Raymond Poincaré
Encyclopedia
Raymond Poincaré was a French
statesman who served as Prime Minister of France
on five separate occasions and as President of France from 1913 to 1920. Poincaré was a conservative leader primarily committed to political and social stability.
, Meuse, France, Raymond Poincaré was the son of Nicolas Antonin Hélène Poincaré, a distinguished civil servant and meteorologist. Raymond was also the cousin of Henri Poincaré
, the famous mathematician. Educated at the University of Paris
, Raymond was called to the Paris bar, and was for some time law editor of the Voltaire.
As a lawyer, he successfully defended Jules Verne
in a libel suit presented against the famous author by the chemist Eugène Turpin
, inventor of the explosive melinite
, who claimed that the "mad scientist" character in Verne's book Facing the Flag
was based on him.
département. He made a great reputation in the Chamber as an economist, and sat on the budget commissions of 1890–1891 and 1892. He was minister of education, fine arts and religion in the first cabinet (April November 1893) of Charles Dupuy
, and minister of finance in the second and third (May 1894 January 1895).
In Alexandre Ribot
's cabinet Poincaré became minister of public instruction. Although he was excluded from the Radical cabinet which followed, the revised scheme of death duties proposed by the new ministry was based upon his proposals of the previous year. He became vice-president of the chamber in the autumn of 1895, and in spite of the bitter hostility of the Radicals retained his position in 1896 and 1897.
Along with other followers of "Opportunist
" Léon Gambetta
, Poincaré founded the Democratic Republican Alliance
(ARD) in 1902, which became the most important center-right party under the Third Republic
.
In 1906 he returned to the ministry of finance in the short-lived Sarrien
ministry. Poincaré had retained his practice at the bar during his political career, and he published several volumes of essays on literary and political subjects.
"Poincarism" was a political movement, 1902–20. In 1902 it was used by Clemenceau to define a young generation of conservative politicians who had lost the idealism of the founders of the republic. After 1911 the term was used to mean "national renewal" when faced with the German threat. After the First World War, "Poincarism" refers to his support of business and financial interests.
in January 1912, and began pursuing a hardline anti-German policy, noted for restoring close ties with France's Russian ally. He went to Russia
for a State visit in August 1912. He faced a choice between protecting French interests at home or in the colonies. France's European allies and interests were menaced by tensions with Germany, and its colonies in the eastern Mediterranean were increasingly vulnerable to rebellion. Italy was challenging France's religious and cultural predominance in Syria and the Lebanon, and Britain her economic influence in the area. Poincaré focused intently on the importance of these eastern Mediterranean colonies, particularly Syria, and thereby drew closer to Germany. His policies and strong opposition to nascent pan-Arab movements prefigure the French political strategy after the First World War.
. He attempted to make that office into a site of power for the first time since MacMahon
in the 1870s. He generally managed to continue to dominate foreign policy, in particular. He went to Russia
, for the second time (but for the first time as president) to reinforce the Franco-Russian Alliance
after Sarajevo
in July 1914.
He became increasingly sidelined after the accession to power of Georges Clemenceau
as Prime Minister in 1917. He believed the Armistice
happened too soon and that the French Army should have penetrated Germany far more. At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, negotiating the Treaty of Versailles
, he wanted France to wrest the Rhineland
from Germany to put it under Allied military control. Poincaré wrote a memorandum for the conference, saying that after the Franco-Prussian War
Germany occupied various French provinces and did not leave until it received all of the indemnity, whereas France wanted reparations for damage caused. He further claimed that if the Allies did not occupy the Rhineland and at a later date found that they would need to do so again, Germany would label them the aggressors:
Ferdinand Foch
urged Poincaré to invoke his powers as laid down in the Constitution and take over the negotiations of the treaty due to worries that Clemenceau was not achieving France's aims. He did not, and when the French Cabinet approved of the terms which Clemenceau obtained, Poincaré considered resigning, although again he refrained.
In 1920, Poincaré's term as President came to an end, and two years later he returned to office as Prime Minister. Once again, his tenure was noted for its strong anti-German policies, with Poincaré justifying these by saying: "Germany's population was increasing, her industries were intact, she had no factories to reconstruct, she had no flooded mines. Her resources were intact, above and below ground... [i]n fifteen or twenty years Germany would be mistress of Europe. In front of her would be France with a population scarcely increased".
Frustrated at Germany's unwillingness to pay reparations, Poincaré hoped for joint Anglo-French economic sanctions against Germany in 1922, opposing military action. However, by December 1922 he was faced with British-American-German hostility and saw coal for French steel production and money for reconstructing the devastated industrial areas draining away. Poincaré was exasperated with British failure to act, and wrote to the French ambassador in London:
Poincaré decided to occupy the Ruhr
on 11 January 1923, to extract the reparations himself. This, according to historian Sally Marks, "was profitable and caused neither the German hyperinflation, which began in 1922 and ballooned because of German responses to the Ruhr occupation, nor the franc's 1924 collapse, which arose from French financial practices and the evaporation of reparations". The profits, after Ruhr-Rhineland occupation costs, were nearly 900 million gold marks. Poincaré lost the 1924 parliamentary election "more from the franc's collapse and the ensuing taxation than from diplomatic isolation".
Financial crisis brought him back to power in 1926, and he once again became Prime Minister and Finance Minister until his retirement in 1929.
As early as 1915, Raymond Poincaré introduced a controversial denaturalization law which was applied to naturalized French citizens with "enemy origins" who had continued to maintain their original nationality. Through another law passed in 1927, the government could denaturalize any new citizen who committed acts contrary to French "national interest".
He died in Paris in 1934.
