Already given vows of Marine Le Pen: a strange background the man in red "Cut the dragon's head" tragic seat<

En matière de communication politique, on laisse peu de choses au hasard – encore moins à quelques mois d’une élection majeure, surtout dans le cadre de séquences soigneusement préparées comme les traditionnels vœux de nouvelle année… A cet égard, l’arrière-plan devant lequel Marine Le Pen s’est exprimée le soir du 31 décembre relève d’un choix pour le moins curieux.

In her video posted on social networks, the candidate of the National Front presents "combat wishes" in the middle of her team (campaign?) And moves with a red background on which we read the current slogan (of campaign?) From the party, "in the name of the people".Marine Le Pen then moves to stop in front of a background dressed on the right by a French flag and on the left by the detail of a famous painting, that of Richelieu by the painter Paul-Henri Motte.

The cardinal stands in the storm with his arms crossed, impassive, insensitive to the rain that falls on the ground, his gaze turned to the right, a sword on the side.Amazing detail for this church man, he wears armor and cavalry boots under his famous red habit.

Coming back to the whole table as below, things are clearer: Armand Duplessis, Duke of Richelieu, is painted at the seat of La Rochelle, on the built dike to isolate his port.A few meters from him, a ball rushed into the wood.On the left, a soldier and two religious accompany Father Joseph, the closest advisor to the cardinal (the man at the origin of the expression "gray eminence" is him).In the background, a naval fight is raging and a vessel caught fire.

So far, why not?Renowned for his qualities of statesman, the first of the ministers of Louis XIII embodies the high politics, the meaning of France and the State to the sacrifice of all personal life, skill and firmness, theCalm in the storm, clairvoyance ... so many character traits that frame with the image that the president of the National Front wishes to give herself.Armor as the sword frame with the martial speech of Marine Le Pen and a speech focused on the conquest of power.

Has a small detail: Motte's painting shows the cardinal in the middle of war ... Civil.

Such a choice deserves a little historical reminder: why did the cardinal chose to give all the power of the royal army against the French of La Rochelle giving?

In 1627, Louis XIII and his Prime Minister noted with a certain concern the rise of the reformed religion in France.Protected from all persecution from Henri IV by the Edict of Nantes, the Protestants have not only emerged from the wars of religion with simple spiritual guarantees but with very temporal advantages, in this case the right to occupy and defend certainfortresses.Prudent life insurance, in short, a sort of guarantee against a possible Catholic will to put the Huguenots in step.

This is the case of La Rochelle, a fortified port city which regularly makes the king feel that she fiercely holds his independence.The city has acquired its own council and even went so far as to create a sort of Protestant republic a few years earlier.Which makes Louis XIII smile that the city is an important commercial place, which achieves a good part of its exchanges with England.For the King as for Richelieu, it is impossible to run the risk of seeing La Rochelle settle an independent power, funded and supported by English always ready to weaken their best French enemy by all means and for all useful purposes.

In 1627, Richelieu declared that it is necessary to "cut the head of the dragon", therefore to fold La Rochelle.The mayor of the city, Jean Guitton swears before God to have the first who would speak of going to surrender and calls England for help.The Duke of Buckingham, so dear to Alexandre Dumas, leaves Portsmouth with 110 vessels and 8000 men.Richelieu reacts immediately: he strengthens the Ré and Oléron islands and deploys 20,000 soldiers to cut all land of communication channels.

La Rochelle is deprived of all terrestrial supplies and can only count on English ships.And it is to cut it from all maritime aid that Richelieu has the dike leads to the dike on the clod's board ... a long line 1500 meters long and 8 wide, literally full of cannons powerful enough to break allBuckhingam Duke's attempts.

In October 1628, despite three English attacks and after 13 months from an abominable seat that sees the army shooting the weakest inhabitants (old men, women, children...) previously excluded by the Rochelais, the city ends up capitulating.Richelieu marks the blow by exemplary punishment, just to show Protestants of France what it costs to oppose the king.The 5,500 survivors - just a quarter of the original population - lose all their political and territorial rights and the city walls are shot dead.At most, does the king leave them freedom of worship, probably to save himself a total civil war.

As he will have escaped anyone that La Rochelle is in France, in 1627 as today, the choice of Marine Le Pen may seem clumsy, to say it kindly, when we say that we are launching into a fight "forAll the french people ".And to pose in front of a painting which evokes the memory of a war waged by French people against French people of another religion should raise the eyebrow to the Protestants.

At least.