Latest Twitter Threads by @Valen10Francois on Thread Reader App

Nov 1 • 11 tweets • 3 min read

The growth of Paris throughout history!

Humble beginnings in the Gallo-Roman era

Sep 17 • 7 tweets • 3 min read

How rich was pre-revolutionary Europe?

Despite major political divides, Northern Italy was still ahead on the continent!

England with its proto industrial revolution was just behind.

France was very poor in contrast.

Using data on gold reserves and the places of birth/death of 563K (as sourced on Wikipedia), these researchers offer a very innovative way of estimating gdp per capita given the lack of data available

https://x.com/philippmkoch/status/1835937921360080962

Sep 4 • 12 tweets • 4 min read

France's fiscal situation is very dire and yet we refuse to consider cutting pensions (350bn a year, 25% of public spending)

Worse still we added another 14bn for pensions last year because we are afraid of upsetting pensioners

Boomers have put France in a fiscal chokehold

https://twitter.com/C_Barraud/status/1830911766282359182

Sorry for unfairly picking on (the very kind) Albert here, but this is reflective of a wider issue

No one in France realises that we are bleeding ourselves to pay for our pensioners

https://x.com/Albrochier/status/1831265020950310921

Sep 2 • 7 tweets • 3 min read

One good map = 100 articles

Here's the projected population growth in Germany, take a look at Saxony at Thuringia who just massively backed the far-right AFD

Add to that it's the boomers that are keeping at bay the AFD, young people on the contrary are massively turning towards the AFD

Mar 25 • 18 tweets • 8 min read

After years of relative stability, EU exports to Central Asia and the Caucasus have skyrocketed in 2022

+123% to Armenia, +297% to Kyrgyzstan...

And where are these goods going? Russia in large part, with a huge impact on the battlefield

A🧵on sanction-dodging

Sanctions on Russia on paper seem to have worked. EU Exports are down 44.8%, US down 90%.

But Russian imports of goods rose 20% simultaneously. Partly because Chinese exports have surged.

Partly because some people are tiptoeing around sanctions.

Mar 19 • 23 tweets • 8 min read

This map drives Paris crazy. It shows France hardly contributing to Ukraine’s defense, but Paris say the data is bullshit.

As Macron is taking a hardline stance on Russia, let’s see whether the map is off or if France is genuinely not taking its fair share.

A 🧵

Let’s start with the data from the map above.

From Jan 2022 to Jan 2024 France pledged $700 million in military equipment

Light years behind: Germany(19.42bn), UK (10bn)

But also behind Estonia (980M) or Lithuania(900M) !

Jan 6 • 14 tweets • 6 min read

A thread mapping immigration in France from 1851 to today!

I'll try to look at the changing profiles of foreigners and immigrants in France, from their nationality to where they have decided to settle.

The share of foreigners in France has been rising over the last 150 years but with some peaks and troughs.

There was a notable surge in the 1920s that died out after the crisis of 1929

Dec 31, 2023 • 24 tweets • 9 min read

Disappointed by the #napoleonmovie? The good news is that reality dwarfs fiction

Far from being Scott's half-wit, he was a legendary tactician and a master of deception, in full display in the triumph of Austerlitz

A🧵on Napoleon's crowning success

Nov 1805, the Russo-Austrian emperors are on the cusp of defeating Napoleon (NB going forward)

NB is far from home in Austria. Winter is coming and Prussia is on the cusp of joining the allies. The situation is desperate, and yet in weeks he will be the master of Europe. How?

Oct 10, 2023 • 17 tweets • 7 min read

Here's an another interesting trend: there's a growing gender polarisation between young men and young women.

Young women disproportionately back the left/greens/far-left and young men the right (and far-right).

Exhibit A: Poland

A small🧵on a new phenomenon

https://twitter.com/Yascha_Mounk/status/1711666068467388539

This is especially remarkable given that historically the gender gap went the other way:

Men voted to the left and women to the right

In France, the left opposed the right of women to vote in the early 19th century because they were worried women were under "clerical influence"

Oct 5, 2023 • 5 tweets • 3 min read

What were the centers of power in pre-modern Europe?

Here's a map on where leaders met in Europe between 1494 and 1789.

The top 5?

1) Rome
2) Vienna
3) Florence
4) Paris
5) Versailles

Small🧵on how that balance of power changed through the centuries:

Here's a breakdown by century.

A great snapshot on the European balance of power

Rome/Papal stability

Italian city-states progressively decline (despite Florence's 1600s surge).