(1862–1920), famous as a physicist, became inspector-general of public instruction in 1902. He is the author of La Physique moderne (1906) and L'Électricité (1907). Jules Henri Poincaré (1854–1912), also a distinguished physicist and mathematician, belonged to another branch of the same family.
Changes
Changes
Changes
statesman who served as Prime Minister of France
on five separate occasions and as President of France from 1913 to 1920. Poincaré was a conservative leader primarily committed to political and social stability.
, Meuse, France, Raymond Poincaré was the son of Nicolas Antonin Hélène Poincaré, a distinguished civil servant and meteorologist. Raymond was also the cousin of Henri Poincaré
, the famous mathematician. Educated at the University of Paris
, Raymond was called to the Paris bar, and was for some time law editor of the Voltaire.
As a lawyer, he successfully defended Jules Verne
in a libel suit presented against the famous author by the chemist Eugène Turpin
, inventor of the explosive melinite
, who claimed that the "mad scientist" character in Verne's book Facing the Flag
was based on him.
département. He made a great reputation in the Chamber as an economist, and sat on the budget commissions of 1890–1891 and 1892. He was minister of education, fine arts and religion in the first cabinet (April November 1893) of Charles Dupuy
, and minister of finance in the second and third (May 1894 January 1895).
In Alexandre Ribot
's cabinet Poincaré became minister of public instruction. Although he was excluded from the Radical cabinet which followed, the revised scheme of death duties proposed by the new ministry was based upon his proposals of the previous year. He became vice-president of the chamber in the autumn of 1895, and in spite of the bitter hostility of the Radicals retained his position in 1896 and 1897.
Along with other followers of "Opportunist
" Léon Gambetta
, Poincaré founded the Democratic Republican Alliance
(ARD) in 1902, which became the most important center-right party under the Third Republic
.
In 1906 he returned to the ministry of finance in the short-lived Sarrien
ministry. Poincaré had retained his practice at the bar during his political career, and he published several volumes of essays on literary and political subjects.
"Poincarism" was a political movement, 1902–20. In 1902 it was used by Clemenceau to define a young generation of conservative politicians who had lost the idealism of the founders of the republic. After 1911 the term was used to mean "national renewal" when faced with the German threat. After the First World War, "Poincarism" refers to his support of business and financial interests.
in January 1912, and began pursuing a hardline anti-German policy, noted for restoring close ties with France's Russian ally. He went to Russia
for a State visit in August 1912. He faced a choice between protecting French interests at home or in the colonies. France's European allies and interests were menaced by tensions with Germany, and its colonies in the eastern Mediterranean were increasingly vulnerable to rebellion. Italy was challenging France's religious and cultural predominance in Syria and the Lebanon, and Britain her economic influence in the area. Poincaré focused intently on the importance of these eastern Mediterranean colonies, particularly Syria, and thereby drew closer to Germany. His policies and strong opposition to nascent pan-Arab movements prefigure the French political strategy after the First World War.
. He attempted to make that office into a site of power for the first time since MacMahon
in the 1870s. He generally managed to continue to dominate foreign policy, in particular. He went to Russia
, for the second time (but for the first time as president) to reinforce the Franco-Russian Alliance
after Sarajevo
in July 1914.
He became increasingly sidelined after the accession to power of Georges Clemenceau
as Prime Minister in 1917. He believed the Armistice
happened too soon and that the French Army should have penetrated Germany far more. At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, negotiating the Treaty of Versailles
, he wanted France to wrest the Rhineland
from Germany to put it under Allied military control. Poincaré wrote a memorandum for the conference, saying that after the Franco-Prussian War
Germany occupied various French provinces and did not leave until it received all of the indemnity, whereas France wanted reparations for damage caused. He further claimed that if the Allies did not occupy the Rhineland and at a later date found that they would need to do so again, Germany would label them the aggressors:
Ferdinand Foch
urged Poincaré to invoke his powers as laid down in the Constitution and take over the negotiations of the treaty due to worries that Clemenceau was not achieving France's aims. He did not, and when the French Cabinet approved of the terms which Clemenceau obtained, Poincaré considered resigning, although again he refrained.
In 1920, Poincaré's term as President came to an end, and two years later he returned to office as Prime Minister. Once again, his tenure was noted for its strong anti-German policies, with Poincaré justifying these by saying: "Germany's population was increasing, her industries were intact, she had no factories to reconstruct, she had no flooded mines. Her resources were intact, above and below ground... [i]n fifteen or twenty years Germany would be mistress of Europe. In front of her would be France with a population scarcely increased".
Frustrated at Germany's unwillingness to pay reparations, Poincaré hoped for joint Anglo-French economic sanctions against Germany in 1922, opposing military action. However, by December 1922 he was faced with British-American-German hostility and saw coal for French steel production and money for reconstructing the devastated industrial areas draining away. Poincaré was exasperated with British failure to act, and wrote to the French ambassador in London:
Poincaré decided to occupy the Ruhr
on 11 January 1923, to extract the reparations himself. This, according to historian Sally Marks, "was profitable and caused neither the German hyperinflation, which began in 1922 and ballooned because of German responses to the Ruhr occupation, nor the franc's 1924 collapse, which arose from French financial practices and the evaporation of reparations". The profits, after Ruhr-Rhineland occupation costs, were nearly 900 million gold marks. Poincaré lost the 1924 parliamentary election "more from the franc's collapse and the ensuing taxation than from diplomatic isolation".
Financial crisis brought him back to power in 1926, and he once again became Prime Minister and Finance Minister until his retirement in 1929.
As early as 1915, Raymond Poincaré introduced a controversial denaturalization law which was applied to naturalized French citizens with "enemy origins" who had continued to maintain their original nationality. Through another law passed in 1927, the government could denaturalize any new citizen who committed acts contrary to French "national interest".
