Editing Charente-Maritime (section)

===== The Slow Establishment of the Republican Idea =====
Charente-Inférieure remained Bonapartist post-1870, with Baron [[Eugène Eschassériaux]] leading conservatives until 1893.<ref name=":30">{{Cite web |date=October 9, 2008 |title=Les républicains en Charente-Inférieure de 1870 à 1914 |trans-title=Republicans in Charente-Inférieure from 1870 to 1914 |url=http://pagesperso-orange.fr/lespelletan/Muel1.htm |access-date=May 25, 2010 |website=pagesperso-orange.fr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009205614/http://pagesperso-orange.fr/lespelletan/Muel1.htm |archive-date=9 October 2008 |language=fr}}</ref> Republican gains came in 1876 with [[Jules Armand Dufaure|Jules Dufaure]] as President of the Council (1876-1879).<ref name=":65">{{Harvtxt|Combes|2001|p=385}}</ref> [[Phylloxera]] devastated vineyards from 1872, dropping production from 7 million to 70,000 hectoliters by 1880; Saintonge rebuilt vineyards, while Aunis shifted to dairy, led by Eugène Biraud’s 1888 cooperative.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Boutinet|2001|p=74}}</ref> Coastal resorts like Royan boomed with rail access by 1875, hosting figures like [[Émile Zola]] during the [[Belle Époque]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 28, 1886 |title=La Gazette des bains de mer de Royan-sur-l'Océan |trans-title=The Gazette of the sea baths of Royan-sur-l'Océan |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6674855j.item |access-date=March 17, 2025 |website=Gallica |language=fr}}</ref> In 1895, [[Alfred Dreyfus]] was held in Saint-Martin-de-Ré before deportation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alfred |first=Dreyfus |date=February 3, 2010 |title=Lettre d'Alfred à Lucie Dreyfus sur un formulaire administratif |trans-title=Letter from Alfred to Lucie Dreyfus on an administrative form |url=http://www.dreyfus.culture.fr/en/pedagogie/pedago-doc-lettre-alfred-a-lucie-dreyfus.htm |access-date=May 25, 2010 |website=dreyfus.culture.fr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100203233009/http://www.dreyfus.culture.fr/en/pedagogie/pedago-doc-lettre-alfred-a-lucie-dreyfus.htm |archive-date=3 February 2010 |language=fr}}</ref>