Comment Did Toulouse stand out during and after the First World War?
103 years after the end of the First World War, the work of memory remains essential. On the occasion of the commemoration of the armistice of 14-18, this Thursday, November 11, 2021, Remy Cazals, French historian and professor of contemporary history at theJean Jaurès University a Toulousependant tells four originalities of how the pink city stood out the great war.
Fewer deaths in Toulouse than in the countryside
“The first characteristic of Toulouse compared to other French territories is that it is a large city and that the mortality of soldiers was lower in the big cities than in the countryside. I speak in proportion well. sure “, explains Rémy Cazals before continuing:
In Toulouse, it must represent around 5,200 deaths even if it remains an order of magnitude because we can never give an absolutely exact figure. But compared to the population, it is a much lower proportion than in the rural cantons. When you look at the rural cantons of Haute-Garonne, Ariège, Tarn or others, there are real massacres there ”.
Birth of aeronautics along the front line
The second originality found by the historian is that the pink city is far from the front “at a time when the range of action of planes is still limited”. The city is thus protected from German bombing. This is how the rural exodus in Toulouse, which had started before 1914 according to the historian, arose.
“Toulouse being sheltered, we can develop industries there and in particular the armaments industries,” says Rémy Cazals. “There is therefore a great industrial development in Toulouse around weapons, ammunition, powders. Moreover a district of Toulouse is the Poudrerie was nicknamed” Poudreville “at that time”. It is also thanks to its distance from the front that the city is developing a aviation industry. “It is aviation that begins during the war of 14-18 with in particular Latécoère and others. It is the starting point of this aeronautical vocation of the city “.
Many traces of the Great War in the pink city
“The third characteristic is that there are a lot of traces of 14-18 in the city with the war memorials.” Remy Cazals explains that the “great monument on the alleys of François Verdier” that the people of Toulouse call “monument to the dead” is not one. “It’s more of a Triumphal arch. The real monument is in the cemetery of Salonika “, the historian. And to specify:” all the cities have a monument to the dead, but that of Toulouse has, in addition nearby, a monument to the soldiers and Indochinese who had come to the arms factories “.
There are dozens of memorials in Toulouse as underlined Remy Cazals. “If we look everywhere, we have neighborhood war memorials, school and business monuments… The famous Héraclès de Bourdelle is a monument to sportsmen, especially rugby players. Rue Valade, at the church of Saint-Pierre des Carttreux, there is a monument to the dead, not only concerning the dead of the parish but also the workers who came from the colonies and are associated with this monument “.
Toulouse historians and a collection of 500 witnesses to the war
Rémy Cazals is also professor of contemporary history at Jean Jaurès University in Toulouse. For the fourth originality, he thought of the team of university historians who worked on the history of the First World War. In particular to the production of a book of testimonies.
There have been many memoirs, master’s degrees, masters and even theses on the history of the First World War which culminated with the creation of a collection of testimonies at the Toulouse publisher Privat. But also with the production of a book called ‘500 witnesses to the Great War’. It is a collection of notices on 500 witnesses at the national level but in which Toulouse is very well represented either by the testimonies of ex-combatants and also by the authors “.
Of the 33 authors of the book, 15 belonged to the Jean Jaurès University in Toulouse. The cover was designed by Tuesday, “an important character of French comics”.