He died in Paris in 1934.
(1862–1920), famous as a physicist, became inspector-general of public instruction in 1902. He is the author of La Physique moderne (1906) and L'Électricité (1907). Jules Henri Poincaré (1854–1912), also a distinguished physicist and mathematician, belonged to another branch of the same family.
Changes
Changes
Changes
statesman who served as Prime Minister of France
on five separate occasions and as President of France from 1913 to 1920. Poincaré was a conservative leader primarily committed to political and social stability.
, Meuse, France, Raymond Poincaré was the son of Nicolas Antonin Hélène Poincaré, a distinguished civil servant and meteorologist. Raymond was also the cousin of Henri Poincaré
, the famous mathematician. Educated at the University of Paris
, Raymond was called to the Paris bar, and was for some time law editor of the Voltaire.
As a lawyer, he successfully defended Jules Verne
in a libel suit presented against the famous author by the chemist Eugène Turpin
, inventor of the explosive melinite
, who claimed that the "mad scientist" character in Verne's book Facing the Flag
was based on him.
département. He made a great reputation in the Chamber as an economist, and sat on the budget commissions of 1890–1891 and 1892. He was minister of education, fine arts and religion in the first cabinet (April November 1893) of Charles Dupuy
, and minister of finance in the second and third (May 1894 January 1895).
In Alexandre Ribot
's cabinet Poincaré became minister of public instruction. Although he was excluded from the Radical cabinet which followed, the revised scheme of death duties proposed by the new ministry was based upon his proposals of the previous year. He became vice-president of the chamber in the autumn of 1895, and in spite of the bitter hostility of the Radicals retained his position in 1896 and 1897.
Along with other followers of "Opportunist
" Léon Gambetta
, Poincaré founded the Democratic Republican Alliance
(ARD) in 1902, which became the most important center-right party under the Third Republic
.
In 1906 he returned to the ministry of finance in the short-lived Sarrien
ministry. Poincaré had retained his practice at the bar during his political career, and he published several volumes of essays on literary and political subjects.
"Poincarism" was a political movement, 1902–20. In 1902 it was used by Clemenceau to define a young generation of conservative politicians who had lost the idealism of the founders of the republic. After 1911 the term was used to mean "national renewal" when faced with the German threat. After the First World War, "Poincarism" refers to his support of business and financial interests.
in January 1912, and began pursuing a hardline anti-German policy, noted for restoring close ties with France's Russian ally. He went to Russia
for a State visit in August 1912. He faced a choice between protecting French interests at home or in the colonies. France's European allies and interests were menaced by tensions with Germany, and its colonies in the eastern Mediterranean were increasingly vulnerable to rebellion. Italy was challenging France's religious and cultural predominance in Syria and the Lebanon, and Britain her economic influence in the area. Poincaré focused intently on the importance of these eastern Mediterranean colonies, particularly Syria, and thereby drew closer to Germany. His policies and strong opposition to nascent pan-Arab movements prefigure the French political strategy after the First World War.
. He attempted to make that office into a site of power for the first time since MacMahon
in the 1870s. He generally managed to continue to dominate foreign policy, in particular. He went to Russia
, for the second time (but for the first time as president) to reinforce the Franco-Russian Alliance
after Sarajevo
in July 1914.
He became increasingly sidelined after the accession to power of Georges Clemenceau
as Prime Minister in 1917. He believed the Armistice
happened too soon and that the French Army should have penetrated Germany far more. At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, negotiating the Treaty of Versailles
, he wanted France to wrest the Rhineland
from Germany to put it under Allied military control. Poincaré wrote a memorandum for the conference, saying that after the Franco-Prussian War
Germany occupied various French provinces and did not leave until it received all of the indemnity, whereas France wanted reparations for damage caused. He further claimed that if the Allies did not occupy the Rhineland and at a later date found that they would need to do so again, Germany would label them the aggressors:
Ferdinand Foch
urged Poincaré to invoke his powers as laid down in the Constitution and take over the negotiations of the treaty due to worries that Clemenceau was not achieving France's aims. He did not, and when the French Cabinet approved of the terms which Clemenceau obtained, Poincaré considered resigning, although again he refrained.
In 1920, Poincaré's term as President came to an end, and two years later he returned to office as Prime Minister. Once again, his tenure was noted for its strong anti-German policies, with Poincaré justifying these by saying: "Germany's population was increasing, her industries were intact, she had no factories to reconstruct, she had no flooded mines. Her resources were intact, above and below ground... [i]n fifteen or twenty years Germany would be mistress of Europe. In front of her would be France with a population scarcely increased".
Frustrated at Germany's unwillingness to pay reparations, Poincaré hoped for joint Anglo-French economic sanctions against Germany in 1922, opposing military action. However, by December 1922 he was faced with British-American-German hostility and saw coal for French steel production and money for reconstructing the devastated industrial areas draining away. Poincaré was exasperated with British failure to act, and wrote to the French ambassador in London:
Poincaré decided to occupy the Ruhr
on 11 January 1923, to extract the reparations himself. This, according to historian Sally Marks, "was profitable and caused neither the German hyperinflation, which began in 1922 and ballooned because of German responses to the Ruhr occupation, nor the franc's 1924 collapse, which arose from French financial practices and the evaporation of reparations". The profits, after Ruhr-Rhineland occupation costs, were nearly 900 million gold marks. Poincaré lost the 1924 parliamentary election "more from the franc's collapse and the ensuing taxation than from diplomatic isolation".
Financial crisis brought him back to power in 1926, and he once again became Prime Minister and Finance Minister until his retirement in 1929.
As early as 1915, Raymond Poincaré introduced a controversial denaturalization law which was applied to naturalized French citizens with "enemy origins" who had continued to maintain their original nationality. Through another law passed in 1927, the government could denaturalize any new citizen who committed acts contrary to French "national interest".
