tokyo). The author tries to reveal how Roches used the methods of conventional and unconventional diplomacy to realize the imperial goals of his country in the Orient. The task of the researcher is largely complicated by the fact that Roches himself devoting to his own biography an extensive literature tried to hide the details of his real life under the cover of legend.

Keywords: history, France, diplomacy, Mediterranean, Orient, Léon Roches
Link: Messaoudi A. At the border of a colonial empire: Léon Roches, consul of France (1845-1867). Translated from the French by Yulia V. Tkachenko // Annual of French Studies 2017: France and the Mediterranean in Modern and Contemporary Times.М. P. 188-209.