French military slogan
On ne passe pas!
. The 1918 French propaganda poster by
Maurice Neumont
[
fr
]
that reads: "Twice I have stood and vanquished on the Marne. Brother civilian, the underhand offensive of 'white peace' will attack you in turn; and like me you must stand firm and vanquish. Be strong and shrewd. Beware of
Boche
hypocrisy."
[1]
"
They shall not pass
" (
French
:
Ils ne passeront pas
;
Romanian
:
Pe aici nu se trece
;
Spanish
:
No pasaran
) is a
slogan
, notably used by France in
World War I
, to express a determination to defend a position against an enemy. It was also used during the
Spanish Civil War
by the
Republican
faction.
Origin
[
edit
]
Halte la! On ne passe pas!
French card, 1915
The widespread use of the slogan originates from the 1916
Battle of Verdun
in the
First World War
when
French Army
General
Robert Nivelle
urged his troops not to let the enemy pass.
[2]
The simplified slogan of "they shall not pass" appeared on French war propaganda posters, most notably by French artist
Maurice Neumont
[
fr
]
in the last year of the war after the Allied victory at the
Second Battle of the Marne
.
[2]
Later during the First World War, the slogan was also used by
Romanian Army
soldiers during the
Battle of M?r??e?ti
, with the Romanian translation of the phrase being "
Pe aici nu se trece
", translating as "One does not pass through here."
[
citation needed
]
Later use
[
edit
]
French socialist politician
Leon Blum
(
SFIO
), in 1934, used this sentence "
Ils ne passeront pas !
" against the
Ligue's demonstration of the 6 February
.
[3]
Ils
("they") designated the nationalist protesters.
It was also used during the
Spanish Civil War
, this time at the
siege of Madrid
by
Dolores Ibarruri Gomez
("Pasionaria"), a member of the
Communist Party of Spain
, in her famous "
No pasaran
" speech on 18 July 1936.
[4]
The leader of the
Nationalist
forces,
Generalisimo
Francisco Franco
, upon gaining
Madrid
, responded to this slogan by declaring "
Hemos pasado
" ("We have passed").
"
¡No pasaran!
" was used by British anti-fascists during the October 1936
Battle of Cable Street
, and is still used in this context in some political circles. It was often accompanied by the words
¡Nosotros pasaremos!
(we will pass) to indicate that communists rather than fascists will be the ones to seize
state power
.
[5]
The slogan was adopted on uniform badges by French units manning the
Maginot Line
.
[
citation needed
]
The phrase was brought to the public consciousness again following action in December 1943 by
French-Canadian
officer
Paul Triquet
of the
Royal 22
e
Regiment
; his action included his use of Nivelle's phrase "to win a key objective at
Ortona
, Italy, in the face of overwhelming German opposition."
[6]
In the 1980s, the phrase
¡No pasaran!
was a theme in the
Central American crisis
, particularly in the
Nicaraguan Revolution
.
[7]
Nicaragua no pasaran
is also the title of a 1984 documentary by
David Bradbury
about the events in Nicaragua that led to the overthrow of Somoza's dictatorship.
[8]
[9]
[10]
Gallery
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
Wikisource
has original text related to this article:
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Allied Posters of World War I: Par deux fois j'ai tenu et vaincu sur la Marne"
.
Temple University Libraries
. Retrieved
17 March
2022
.
- ^
a
b
Robinson, Tony
(September 2018).
Battles that Changed History: Epic Conflicts Explored and Explained
.
DK
. p. 197.
ISBN
978-0241301937
.
- ^
"1936, le Front Populaire et des lendemains qui chantent"
.
www.franceinter.fr
(in French). 17 November 2020
. Retrieved
20 November
2020
.
- ^
Ibarruri, D.; Ibarruri, I.D.; Partido Comunista de Espana (1966).
They Shall Not Pass: The Autobiography of La Pasionaria
. New world paperbacks. International Publishers. p. 195.
ISBN
978-0-7178-0468-9
. Retrieved
22 June
2020
.
- ^
Audrey Gillan (2 October 2006).
"Day the East End said
No pasaran
to Blackshirts"
.
The Guardian
. London
. Retrieved
21 June
2012
.
- ^
"French Canadian Wins Victoria Cross"
.
Ottawa Citizen
. 6 March 1944
. Retrieved
15 September
2014
.
- ^
Kunzle, David (1995).
The Murals of Revolutionary Nicaragua, 1979?1992
. University of California Press. p. 168.
ISBN
9780520081925
.
- ^
Kallen, Stuart A. (2009).
The Aftermath of the Sandinista Revolution
. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 152.
ISBN
9780822590910
.
- ^
"Nicaragua:
No Pasaran
"
. Frontline Films. Archived from
the original
on 28 May 2016
. Retrieved
30 June
2015
.
- ^
FitzSimons, Trish; Laughren, Pat; Williamson, Dugald (2011).
Australian Documentary: History, Practices and Genres
. Cambridge University Press. p. 267.
ISBN
9780521167994
.
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