2014
Cairn
Raphaël Malangin, « The Financial Crisis in the French Establishments in India (1768-1773) », Annales historiques de la Révolution française, ID : 10670/1.34cef5...
Traditionally, historiography has attributed the difficulties faced by French trading posts in India after 1765 following the Seven Years’ War to the supposed corruption of colonial personnel, and to the political negligence of the government of Louis XV. The purpose of this article is to analyze the contemporary as well as structural causes that led French trading posts to complete paralysis between 1768 and the end of 1773, and that prompted Governor Law de Lauriston and his council to implement strategies for their survival. The article also aims to evaluate the scope and the different consequences of this deep crisis, whether they be social, economic, or political and occurring locally, regionally, or internationally. This short study therefore aims to depict a more complex and accurate image of the French failure in India at the end of the eighteenth century.