He died in Paris in 1934.
(1862–1920), famous as a physicist, became inspector-general of public instruction in 1902. He is the author of La Physique moderne (1906) and L'Électricité (1907). Jules Henri Poincaré (1854–1912), also a distinguished physicist and mathematician, belonged to another branch of the same family.
Changes
Changes
Changes
History of France
The history of France goes back to the arrival of the earliest human being in what is now France. Members of the genus Homo entered the area hundreds of thousands years ago, while the first modern Homo sapiens, the Cro-Magnons, arrived around 40,000 years ago...
statesman who served as Prime Minister of France
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
on five separate occasions and as President of France from 1913 to 1920. Poincaré was a conservative leader primarily committed to political and social stability.
Early life
Born in Bar-le-DucBar-le-Duc
Bar-le-Duc, formerly known as Bar, is a commune in the Meuse département, of which it is the préfecture . The department is in Lorraine in north-eastern France-Geography:...
, Meuse, France, Raymond Poincaré was the son of Nicolas Antonin Hélène Poincaré, a distinguished civil servant and meteorologist. Raymond was also the cousin of Henri Poincaré
Henri Poincaré
Jules Henri Poincaré was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and a philosopher of science...
, the famous mathematician. Educated 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...
, Raymond was called to the Paris bar, and was for some time law editor of the Voltaire.
As a lawyer, he successfully defended Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
in a libel suit presented against the famous author by the chemist Eugène Turpin
Eugene Turpin
François Eugène Turpin was a French chemist involved in research of explosive materials. He lived in Colombes.-Biography:...
, inventor of the explosive melinite
Picric acid
Picric acid is the chemical compound formally called 2,4,6-trinitrophenol . This yellow crystalline solid is one of the most acidic phenols. Like other highly nitrated compounds such as TNT, picric acid is an explosive...
, who claimed that the "mad scientist" character in Verne's book Facing the Flag
Facing the Flag
Facing the Flag or For the Flag is an 1896 patriotic novel by Jules Verne. The book is part of the Voyages Extraordinaires series....
was based on him.
Early political career
Poincaré had served for over a year in the Department of Agriculture when in 1887 he was elected deputy for the MeuseMeuse
Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
département. He made a great reputation in the Chamber as an economist, and sat on the budget commissions of 1890–1891 and 1892. He was minister of education, fine arts and religion in the first cabinet (April November 1893) of Charles Dupuy
Charles Dupuy
Charles Alexandre Dupuy was a French statesman, three times prime minister.-Biography:He was born in Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire, Auvergne, where his father was a minor official. After a period as a professor of philosophy in the provinces, he was appointed a school inspector, thus obtaining a...
, and minister of finance in the second and third (May 1894 January 1895).
In Alexandre Ribot
Alexandre Ribot
Alexandre-Félix-Joseph Ribot was a French politician, four times Prime Minister.-Biography:He was born in Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais.After a brilliant academic career at the University of Paris, where he was lauréat of the faculty of law, he rapidly made his mark at the bar...
's cabinet Poincaré became minister of public instruction. Although he was excluded from the Radical cabinet which followed, the revised scheme of death duties proposed by the new ministry was based upon his proposals of the previous year. He became vice-president of the chamber in the autumn of 1895, and in spite of the bitter hostility of the Radicals retained his position in 1896 and 1897.
Along with other followers of "Opportunist
Opportunism
-General definition:Opportunism is the conscious policy and practice of taking selfish advantage of circumstances, with little regard for principles. Opportunist actions are expedient actions guided primarily by self-interested motives. The term can be applied to individuals, groups,...
" Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta was a French statesman prominent after the Franco-Prussian War.-Youth and education:He is said to have inherited his vigour and eloquence from his father, a Genovese grocer who had married a Frenchwoman named Massabie. At the age of fifteen, Gambetta lost the sight of his right eye...
, Poincaré founded the Democratic Republican Alliance
Democratic Republican Alliance
The Democratic Republican Alliance was a French political party created in 1901 by followers of Léon Gambetta, such as Raymond Poincaré who would be president of the Council in the 1920s...
(ARD) in 1902, which became the most important center-right party under the Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
.
In 1906 he returned to the ministry of finance in the short-lived Sarrien
Ferdinand Sarrien
Jean Marie Ferdinand Sarrien was a French politician of the Third Republic. He was born in Bourbon-Lancy, Saône-et-Loire and died in Paris. He headed a cabinet supported by the Bloc des gauches parliamentary majority....
ministry. Poincaré had retained his practice at the bar during his political career, and he published several volumes of essays on literary and political subjects.
"Poincarism" was a political movement, 1902–20. In 1902 it was used by Clemenceau to define a young generation of conservative politicians who had lost the idealism of the founders of the republic. After 1911 the term was used to mean "national renewal" when faced with the German threat. After the First World War, "Poincarism" refers to his support of business and financial interests.
First premiership
Poincaré became Prime MinisterPrime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
in January 1912, and began pursuing a hardline anti-German policy, noted for restoring close ties with France's Russian ally. He went to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
for a State visit in August 1912. He faced a choice between protecting French interests at home or in the colonies. France's European allies and interests were menaced by tensions with Germany, and its colonies in the eastern Mediterranean were increasingly vulnerable to rebellion. Italy was challenging France's religious and cultural predominance in Syria and the Lebanon, and Britain her economic influence in the area. Poincaré focused intently on the importance of these eastern Mediterranean colonies, particularly Syria, and thereby drew closer to Germany. His policies and strong opposition to nascent pan-Arab movements prefigure the French political strategy after the First World War.
