Breton nationalism (, ) is the
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...
of the
historical province of
Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. Brittany is considered to be one of the six
Celtic nations
The Celtic nations or Celtic countries are a cultural area and collection of geographical regions in Northwestern Europe where the Celtic languages and cultural traits have survived. The term ''nation'' is used in its original sense to mean a ...
(along with
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
,
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, the
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...
,
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
and
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
).
Breton ''
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...
'' was a political current that appeared in the 1920s in the
second ''Emsav'', and claiming
Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
's independence.
The political aspirations of Breton nationalists include the desire to obtain the right to
self-rule
Self-governance, self-government, self-sovereignty or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any ...
, whether within France or independently of it, and to acquire more power in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
,
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
and other international institutions.
Breton cultural nationalism includes an important linguistic component, with
Breton
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
**Breton people
**Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Gale ...
and
Gallo speakers seeking equality with the
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...
in the region. Cultural nationalists seek to reinvigorate Breton music, traditions, and symbols and forging strength links with other Celtic nations.
The French position includes a range of views, from allowing Brittany a devolved government to curbing wishes for independence.
Contemporary political parties or movements holding Breton nationalist views are the
Union Démocratique Bretonne
Breton Democratic Union (, , UDB) is a Breton nationalist, autonomist, and regionalist political party in Brittany () and Loire-Atlantique. The UDB advocates devolution for Brittany as well as the promotion of its regional languages ( Breton a ...
, the
Breton Party,
Emgann,
Adsav and
Breizhistance.
Positioning within the Breton movement
The academic
Michel Nicolas describes this political tendency of the
Breton movement as "a doctrine putting forward the nation, in the state and non-state framework". According to him, the people belonging to this tendency can choose to present themselves as separatists or independentists, that is to say claiming the right of ''"any nation to a state, and if necessary must be able to separate to create one"''.
He thus opposes it to
regionalism which aims for an administrative redeployment granting autonomy at the regional level, and at the Breton federalism, which seeks it to set up a federal organization of the territory.
History
Beginnings in the early 1910s
D'Ar Bobl to the Breton nationalist party
Several authors, cultural groups, or regionalist political groups use the expression of "Breton nation" as from 19th century but without this one falls under
nationalist dimension. It is only at the beginning of the 20th century that a nationalist current in Brittany began to be constituted. Imitating the
French nationalism
French nationalism () usually manifests as civic nationalism, civic or cultural nationalism, promoting the cultural unity of France.
History
French nationalism emerged during the Hundred Years' War, which consisted of a series of intermitte ...
of the time, they focused their speech on the defense of
Breton language
Breton (, , ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic languages, Celtic language group spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albei ...
and valorization of the
history of Brittany
The history of Brittany may refer to the entire history of the Armorican peninsula or only to the creation and development of a specifically Brythonic culture and state in the Early Middle Ages and the subsequent history of that state.
...
; however, the Breton Nationalist movement distinguished itself by seeking to legitimize its actions by comparing themselves with those of other European minorities,
"Celts" in particular, like those of
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
and especially of
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
.
By the end of the 1900s, the journal
Ar Bobl
AR, Ar, or A&R may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music
* Artists and repertoire
* ''AR'' (EP), the debut EP by Addison Rae
Periodicals
* ''Absolute Return + Alpha'', a hedge fund publication
*''The Adelaide Review'', an Australian ...
of
Frañsez Jaffrennou began to spread ideas close to this ideology,
but 1911 is a key date for this current. The inauguration of a work by
Jean Boucher in a niche of the City Hall of Rennes, which showed the
Duchess
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they a ...
Anne of Brittany
Anne of Brittany (; 25/26 January 1477 – 9 January 1514) was reigning Duchess of Brittany from 1488 until her death, and Queen of France from 1491 to 1498 and from 1499 to her death. She was the only woman to have been queen consort of Fran ...
kneeling before the
King of France
France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions.
Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I, king of the Fra ...
Charles VIII, caused an opposition movement in the regionalist movements. An activist,
Camille Le Mercier d'Erm, disrupted the inauguration, and used her trial as a platform. This is the first public expression of Breton nationalism. Following this event, a group of students
Rennes
Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...
founded the
Breton Nationalist Party, which began with several members of the
Regionalist Federation of Brittany, with the aim of breaking with the
regionalist ideas of this group. Among its first members were
Loeiz Napoleon ar Rouz,
Aogust Bôcher, Pol Suliac, Joseph du Chauchix, Joseph Le Bras, Job Loyant,
but their numbers hardly go beyond the 13 members of the editorial board of ''
Breiz Dishual''.
First strategic positioning
The group is at odds with
Breton regionalism, which it accused of ratifying a foreign influence, that of
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, in
Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
. Seeking to apply the
principle of subsidiarity, that is claiming a
decentralization
Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those related to planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and gi ...
with a redistribution of powers, would be equivalent, according to the nationalists, to legitimizing a French domination. They oppose as much to
monarchists
Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. C ...
(in particular by maintaining controversy with the members of the
French Action), than to the Republicans by targeting
"black hussars of the republic", accused of pursuing a policy of linguistic repression. In 1912, ''
Breiz Dishual'', the newspaper of the BNP, thus formulates for the first time this opposition towards the royalists and the republicans with the expression ''na ru na gwenn, Breizhad hepken'' , (''"neither
red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...
nor
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, Breton only"''), Picked up in the following decades by different trends. The nationalists thus refused to support certain circles such as the landed aristocracy or the urban bourgeoisie, considered to be compromised. It is also within this first group that the first Federalist ideas appear from April 1914 in
Breiz Dishual.
