‘Cela peut se dire au coin du feu, mais ne s’écrit pas’. The criticism of generals in eighteenth-century France

The eighteenth century witnessed an evolution in the way that critical opinions were expressed. Official publications on military history provided only slender commentaries on generals’ faults and failures. Objective remarks were not acceptable. However, the chevalier de Folard gave a new impulse to critics of French generals, having dared to criticize some who were still living. French difficulties during the War of the Austrian Succession and defeats during the Seven Years War encouraged the diffusion of these opinions, although they were mainly voiced in the private sphere. The French Revolution liberated such buried or hidden voices, with the end of censorship and of the official protection of the generals.