Presidency
Poincaré won election as President of the Republic in 1913, in succession to Armand FallièresArmand Fallières
Clément Armand Fallières was a French politician, president of the French republic from 1906 to 1913.He was born at Mézin in the département of Lot-et-Garonne, France, where his father was clerk of the peace...
. He attempted to make that office into a site of power for the first time since MacMahon
Patrice MacMahon, duc de Magenta
Marie Edme Patrice Maurice de Mac-Mahon, 1st Duke of Magenta was a French general and politician with the distinction Marshal of France. He served as Chief of State of France from 1873 to 1875 and as the first president of the Third Republic, from 1875 to 1879.-Early life:Born in Sully , in the...
in the 1870s. He generally managed to continue to dominate foreign policy, in particular. He went to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, for the second time (but for the first time as president) to reinforce the Franco-Russian Alliance
Franco-Russian Alliance
The Franco-Russian Alliance was a military alliance between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire that ran from 1892 to 1917. The alliance ended the diplomatic isolation of France and undermined the supremacy of the German Empire in Europe...
after Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
in July 1914.
He became increasingly sidelined after the accession to power of Georges Clemenceau
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...
as Prime Minister in 1917. He believed the Armistice
Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)
The armistice between the Allies and Germany was an agreement that ended the fighting in the First World War. It was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender...
happened too soon and that the French Army should have penetrated Germany far more. At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, negotiating the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
, he wanted France to wrest the Rhineland
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
from Germany to put it under Allied military control. Poincaré wrote a memorandum for the conference, saying that after the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
Germany occupied various French provinces and did not leave until it received all of the indemnity, whereas France wanted reparations for damage caused. He further claimed that if the Allies did not occupy the Rhineland and at a later date found that they would need to do so again, Germany would label them the aggressors:
And, further, shall we be sure of finding the left bank free from German troops? Germany is supposedly going to undertake to have neither troops nor fortresses on the left bank and within a zone extending 50 k.m. east of the Rhine. But the Treaty does not provide for any permanent supervision of troops and armaments on the left bank any more than elsewhere in Germany. In the absence of this permanent supervision, the clause stipulating that the League of Nations may order enquiries to be undertaken is in danger of being purely illusory. We can thus have no guarantee that after the expiry of the fifteen years and the evacuation of the left bank, the Germans will not filter troops by degrees into this district. Even supposing they have not previously done so, how can we prevent them doing it at the moment when we intend to re-occupy on account of their default? It will be simple for them to leap to the Rhine in a night and to seize this natural military frontier well ahead of us. The option to renew the occupation should not therefore from any point of view be substituted for occupation.
Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch , GCB, OM, DSO was a French soldier, war hero, military theorist, and writer credited with possessing "the most original and subtle mind in the French army" in the early 20th century. He served as general in the French army during World War I and was made Marshal of France in its...
urged Poincaré to invoke his powers as laid down in the Constitution and take over the negotiations of the treaty due to worries that Clemenceau was not achieving France's aims. He did not, and when the French Cabinet approved of the terms which Clemenceau obtained, Poincaré considered resigning, although again he refrained.
Second premiership
Frustrated at Germany's unwillingness to pay reparations, Poincaré hoped for joint Anglo-French economic sanctions against Germany in 1922, opposing military action. However, by December 1922 he was faced with British-American-German hostility and saw coal for French steel production and money for reconstructing the devastated industrial areas draining away. Poincaré was exasperated with British failure to act, and wrote to the French ambassador in London:
Judging others by themselves, the English, who are blinded by their loyalty, have always thought that the Germans did not abide by their pledges inscribed in the Versailles Treaty because they had not frankly agreed to them... We, on the contrary, believe that if Germany, far from making the slightest effort to carry out the treaty of peace, has always tried to escape her obligations, it is because until now she has not been convinced of her defeat... We are also certain that Germany, as a nation, resigns herself to keep her pledged word only under the impact of necessity.
Poincaré decided to occupy the Ruhr
Occupation of the Ruhr
The Occupation of the Ruhr between 1923 and 1925, by troops from France and Belgium, was a response to the failure of the German Weimar Republic under Chancellor Cuno to pay reparations in the aftermath of World War I.-Background:...
on 11 January 1923, to extract the reparations himself. This, according to historian Sally Marks, "was profitable and caused neither the German hyperinflation, which began in 1922 and ballooned because of German responses to the Ruhr occupation, nor the franc's 1924 collapse, which arose from French financial practices and the evaporation of reparations". The profits, after Ruhr-Rhineland occupation costs, were nearly 900 million gold marks. Poincaré lost the 1924 parliamentary election "more from the franc's collapse and the ensuing taxation than from diplomatic isolation".
Third premiership
As early as 1915, Raymond Poincaré introduced a controversial denaturalization law which was applied to naturalized French citizens with "enemy origins" who had continued to maintain their original nationality. Through another law passed in 1927, the government could denaturalize any new citizen who committed acts contrary to French "national interest".
He died in Paris in 1934.
Family
His brother, Lucien PoincaréLucien Poincaré
-Biography:Poincaré was born at Bar-le-Duc July 22, 1862. After a distinguished academic career he became in succession inspector general of physical science in 1902, director of secondary education at the Ministry of Public Instruction in 1910, director of higher education in 1914 and rector of...
(1862–1920), famous as a physicist, became inspector-general of public instruction in 1902. He is the author of La Physique moderne (1906) and L'Électricité (1907). Jules Henri Poincaré (1854–1912), also a distinguished physicist and mathematician, belonged to another branch of the same family.
First ministry, 21 January 1912 21 January 1913
- Raymond Poincaré – President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Alexandre MillerandAlexandre MillerandAlexandre Millerand was a French socialist politician. He was President of France from 23 September 1920 to 11 June 1924 and Prime Minister of France 20 January to 23 September 1920...
