Help please! I am trying to figure out where and who signed the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Yes, it was signed in Paris. But where?? I have been looking around trying to find something with no luck. I even have access to an academic library and couldn't find anything. I need to know exact location and who was there (whether or not it they signed it). The likelihood of anyone here knowing this is pretty slim, but I will take some finger posting and suggestions of where to look. The best piece of info I have is that it was drafted in Paris in Nov 1762 and ratified Feb 10, 1763. I got a new piece yesterday that I am going to chase which was Choiseul was involved somehow. The inciting incident in my story is centred on an assassination attempt here that my MC will be pinned for. But it will seem really clunky if I can't get the location or an idea of who was there. The assassination attempt will be against someone fictional, but it should be a believable person. I would be forever grateful if someone could help me out. ~Kae
Wow....1763?? My suggestion, which you may have already done, would be to contact a French university directly and speak with someone in their historical department. Unfortunately, you probably have to speak fluent French or have a French translator to make this work. I hope that helps.
Thanks Cdn Writer. Je ne parle pas francais tres bien. J'ai oublie tout quois j'ai etudie dans la lycee. (That should give our Francophone friends a heart attack!) I work in a university, so I could probably ask someone at the history dept or see if we have a french dept. I would just feel really awkward about it given it has nothing to do with my actual paid job. I never anticipated having to really search out this piece of info. I really thought this would be an easy one. I went to our academic libraries thinking there would be a book on the 7 years war with all the answers I needed. Would it make sense that this was at Versailles? Would it have been ratified in the British parliament? Gr. Historical research can be so tricky.
I can't for the life of me find it! But the preliminaries to the treaty were signed by Louis in Versailles on the 7th, so maybe just work with that.
Aw thanks Joker! I really appreciate you looking into it. Versailles makes sense, and I hadn't seen the 7th before so thank you very much!
A quick google search turned up both the text of the treaty and the signers in the text. Wikipedia gives a good background on the treaty. However the exact location where it was signed did not turn up. COnsidering its importance to all parties, perhaps the Palace of Versailles would be a good guess.
I haven’t had much luck either but nearly all the main agreements of the Paris Treaty was agreed 2 years before at Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762) see below. · The Treaty of Paris is sometimes noted as the point at which France gave Louisiana to Spain. The transfer, however, occurred with the Treaty of Fontainebleau but was not publicly announced until 1764. The Treaty of Paris gave Britain the east side of the Mississippi, with New Orleans remaining in French hands. · The Treaty of Hubertusburg was signed five days later by Prussia, Austria, and Saxony. Together with the Treaty of Paris, it marked the end of the Seven Years’ War. The treaty ended the continental conflict with no significant changes in prewar borders. I think your best bet is to choose a place in Paris, there were many around at the time and if we can’t find the real place then your readers won’t find it either. An interesting fact is that Washington served as a young man in a British militia in the Seven Year war and was captured. If you are looking for authenticity in your story don’t get it from Hollywood’s entertainment movies. Regards, John.
Thanks John and Lew I have had a look at the treaty and found the names of the signers, and found out about Fontainebleau. I got some good ideas of where to go now (Choiseul was interesting). I didn’t know that about Washington. It’s fascinating how much happened in this war but it’s not really well known in general public. Not like Napoleon, the American Civil War, the War of 1812, etc. I agree about avoiding Hollywood movies for historical detail.
