Mont Blanc, Alpine massif, on the French-Italian border, SE of Geneva. One of its several peaks, also called Mont Blanc (15,771 ft/4,807 m), is the highest peak in France and the second highest in Europe. The southeastern (Italian) face is a massive wall; on the northwestern slopes are numerous glaciers, the largest of which (the Mer de Glace) flows into the valley of Chamonix, a famous French resort region and starting point for mountain climbers. There are many hotels and hostels along the base of Mont Blanc. The first successful ascent of Mont Blanc was made in 1786. In 1965 a highway tunnel (7.5 mi/12.1 km long) under Mont Blanc, linking Chamonix with Courmayeur, Italy, was opened to traffic. It provides a short, year-round route between Paris and Rome, as well as a link between the Geneva region and Italy. It was closed as a result of a fire from 1999 to 2002. The tunnel is one of the longest vehicular tunnels in the world.

La Vallière, Louise Françoise de La Baume Le Blanc de, 1644-1710, mistress of King Louis XIV of France. Maid of honor to Louis's sister-in-law, Henrietta of England, she became the king's mistress in 1661. She bore him four children, of whom two died in infancy. In 1667, by the same government act that legitimized her daughter, she was created duchess. She was replaced in the king's affections by Mme de Montespan. In 1674 she retired to a Carmelite convent and became celebrated for her piety.

Blanc, Mont: see Mont Blanc.

Blanc, Louis, 1811-82, French socialist politician and journalist and historian. In his noted Organisation du travail (1840, tr. Organization of Work, 1911), he outlined his ideal of a new social order based on the principle "Let each produce according to his aptitudes … let each consume according to his need." He advocated, as a first stage in the achievement of this goal, a system of national workshops (ateliers sociaux) controlled by workingmen with the support of the state. He attacked the Louis Philippe government in Histoire de dix ans (5 vol., 1841-44, tr. The History of Ten Years, 1830-1840, 1844-45). As a member of the provisional government of 1848 he insisted on the establishment of the social workshops, but the plan was sabotaged by other leaders of the government. Implicated in the subsequent insurrection of the workers, Blanc fled to England, where he remained until 1871. While in exile he wrote the 13-volume Histoire de la Révolution française (1847-62), in which his admiration of Jacobinism was manifest. After his return to France, he became (1871) a member of the national assembly and was later a leader of the left in the chamber of deputies. Blanc's ideas, which Marx labeled "utopian socialism," influenced the thought of later political thinkers, especially Ferdinand Lassalle and the German socialists.

Italian Monte Bianco

Mountain massif, Europe. Located in the Alps on the borders of France, Italy, and Switzerland, it is Europe's highest peak, at 15,771 ft (4,807 m). It was first climbed in 1786 by Michel-Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat. Mont Blanc Tunnel, 7.3 mi (11.7 km) long and one of the longest vehicular tunnels in the world, connects France with Italy. The region has become a major tourist and winter sports centre.

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(born Oct. 29, 1811, Madrid, Spain—died Dec. 6, 1882, Cannes, France) French utopian socialist and journalist. In 1839 he founded the socialist newspaper Revue du Progrès and serially published his The Organization of Labour, which described his theory of worker-controlled “social workshops” that would gradually take over production until a socialist society came into being. He was a member of the provisional government of the Second Republic (1848) but was forced to flee to England after workers unsuccessfully revolted. In exile (1848–70), he wrote a history of the French Revolution and other political works.

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