Jacques Ancel was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 geographer

Geographer

A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...

 and geopolitician

Geopolitics

Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....

. He is author of several books, including Peoples and Nations of Balkans: political geography (1926) and Geopolitics (1936).

After studying history and geography and professing as a teacher, Ancel was drafted to fight in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. Wounded three times, he was detached to the Headquarters of the French Army

French Army

The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...

's Oriental Corps (fighting in the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 and the Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

). After the war, he helped mediate the tense relations between Yugoslavia

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...

 and Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

. In 1930, Ancel obtained his doctorate

Doctorate

A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...

 with the thesis La Macédoine, étude de colonisation contemporaine ("Macedonia

Macedonia (region)

Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...

, a study in contemporary colonization").

He taught at the University of Paris

University of Paris

The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...

' Institut des hautes études internationales, and was a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy

Romanian Academy

The Romanian Academy is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life....

 and of other scientific forums. He was a knight of the Légion d'honneur

Légion d'honneur

The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

.

Works

• 1901, Une page inédite de Saint-Simon
• 1902, La Formation de la colonie du Congo Français (1843–1882), Paris, Bulletin du Comité de l'Afrique Française
• 1919, L'unité de la politique bulgare, 1870–1919, Editions Bossard
• 1921, Les Travaux et les jours de l'Armée d'Orient. 1915–1918
• 1923, Manuel historique de la question d'Orient (1792–1923), Delagrave
• 1926, Peuples et nations des Balkans (réédité par CTHS en 1992)
• 1929, Histoire contemporaine depuis le milieu du XIXe siècle (avec la collaboration d'Henri Calvet). Manuel de politique européenne, histoire diplomatique de l'Europe (1871–1914), PUF
• 1930, La Macédoine, étude de colonisation contemporaine
• 1936, Géopolitique, Paris, Delagrave
• 1938, Géographie des frontières, préface d'André Siegfried
  André Siegfried
  André Siegfried was a French academic, geographer and political writer best known for his commentaries on American, Canadian, and British politics....
  
  , Paris, Gallimard
• 1940, Manuel Géographique de politique européenne. 2. L'Allemagne, Paris, Delagrave
• 1945, Slaves et Germains, Paris, Librairie Armand Colin, 1945.