This week we're traveling back to 1920s France with A Very Long Engagement! Join us to learn about the amazing story of that time the president of France fell out of a train in his pajamas, the No Man's Land, WWI-era aircraft, the Paris Flood of 1910, and more!

Sources:

Film Background:

Rotten Tomatoes, A Very Long Engagement: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_very_long_engagement_2004 Roger Ebert Review: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-very-long-engagement-2004 Liza Bear, "Jean-Pierre Jeunet, With a Distaste for War, on His Bittersweet 'A Very Long Engagement'", IndieWire: https://www.indiewire.com/2004/11/jean-pierre-jeunet-with-a-distaste-for-war-on-his-bittersweet-a-very-long-engagement-78528/

Execution and the No Man's Land: Nicholas Atkin, Petain. Routledge, 1998. Self Harm and Hand Wounding, National Archives, UK: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/loyalty-dissent/self-harm-hand-wounding/ John Sweeney, "Lest We Forget: The 306 'Cowards' We Executed in the First World War," The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/nov/14/firstworldwar.uk William A. Pelz, "Protest and Mutiny Confront Mass Slaughter: Europeans in WWI," A People's History of Modern Europe, Pluto Press. Steven R. Welch, "Military Justice," The International Encyclopedia of the First World War, Available at https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/military_justice Bentley B. Gilbert and Paul P. Bernard, "The French Army Mutinies of 1917," The Historian 22, 1 (1959) Douglas Gill and Gloden Dallas, "Mutiny in Etaples Base in 1917," Past and Present 69, 1975.

Airpower in WWI: Malcolm Cooper, "The Development of Air Policy and Doctrine on the Western Front, 1914-1918," Aerospace Historian 28, 1 (1981) "Who Killed the Red Baron?" Nova, available at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/redbaron/race-nf.html Ellen Castelow, "WWI: The Battle for the Skies," available at https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/World-War-One-The-Battle-for-the-Skies/

The 1910 Paris Flood:

Nalina Eggert, "When Paris was under water for two months," BBC News 3 June 2016, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36443329 The Guardian, "Flooding in Paris in 1910," 7 January 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/weather/gallery/2010/jan/07/paris-france-great-flood-1910 Ishaan Tharoor, "What Paris looked like the last time floods were this bad," The Washington Post 3 June 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/03/what-paris-looked-like-the-last-time-floods-were-this-bad/ Paul Simons, "The great Paris flood of 1910," The Times (London), 19 February 2020, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-great-paris-flood-of-1910-3rmlz22mw Pierre-Alain Roche, "The Seine River Flooding in the Ile-de-France Region" OECD https://www.oecd.org/env/cc/33995401.pdf The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.), 18 Feb. 1910. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn99062049/1910-02-18/ed-1/seq-9/ The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.), 28 Jan. 1910. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085947/1910-01-28/ed-1/seq-1/ The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.), 07 Feb. 1910. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085187/1910-02-07/ed-1/seq-1/ Associated Press, "Grim Specter Stalks Over Paris," Weekly Journal Miner 2 February 1910 (Prescott, AZ), https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85032923/1910-02-02/ed-1/seq-1/ United Press, "Paris Flood Now Abating; Fight to Prevent Disease," Perth Amboy Evening News (Perth Amboy, NJ) 29 January 1910, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85035720/1910-01-29/ed-2/seq-1/ "Scientific American, ""Lessons of the Paris Flood."" 102, no. 6 (February 5, 1910): 118. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26008227 "

President Deschanel and the Train: Edwin L. James, "Deschanel Escape Thrills France," The New York Times 25 May 1920, https://nyti.ms/323VKcW Laurence Hills, "M. Deschanel Escapes Death," The Sun and the New York Herald 25 May 1920, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030273/1920-05-25/ed-1/seq-1/ Ralph Courtney, "President of France Falls From Fast Train at Night," New York Tribune 25 May 1920, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1920-05-25/ed-1/seq-1/ Associated Press, "Deschanel in Pajamas Falls Off Moving Train," Evening Public Ledger Philadelphia, PA, 24 May 1920, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045211/1920-05-24/ed-1/seq-1/ "French President Falls From Moving Train But Is Not Missed for 40 Miles," The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]), 24 May 1920. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1920-05-24/ed-1/seq-1/

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-very-long-engagement-2004 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0344510/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Very_Long_Engagement