Bastille This infamous prison started life as one of the gates to Paris and was enlarged as a fortress in 1369 during the Hundred Years War. After this war, under Louis XIII, it became a prison. Although it only held about 50 prisoners and was far from the worst in Paris, it was wrapped in secrecy and soon achieved a sinister reputation. On July 14, 1789 it was stormed by the people of Paris who were attempting to reach the gunpowder and arms stored there. They freed the seven remaining prisoners, took the loot, and later killed the prison governor and some of the guards. This event is generally held to mark the onset of the French Revolution. (July 14 is a French holiday comparable to July 4 in the United States.) Within months, the entire structure had been demolished and the stones were used to construct one of the bridges across the Seine. Only a few stones remain near the site today and the Place de la Bastille is the site of the Opéra Bastille.

The Seven Years War (1756-63)
Called the Seven Years War because of its length in Europe, the conflict actually started in America in 1754 with the French and Indian War between France and its colonies (New France) and Great Britain and its colonies. Voltaire dismissed New France with its over 70,000 inhabitants as "a few acres of snow" and thought it was was useless. Fighting began in Europe with the Prussian Frederick the Great's invasion of Saxony. Britain and Prussia were pitted against most of the other nations of Europe. Winston Churchill called it the First World War since it also involved the Americas and the Indian subcontinent. Particularly bloody, with huge loss of life, from Voltaire's viewpoint, it was an example of all that is senseless in war. In the end, France lost most of its territory in America to Great Britain, with the Louisiana Territory west of the Mississippi going to Spain. Spain later returned this to France, and Napoleon sold it to what was by then The United States.

Lisbon Earthquake (November 1, 1755)
At 9:40 in the morning, while most of Lisbon's population was in church for All Saint's Day services, a massive earthquake struck Lisbon killing about one-third of the population. It lasted almost six minutes and opened crevices as wide as fifteen feet in the center of the city. Many died from massive fires started by the stoves which had been lit to prepare a festive holiday lunch. A tsunami swamped Cadiz and thousands died as far away as northern Africa. The earthquake was felt in Finland and the tsunami was still ten feet high when it reached England. Without knowing the science behind the event, the terrible disaster was thought by some to be an indictment of the Pope, of the sins of men, and of the Leibnitz philosophy of Optimism. Some of the ruins have been preserved as a monument.

The disaster had a profound effect on the thinking of Voltaire who wrote in a letter: "One would have great difficulty in divining how the laws of movement operate such frightful disasters in the best of all possible worlds.... What will the preachers say, especially if the palace of the Inquisition has been left standing?". He published Poem on the Lisbon Disaster which contained the words:

And can you then impute a sinful deed
To babes who on their mother's bosoms bleed?
Was more vice in fallen Lisbon found,
Than Paris, where voluptuous joys abound? ...

Frederick the Great of Prussia (r. 1740-1786)
A believer in Enlightened Absolutism, he modernized the Prussian government and the civil service. He also encouraged religious tolerance in strong contrast to France which was ruled, to all intents and purposes, by the Roman Catholic Church. He also modernized the army and was known as a strict drill master. He was a patron of art and philosophy and particularly admired the thinking of Voltaire with whom he maintained a voluminous correspondence. The King of the Bulgars in Candide, with his extensive army drills, may have been modeled on him.

The Best of All Possible Worlds, Gottfried von Leibnitz and Alexander Pope
The German philosopher Gottfried von Leibnitz (1646-1716) is greatly admired by the character Pangloss who calls him "the most profound metaphysician of Germany". (Leibnitz was also the co-discoverer with Newton of calculus.) Voltaire's satire is based on his theory that God is good and created the best possible world. People continue to ask how this can be when there are disasters such as the Lisbon Earthquake. Leibnitz never meant to convey that the world is perfect and good, just that it is the best it can be. He claimed that the universe is orderly and should be judged by its entirety; evil is just a part of the whole. Men can not see the whole, and is wrong to judge the world by any individual part.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was an English essayist and poet (The Rape of the Lock) who coined many now famous phrases such as the following: 1) A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. 2) Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread. 3) Hope springs eternal in the human breast. 4) To err is human, to forgive is divine. 5) Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined. Voltaire admired Pope whom he had met in England and they were frequent correspondents. Pope's Essay on Man did much to popularize the philosophy of Optimism in Europe. Voltaire admired it at first but later changed his mind. It repeats Leibnitz's idea that God created the best of all possible worlds, the phrase: "Whatever is, is right" which Voltaire mocked in Candide and insisted that partial evil contributes to the universal good, another one of Pangloss's teachings. Pope also wrote: "Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night; God said Let Newton be! and all was light".

Free will
One of the longest lasting debates in philosophy is on whether of not man's will is free or if his actions are, to some degree at least, determined by God or by other forces. Those who do not believe in free think, like Pangloss, that everything happens for a reason. At first Voltaire believed in free will but later believed that, while men had only some control over their lives, they would always act as if they were genuinely free.

Deism
Deism is a religious philosophy that believes there is God who created the universe but has not since interacted with men. It rejects miracles and other supernatural events.

Manichaeism
Manichaeism is named for the Persian philosopher Mani or Manes. It teaches that the world is governed by equally powerful forces of good and evil, not just one God. In Candide Martin is a Manichaen. Voltaire toyed with the ideas for a while but remained as Deist.

Enlightenment
The scientific developments of the late seventeenth century, as exemplified by Isaac Newton, and revulsion with the prevailing repressive governments, led to a new group of thinkers in eighteenth century Europe. These advocated the use of reason in all areas of human activity, especially in government, religion and the rights of common men. The result is what is now known as the Age of Enlightenment. Among the results were the American and French Revolutions, but some its thinkers did not favor democracy but rather Enlightened Absolutism. Among the monarchs who embraced the Enlightenment ideals of religious tolerance, freedom of speech and the right to private property were Joseph II of Austria who said: "Everything for the people, nothing by the people", and Frederick the Great of Prussia who thought of himself as the "First servant of the People".

Return to Resource Library Page

Revised June 2009
Please credit Lyric Opera San Diego when using this material.