Ascending Republic

Why and how the French made the balloon into one of the quintessential symbols of late nineteenth-century modernity, and how the balloon’s reinvention shaped the airplane’s assimilation in the early years of aviation.

On August 27, 1783, a large crowd gathered in Paris to watch the first ascent of a hydrogen balloon. Despite the initial feverish enthusiasm, by the mid-nineteenth century the balloon remained relatively unchanged and was no longer seen as the harbinger of a new era. Yet…