Émigré is a
French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out," but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-
exile.
The French Protestants (
Huguenots), who were forced to leave France, following the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, settled in bordering countries, which Catholic and Royalist
Émigré sought to use as a base for counterrevolution against the French revolutionaries and Napoleon's regime.
After the
Storming of the Bastille, King
Louis XVI of France directed several of the most conservative members of his court to leave the country for fear that they might be assassinated. Among this first group of émigrés were the king’s youngest brother, the
Comte d'Artois, and Queen
Marie Antoinette's best friend, the
Duchesse de Polignac. Later, in coordination with the king's
failed attempt to escape Paris, the king's other brother, the
Comte de Provence, also emigrated.
Marx and
Engels, in setting out the strategy for future revolutions in
The Communist Manifesto, included the provision that the property of émigrés should be confiscated and used to finance the revolution — a recommendation followed by the
Bolsheviks seventy years later.
The October Revolution brought over 20,000 Russian emigrants to
Finland. Many of these however moved on to France,
Paris being the favorite destination for Russian émigrés.
Unlike
émigré, the term
exile remains politically neutral and includes people from whatever side of the political spectrum who had to leave their homeland, often for political reasons, and who wish to return.
See also
Category:Groups of the French RevolutionCategory:Russian Revolutionfr:Émigration française (1789-1815)it:Émigré