Vienna 1600s surges

Versailles replaces Paris

Berlin late bloomer

London's relative isolation

Apr 30, 2023 • 40 tweets • 14 min read

In 1920, this historian managed to predict World War II step by step!

He called out the Anschluss and the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact included, by reading maps and history books

Buckle up, in this 🧵 we will explore the most prophetic book ever written in history

After WW1, Germany was amputated of 13% of its territory and 10% of its population by the treaty of Versailles

The Rhineland was demilitarized, the Saar coalfields given to France, the German army reduced to 100 000 and its fleet to 6 battleships (and no submarines)

Apr 18, 2023 • 14 tweets • 6 min read

🤔What's the mark of a successful country?

GDP ? HDI? 🥱

I think Social Capital is the hidden silver bullet

And I suspect that in the next 10 y policymakers will desperately seek to measure it.

A🧵on why social capital matters with data and cool maps!

First of all what the hell is social capital:

In plain language it's what binds us together

Why does it matter?

As the social capital GOAT (@RobertDPutnam) says:

"Social capital makes us smarter, healthier, safer, richer, and better able to govern a just and stable democracy"

Apr 17, 2023 • 9 tweets • 3 min read

Great event on how the UK is approaching the question of industrial policy in the age of great power competition.

The challenges ahead are pretty huge.

Interesting to contrast with what’s happening in Brussels. Some thoughts:

https://twitter.com/ukonward/status/1646792909403078658

Remarkably we talked relatively little about the US or China

It’s a more inward-looking conversation:

The EU seems to focus more on the distorsions created by China and the US

In the UK there’s a sense they need to get their house in order first.

Apr 17, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read

Will be live tweeting this panel discussion on Britain's place in this era of great power discussion between the US and China.

Should be very interesting!

We have @RichardALJones to kick us off.

Chips act/IRA in the US is a return to industrial strategy, when industrial strategy never left in Asia.

What can the UK do?

Focus on its productivity... or rather its lack of!

Jan 29, 2023 • 18 tweets • 7 min read

France's culinary borders overlap with centuries' old regional identities (some of them long gone administratively).

A map 🧵on history, wine and cheese using a brand new report from @j_jaures

"How can anyone govern a country with 246 varieties of cheese?" - de Gaulle

First and foremost you can divide France into the oily South and the buttery North.

Jan 15, 2023 • 15 tweets • 6 min read

At @ukonward we published this gorgeous map of social trust in England! It's as close to a street by street analysis of England as you'll get.

I highly recommend you give the report a look (), but in the meantime a few observations 🧵: ukonward.com/reports/good-n…

https://twitter.com/ukonward/status/1614229218799263745

First of all fascinating to see that you could spot the ex-coal fields/cities (around Newcastle, and in the "red wall especially) from the trust map!

Jan 2, 2023 • 43 tweets • 15 min read

1568: You're the King of Spain and the dutch provinces revolt.

But how can you send your army north if you find on your way a hostile England, a revanchist France and Dutch corsairs.

Enters the "Camino Español", the most extraordinary logistical feat in military history. a 🧵

King Felipe II of Spain, Naples & Sicily, duke of Milan & Burgundy, was also Prince of the Netherlands.
In 1566 a Calvinist riot leads to the death of 10s of priests and the destruction of many churches. Felipe, defender of the true faith, wants to punish the rebels.

Nov 19, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read

North-South divide is perhaps most staggering in Italian sports:

Football, serie A titles:

Serie a teams today.

Nov 17, 2022 • 27 tweets • 11 min read

Italians often joke that the North and the South of the boot are different countries.

But you would've been able to spot this North/South divide centuries ago!

A 🧵 on Italy that goes from Ancient Greece to Beppe Grillo (with some food sprinkled along the way)

Starting with some history:

The south ("Magna Graecia") was settled by greeks from 8th to 5th century BC who founded cities like Neapolis (Naples).

They connected the south to their Mediterraenean network and probably surpassed the motherland in population

Nov 11, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read

I'm reading Zamoyski's history of Poland and I'm struck about how little Western Europeans are taught about the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth!

In 1619, it controlled a quarter/third of Europe's landmass, with a rich culture, a strong education and a proto-democracy.

Europe's imperial political models have always been a mix of the Roman Empire, Charlemagne's/HRE, and maybe sometimes Napoleon's, but never the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which was, for its time, very forward-thinking and wealthy.

Oct 19, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read

Imperial borders still shape modern political frontiers.

A small thread:

The Austro-Hungarian Empire lasted for centuries, until it was dislocated post-World War I. But remarkably you'd still be able to find its borders with modern electoral results. Take Romania's 2014 parliamentary election with red and blue being Romania's nominal left and right

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