{"id":2426,"date":"2015-12-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-30T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/2025\/06\/19\/messieurs-les-anglais-tirez-les-premiers\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T09:15:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T07:15:17","slug":"messieurs-les-anglais-tirez-les-premiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/messieurs-les-anglais-tirez-les-premiers\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00ab Messieurs les Anglais, tirez les premiers. \u00bb"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/bataille_fontenoy_citations.jpg\" alt=\"bataille fontenoy citations\" title=\"bataille fontenoy citations\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto\" width=\"500\" height=\"341\"><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"citation\"><span class=\"enonce\">\u00ab\u00a0Messieurs les Anglais, tirez les premiers.\u00a0\u00bb<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"auteur\"><span data-href=\"\/auteurs\/comte-d-anterroches\"><span class=\"author\"><span class=\"surname\">Comte d\u2019<\/span><span class=\"name\"><span class=\"caps\">ANTERROCHES<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> (1710-1785), \u00e0 Lord Charles Hay, Fontenoy, 11\u00a0mai 1745<\/p>\n<p class=\"source\"><cite>Pr\u00e9cis du si\u00e8cle de Louis\u00a0<span class=\"caps\">XV<\/span><\/cite> (1763), Voltaire.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"ressi\">Ce mot c\u00e9l\u00e8bre, cit\u00e9 par ailleurs dans une <em class=\"temp\">Histoire de l\u2019arm\u00e9e<\/em> d\u2019Adrien Pascal (1847), r\u00e9sume le bref dialogue rapport\u00e9 par Voltaire.<\/p>\n<p>Suite de la guerre de Succession d\u2019Autriche, lors d\u2019un si\u00e8ge men\u00e9 par les Fran\u00e7ais pr\u00e8s de Tournai. Le commandant de la compagnie de t\u00eate des gardes anglaises a lanc\u00e9\u00a0: \u00ab\u00a0Messieurs des gardes fran\u00e7aises, tirez.\u00a0\u00bb Le commandant des gardes fran\u00e7aises lui r\u00e9pondit\u00a0: \u00ab\u00a0Messieurs, nous ne tirons jamais les premiers. Tirez vous-m\u00eames.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n<p>Cette r\u00e9plique, plus tactique qu\u2019il n\u2019y para\u00eet, est moins l\u2019illustration d\u2019une guerre en dentelle que l\u2019expression d\u2019un imp\u00e9ratif militaire\u00a0: quand une arm\u00e9e a tir\u00e9, le temps qu\u2019elle recharge ses armes, l\u2019ennemi peut attaquer avec profit. C\u2019est pourquoi le mar\u00e9chal de Saxe d\u00e9non\u00e7ait les \u00ab\u00a0abus de tirerie\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"citation-small\">\u00ab\u00a0Voyez tout le sang que co\u00fbte un triomphe. Le sang de nos ennemis est toujours le sang des hommes. La vraie gloire est de l\u2019\u00e9pargner.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n<p class=\"auteur\"><span class=\"caps\">LOUIS<\/span> <span class=\"caps\">XV<\/span> (1710-1774), \u00e0 son fils le Dauphin, au soir de la victoire de Fontenoy, 11 mai 1745.<em> Les Pens\u00e9es des rois de France<\/em> (1949), Gabriel Boissy<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Le roi parcourt le champ de bataille, jonch\u00e9 de 11 000 morts et bless\u00e9s. Il a pris la t\u00eate de l\u2019arm\u00e9e pour redonner confiance aux troupes, et apporter plus de coordination aux op\u00e9rations mal men\u00e9es. Il s\u2019est surtout adjoint les services de Maurice de Saxe, b\u00e2tard du roi de Pologne, strat\u00e8ge exceptionnel, fait mar\u00e9chal de France l\u2019ann\u00e9e d\u2019avant.<\/p>\n<p>Les Anglo-Hollandais sont \u00e9cras\u00e9s. Mais \u00e0 quel prix\u00a0? Le roi parle ici comme son arri\u00e8re-grand-p\u00e8re Louis <span class=\"caps\">XIV<\/span> \u00e0 la fin de sa vie, et comme pensent tous les philosophes de ce si\u00e8cle \u00e9clair\u00e9\u00a0: \u00ab\u00a0Jamais les triomphes les plus \u00e9clatants ne peuvent d\u00e9dommager une nation de la perte d\u2019une multitude de ses membres que la guerre sacrifie\u00a0\u00bb, \u00e9crira bient\u00f4t Diderot dans <em>L\u2019Encyclop\u00e9die<\/em>. De toute mani\u00e8re, la France en guerre conna\u00eet alors plus de d\u00e9faites que de victoires.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"lumi\u00e8res citations\" href=\"http:\/\/www.histoire-en-citations.fr\/boutique\/volume-4\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/histoire-en-citations-volume-4-4.jpg\" alt=\"lumi\u00e8res citations\" title=\"lumi\u00e8res citations\" style=\"float: left;margin: 10px\" width=\"165\" height=\"220\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"lumi\u00e8res citations\" href=\"http:\/\/www.histoire-en-citations.fr\/boutique\/volume-4\" target=\"_blank\">Feuilletez notre Chronique sur le Si\u00e8cle des Lumi\u00e8res pour tout savoir.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<style>\r\n        a .cit-num {\r\n            text-decoration: none !important;\r\n            color: inherit !important;\r\n        }\r\n    <\/style>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00ab\u00a0Messieurs les Anglais, tirez les premiers.\u00a0\u00bb Comte d&#8217;ANTERROCHES (1710-1785), \u00e0 Lord Charles Hay, Fontenoy, 11\u00a0mai 1745 Pr\u00e9cis du si\u00e8cle de Louis\u00a0XV (1763), Voltaire. Ce mot c\u00e9l\u00e8bre, cit\u00e9 par ailleurs dans une Histoire de l&#8217;arm\u00e9e d&#8217;Adrien Pascal (1847), r\u00e9sume le bref dialogue rapport\u00e9 par Voltaire. Suite de la guerre de Succession d&#8217;Autriche, lors d&#8217;un si\u00e8ge men\u00e9 [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"iawp_total_views":1685,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1453],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronique-citation-du-jour-comte-danterroches-siecle-des-lumieres"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2426"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2429,"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426\/revisions\/2429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/histoire-en-citations.fr\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}