This current is also positioned face to face with events and international actors, especially in the
Pan-Celtic current.
Breiz Dishual, indicates from its first issue of July 1912 to want to take an example of the
Irish nationalists
Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...
methods. This comparison between the Breton and Irish situations of the time is not peculiar to the Breton nationalist movement, and is also found among outside observers, such as
Simon Südfeld for the liberal German newspaper
Vossische Zeitung
The (''Voss's Newspaper'') was a nationally known Berlin newspaper that represented the interests of the liberal middle class. It was also generally regarded as Germany's national newspaper of record. In the Berlin press it held a special role d ...
in 1913. The
Breton Nationalist Party as its newspaper
Breiz Dishual, however, have only limited echoes in the
Breton movement of the time, and his nationalism can only find a weak resonance. One of its founders,
Loeiz-Napoleon Ar Rouz, will play a role later to make the link between Breton nationalist currents and Irish. It is also inspired by other European examples such as
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
,
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
,
Balkan States
The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
, and inscribes its reflection on a European scale.
Dynamism of the 1920s
Breton regional group at the Unvaniez Yaouankiz Vreiz
After the
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the nationalist current continued its existence, becoming one of the most dynamic components of the
Breton movement in the 1920s. The
Breton Regionalist Group is the first party created (September 1918) taking up this ideology, mixing elders of the
Breton Nationalist Party as
Kamil Ar Merser 'Erm, and newcomers like
Olier Mordrel
Olier Mordrel (29 April 1901 – 25 October 1985) is the Breton language version of Olivier Mordrelle, a Breton nationalist and wartime collaborator with the Third Reich who founded the separatist Breton National Party. Before the war, he worked ...
,
Frañsez Debauvais,
Yann Bricler, and
Morvan Marchal
Morvan Marchal (; 31 July 1900, Vitré, Ille-et-Vilaine – 13 August 1963, Paris; also known as Maurice Marchal) was an architect and a prominent member of the Breton national movement. He is best known for having designed the national fla ...
;
it is endowed as soon as January 1919 of a newspaper,
Breiz Atao, to spread their ideas.
The adjective "regionalist" is preferred to that of "nationalist", firstly because the
French State of the time tolerates little separatist ideas, and secondly because it makes it possible to forge links with the Breton bourgeoisie of the
Regionalist Federation of Brittany.
The ideology of the group was initially
and partially
in a "
maurrasian movement",
but then quickly moved in towards nationalism.
The
Breton Regionalist Group took the name of Unvaniez Yaouankiz Vreiz in May 1920, whose status indicates that it aims at a "''return to independent national life''". Its newspaper
Breiz Atao also evolved by taking as subtitle ''"monthly magazine of Breton nationalism"'' in January 1921, then that of "the Breton nation" in July of the same year.
Attempt, from Breton regionalism, to Alsatian autonomy, to Irish nationalism
The nationalists aimed at first not to support the Breton population but their economic output. They intended to become the intellectual leaders, the new elite of the region.
Frañsez Debauvais cited
René Johannet
René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus.
René is the masculine form of the name (Renée being the feminine ...
to this effect in the
Breiz Atao of April 1921.
They continued to compete with the regionalism of the
Regionalist Federation of Brittany, and the relations between the two groups were strained.
Antagonism increased in 1920 when the BRF declared the creation of a large western region encompassing
Poitou
Poitou ( , , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe.
Geography
The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical ...
, Anjou,
Maine
Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
,
Cotentin
The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its west lie the Gu ...
and
Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
, provoking a unanimous rejection from other regionalist groups and nationalists. From then on, the nationalists' discourse became profoundly anti-regionalist, accusing them of falling into "biniousery" and "bretonnerie".
The nationalists also sought to escape the French political binaries of the time, left and right, and take up the slogan "na ru na gwenn, Breiziz hepken" previously used by the first nationalists.
This positioning was reinforced by the fact that no French political party paid attention to the demands expressed by the regionalist groups. They also sought to emancipate themselves from the Catholic Church and the clerical milieus. Instead, they claimed a Celtic heritage and that the Catholic religion alienating them from their identity as
Bretons
The Bretons (; or , ) are an ethnic group native to Brittany, north-western France. Originally, the demonym designated groups of Common Brittonic, Brittonic speakers who emigrated from Dumnonia, southwestern Great Britain, particularly Cornwal ...
.
The Alsatian affair in 1926, during which the
Cartel des Gauches
The Cartel of the Left ( ) was the name of the governmental alliance between the Radical-Socialist Party, the socialist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), and other smaller left-republican parties that formed on two occasions in ...
tried to return to the
Concordat in Alsace-Moselle, caused autonomist agitation in this region, and the Breton nationalists were inspired by this example to form a political party.
Opinion polling
According to an opinion poll conducted in 2013, 18% of Bretons support Breton independence. The poll also found that 37% would describe themselves as Breton first, while 48% would describe themselves as French first.
See also
*
Bleimor (Scouting)
Bleimor (Breton language for ''Seawolf''), more fully ''Urz Skaouted Bleimor'', was a Breton Scouting organization, taken from the Bardic name of the poet Jean-Pierre Calloc'h, who was killed in action while fighting as a Poilu during World War ...
*
Bonnets Rouges
*
Breton nationalism and World War II
Long before World War II, the various Breton nationalist organizations were often anti-French and anti-colonialist, opposed to the Central Government's policy of linguistic imperialism, and critical to varying degrees of post- French Revolution-s ...
References
Works cited
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