Peasants Into Frenchmen Chapter Summary

Eugen Weber, author of Peasants into Frenchmen, examined how rural, French peasant communities transformed between 1870-1914. Urban travelers who passed through these communities often encountered people who they considered to be backward who spoke different languages and believed in various magical powers. Weber’s thesis was that the incredible change that swept through the French countryside occurred roughly forty years or so prior to World War I. France only became a unified nation when the rural, peasant communities located in the west, central, south, and southwest developed a national awareness. He found that there were three primary agents for change: the transportation revolution that included better roadways and the use of the railroad, educational reforms that included the spread of the French language, and military service, which helped peasants to learn how to read and speak French. …show more content…
Part one described life in the countryside in 1870 which detailed nearly all aspects of life, some of which included poverty, crime, agriculture, family life, the magical beliefs that peasants believed in. Part two described Weber’s three main forces of change in the countryside before he transitioned into part three that described the effects of change on traditions, markets and fairs, music and dance, and various other cultural elements. However, Peasants into Frenchmen is also thematic. Each chapter had its own theme. Throughout the book, Weber stressed two major themes: the diversity of the various rural areas and how autonomous the areas were from one another before the agents of change were introduced into the rural regions. Another major theme was the effects the agents of change had in the rural