– Minister of War - Théodore SteegThéodore SteegThéodore Steeg was a French politician of the Third Republic, deputy of the Seine from 1906 to 1914 and senator of the same department from 1914 to 1940....
– Minister of the Interior - Louis Lucien Klotz – Minister of Finance
- Léon BourgeoisLéon Bourgeois-Biography:He was born in Paris, and was trained in law. After holding a subordinate office in the department of public works, he became successively prefect of the Tarn and the Haute-Garonne , and then returned to Paris to enter the ministry of the interior...
– Minister of Labour and Social Security Provisions - Aristide BriandAristide BriandAristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...
– Minister of Justice
- Théophile DelcasséThéophile DelcasséThéophile Delcassé was a French statesman.-Biography:He was born at Pamiers, in the Ariège département...
– Minister of Marine - Gabriel Guist'hauGabriel Guist'hauGabriel Guist'hau, was a French politician .Guist'hau left Réunion for Nantes to study law there, and was elected the mayor of Nantes in 1908. He went on to become a deputy to the Assemblée nationale from 1910 to 1924...
– Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts - Jules Pams – Minister of Agriculture
- Albert LebrunAlbert LebrunAlbert François Lebrun was a French politician, President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the center-right Democratic Republican Alliance .-Biography:...
– Minister of Colonies - Jean DupuyJean Dupuy (politician)Jean Dupuy - 31 December 1919, Paris) was a French politician and media owner.-Life:A huissier by profession, he practised in Paris and quickly became interested in the press and in politics, taking over leadership of Le Petit Parisien on the death of Paul Piégut in 1888...
– Minister of Public Works, Posts, and Telegraphs - Fernand DavidFernand DavidFernand David was the French Minister of Agriculture from 21 January 1913 to 22 March 1913.-References:...
– Minister of Commerce and Industry
Changes
- 12 January 1913 – Albert LebrunAlbert LebrunAlbert François Lebrun was a French politician, President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the center-right Democratic Republican Alliance .-Biography:...
succeeds Millerand as Minister of War. René Besnard succeeds Lebrun as Minister of Colonies.
Second ministry, 15 January 1922 29 March 1924
- Raymond Poincaré – President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
- André MaginotAndré MaginotAndré Maginot was a French civil servant, soldier, and Member of Parliament. He is undoubtedly best known for his advocacy for the string of forts that would be known as the Maginot Line.- Early years, to World War I :...
– Minister of War - Maurice MaunouryMaurice MaunouryMaurice Maunoury was a French politician born 16 October 1863 in Alexandria and died 16 May 1925 in Paris*Député for Eure-et-Loir from 1910 to 1924*Minister of the Colonies from 9 to 13 June 1914 in the Alexandre Ribot government...
– Minister of the Interior - Charles de Lasteyrie – Minister of Finance
- Albert Peyronnet – Minister of Labour
- Louis BarthouLouis BarthouJean Louis Barthou was a French politician of the Third Republic.-Early years:He was born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and served as Deputy from that constituency. He was an authority on trade union history and law. Barthou was Prime Minister in 1913, and held ministerial office...
– Minister of Justice - Flaminius Raiberti – Minister of Marine
- Léon BérardLéon BérardLéon Bérard was a French politician and lawyer.He was Minister of Public Instruction in 1919 and from 1921 to 1924, and Minister of Justice from 1931 to 1932 and was elected to the Académie française in 1934.Bérard was the Ambassador from Vichy France to the Holy See from 1940 to 1945.-Léon Bérard...
– Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts - Henry Chéron – Minister of Agriculture
- Albert SarrautAlbert SarrautAlbert-Pierre Sarraut was a French Radical politician, twice Prime Minister during the Third Republic.Sarraut was born in Bordeaux, Gironde, France.He was Governor-General of French Indochina, from 1912 to 1919....
– Minister of Colonies - Yves Le Trocquer – Minister of Public Works
- Paul Strauss – Minister of Hygiene, Welfare Work, and Social Security Provisions
- Lucien Dior – Minister of Commerce and Industry
- Charles Reibel – Minister of Liberated Regions
Changes
- 5 October 1922 – Maurice Colrat succeeds Barthou as Minister of Justice.
Third ministry, 29 March 9 June 1924
- Raymond Poincaré – President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
- André MaginotAndré MaginotAndré Maginot was a French civil servant, soldier, and Member of Parliament. He is undoubtedly best known for his advocacy for the string of forts that would be known as the Maginot Line.- Early years, to World War I :...
– Minister of War - Justin de SelvesJustin de SelvesJustin de Selves was a French politician....
– Minister of the Interior - Frédéric François-MarsalFrédéric François-MarsalFrédéric François-Marsal was a French Politician of the Third Republic, who served briefly as Prime Minister in 1924. Due to his premiership he also served for two days as the Acting President of the French Republic between resignation of Alexandre Millerand and election of Gaston...
– Minister of Finance - Charles Daniel-Vincent – Minister of Labour and Hygiene
- Edmond Lefebvre du PreyEdmond Lefebvre du PreyEdmond Lefebvre du Prey was a French politician of the Third Republic....
– Minister of Justice - Maurice Bokanowski – Minister of Marine
- Henry de Jouvenel – Minister of Public Instruction, Fine Arts, and Technical Education
- Joseph Capus – Minister of Agriculture
- Jean Fabry – Minister of Colonies
- Yves Le Trocquer – Minister of Public Works, Ports, and Marine
- Louis LoucheurLouis LoucheurLouis Loucheur was a French politician in the Third Republic, at first a member of the conservative Republican Federation, then of the Democratic Republican Alliance and of the Independent Radicals.-Life:Coming from a background in the arms industry, Loucheur became Minister of Munitions in...
– Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts, and Telegraphs - Louis MarinLouis MarinLouis Marin was a French philosopher, historian, semiotician and art critic of the 20th century.He was born in La Tronche, He is usually referred to as a French Post-Structuralism thinker. He attended the University of Paris, Sorbonne and graduated with a Licence in Philosophy in 1952...
– Minister of Liberated Regions
Fourth ministry, 23 July 1926 11 November 1928
- Raymond Poincaré – President of the Council and Minister of Finance
- Aristide BriandAristide BriandAristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...
– Minister of Foreign Affairs - Paul PainlevéPaul PainlevéPaul Painlevé was a French mathematician and politician. He served twice as Prime Minister of the Third Republic: 12 September – 13 November 1917 and 17 April – 22 November 1925.-Early life:Painlevé was born in Paris....
– Minister of War - Albert SarrautAlbert SarrautAlbert-Pierre Sarraut was a French Radical politician, twice Prime Minister during the Third Republic.Sarraut was born in Bordeaux, Gironde, France.He was Governor-General of French Indochina, from 1912 to 1919....
– Minister of the Interior - André Fallières – Minister of Labour, Hygiene, Welfare Work, and Social Security Provisions
- Louis BarthouLouis BarthouJean Louis Barthou was a French politician of the Third Republic.-Early years:He was born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and served as Deputy from that constituency. He was an authority on trade union history and law. Barthou was Prime Minister in 1913, and held ministerial office...
– Minister of Justice - Georges LeyguesGeorges LeyguesGeorges Leygues was a French politician of the Third Republic. During his time as Minister of Marine he worked with the navy's chief of staff Henri Salaun in unsuccessful attempts to gain naval re-armament priority for government funding over army rearmament such as the Maginot Line.He was born...
– Minister of Marine
- Édouard HerriotÉdouard HerriotÉdouard Marie Herriot was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister and for many years as President of the Chamber of Deputies....
– Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts - Louis MarinLouis MarinLouis Marin was a French philosopher, historian, semiotician and art critic of the 20th century.He was born in La Tronche, He is usually referred to as a French Post-Structuralism thinker. He attended the University of Paris, Sorbonne and graduated with a Licence in Philosophy in 1952...
– Minister of Pensions - Henri QueuilleHenri QueuilleHenri Queuille was a French Radical politician prominent in the Third and Fourth Republics. After World War II, he served three times as Prime Minister.He was the son of a noblewoman.-First ministry :...
– Minister of Agriculture - Léon Perrier – Minister of Colonies
- André TardieuAndré TardieuAndré Pierre Gabriel Amédée Tardieu was three times Prime Minister of France and a dominant figure of French political life in 1929-1932.-Biography:...
– Minister of Public Works - Maurice Bokanowski – Minister of Commerce and Industry
Changes
- 1 June 1928 – Louis LoucheurLouis LoucheurLouis Loucheur was a French politician in the Third Republic, at first a member of the conservative Republican Federation, then of the Democratic Republican Alliance and of the Independent Radicals.-Life:Coming from a background in the arms industry, Loucheur became Minister of Munitions in...
succeeds Fallières as Minister of Labour, Hygiene, Welfare Work, and Social Security Provisions - 14 September 1928 – Laurent EynacLaurent EynacLaurent Eynac was a French politician who was appointed Minister of Transportation on 7 June 1935 until 24 January 1936.He was born in Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille, Haute-Loire.-References:...
enters the ministry as Minister of Air. Henry Chéron succeeds Bokanowski as Minister of Commerce and Industry, and also becomes Minister of Posts and Telegraphs.
Fifth ministry, 11 November 1928 29 July 1929
- Raymond Poincaré – President of the Council
- Aristide BriandAristide BriandAristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...
– Minister of Foreign Affairs - Paul PainlevéPaul PainlevéPaul Painlevé was a French mathematician and politician. He served twice as Prime Minister of the Third Republic: 12 September – 13 November 1917 and 17 April – 22 November 1925.-Early life:Painlevé was born in Paris....
– Minister of War - André TardieuAndré TardieuAndré Pierre Gabriel Amédée Tardieu was three times Prime Minister of France and a dominant figure of French political life in 1929-1932.-Biography:...
– Minister of the Interior - Henry Chéron – Minister of Finance
- Louis LoucheurLouis LoucheurLouis Loucheur was a French politician in the Third Republic, at first a member of the conservative Republican Federation, then of the Democratic Republican Alliance and of the Independent Radicals.-Life:Coming from a background in the arms industry, Loucheur became Minister of Munitions in...
– Minister of Labour, Hygiene, Welfare Work, and Social Security Provisions - Louis BarthouLouis BarthouJean Louis Barthou was a French politician of the Third Republic.-Early years:He was born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and served as Deputy from that constituency. He was an authority on trade union history and law. Barthou was Prime Minister in 1913, and held ministerial office...
– Minister of Justice - Georges LeyguesGeorges LeyguesGeorges Leygues was a French politician of the Third Republic. During his time as Minister of Marine he worked with the navy's chief of staff Henri Salaun in unsuccessful attempts to gain naval re-armament priority for government funding over army rearmament such as the Maginot Line.He was born...
– Minister of Marine
- Laurent EynacLaurent EynacLaurent Eynac was a French politician who was appointed Minister of Transportation on 7 June 1935 until 24 January 1936.He was born in Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille, Haute-Loire.-References:...
– Minister of Air - Pierre MarraudPierre MarraudPierre Marraud was a French politician born in Port-Sainte-Marie, Lot-et-Garonne, 8 January 1861, died in Paris 13.*Préfet in 1900, Councillor of State, commissaire du gouvernement at the end of the First World War until becoming prefect of in 1918.*Senator for Lot-et-Garonne from 1920 to...
– Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts - Louis Antériou – Minister of Pensions
- Jean HennessyJean HennessyJean Patrick Hennessy was a French politician.Hennessy was born at Cherves-Richemont in the Charente département, son of Maurice Hennessy and his wife Jeanne, née Foussat. His very wealthy family, of Irish origin, were the proprietors of the Hennessy cognac business, now part of LVMH...
– Minister of Agriculture - André MaginotAndré MaginotAndré Maginot was a French civil servant, soldier, and Member of Parliament. He is undoubtedly best known for his advocacy for the string of forts that would be known as the Maginot Line.- Early years, to World War I :...
– Minister of Colonies - Pierre Forgeot – Minister of Public Works
- Georges Bonnefous – Minister of Commerce and Industry
Further reading
Raymond Poincaré (ʁɛmɔ̃ pwɛ̃kaʁe; 20 August 1860 – 15 October 1934) was a FrenchHistory of France
The history of France goes back to the arrival of the earliest human being in what is now France. Members of the genus Homo entered the area hundreds of thousands years ago, while the first modern Homo sapiens, the Cro-Magnons, arrived around 40,000 years ago...
statesman who served as Prime Minister of France
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
on five separate occasions and as President of France from 1913 to 1920. Poincaré was a conservative leader primarily committed to political and social stability.
Early life
Born in Bar-le-DucBar-le-Duc
Bar-le-Duc, formerly known as Bar, is a commune in the Meuse département, of which it is the préfecture . The department is in Lorraine in north-eastern France-Geography:...
, Meuse, France, Raymond Poincaré was the son of Nicolas Antonin Hélène Poincaré, a distinguished civil servant and meteorologist. Raymond was also the cousin of Henri Poincaré
Henri Poincaré
Jules Henri Poincaré was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and a philosopher of science...
, the famous mathematician. Educated 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...
, Raymond was called to the Paris bar, and was for some time law editor of the Voltaire.
As a lawyer, he successfully defended Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
in a libel suit presented against the famous author by the chemist Eugène Turpin
Eugene Turpin
François Eugène Turpin was a French chemist involved in research of explosive materials. He lived in Colombes.-Biography:...
, inventor of the explosive melinite
Picric acid
Picric acid is the chemical compound formally called 2,4,6-trinitrophenol . This yellow crystalline solid is one of the most acidic phenols. Like other highly nitrated compounds such as TNT, picric acid is an explosive...
, who claimed that the "mad scientist" character in Verne's book Facing the Flag
Facing the Flag
Facing the Flag or For the Flag is an 1896 patriotic novel by Jules Verne. The book is part of the Voyages Extraordinaires series....
was based on him.
Early political career
Poincaré had served for over a year in the Department of Agriculture when in 1887 he was elected deputy for the MeuseMeuse
Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
département. He made a great reputation in the Chamber as an economist, and sat on the budget commissions of 1890–1891 and 1892. He was minister of education, fine arts and religion in the first cabinet (April November 1893) of Charles Dupuy
Charles Dupuy
Charles Alexandre Dupuy was a French statesman, three times prime minister.-Biography:He was born in Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire, Auvergne, where his father was a minor official. After a period as a professor of philosophy in the provinces, he was appointed a school inspector, thus obtaining a...
, and minister of finance in the second and third (May 1894 January 1895).
In Alexandre Ribot
Alexandre Ribot
Alexandre-Félix-Joseph Ribot was a French politician, four times Prime Minister.-Biography:He was born in Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais.After a brilliant academic career at the University of Paris, where he was lauréat of the faculty of law, he rapidly made his mark at the bar...
's cabinet Poincaré became minister of public instruction. Although he was excluded from the Radical cabinet which followed, the revised scheme of death duties proposed by the new ministry was based upon his proposals of the previous year. He became vice-president of the chamber in the autumn of 1895, and in spite of the bitter hostility of the Radicals retained his position in 1896 and 1897.
Along with other followers of "Opportunist
Opportunism
-General definition:Opportunism is the conscious policy and practice of taking selfish advantage of circumstances, with little regard for principles. Opportunist actions are expedient actions guided primarily by self-interested motives. The term can be applied to individuals, groups,...
" Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta was a French statesman prominent after the Franco-Prussian War.-Youth and education:He is said to have inherited his vigour and eloquence from his father, a Genovese grocer who had married a Frenchwoman named Massabie. At the age of fifteen, Gambetta lost the sight of his right eye...
, Poincaré founded the Democratic Republican Alliance
Democratic Republican Alliance
The Democratic Republican Alliance was a French political party created in 1901 by followers of Léon Gambetta, such as Raymond Poincaré who would be president of the Council in the 1920s...
(ARD) in 1902, which became the most important center-right party under the Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
.
In 1906 he returned to the ministry of finance in the short-lived Sarrien
Ferdinand Sarrien
Jean Marie Ferdinand Sarrien was a French politician of the Third Republic. He was born in Bourbon-Lancy, Saône-et-Loire and died in Paris. He headed a cabinet supported by the Bloc des gauches parliamentary majority....
ministry. Poincaré had retained his practice at the bar during his political career, and he published several volumes of essays on literary and political subjects.
"Poincarism" was a political movement, 1902–20. In 1902 it was used by Clemenceau to define a young generation of conservative politicians who had lost the idealism of the founders of the republic. After 1911 the term was used to mean "national renewal" when faced with the German threat. After the First World War, "Poincarism" refers to his support of business and financial interests.
First premiership
Poincaré became Prime MinisterPrime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
in January 1912, and began pursuing a hardline anti-German policy, noted for restoring close ties with France's Russian ally. He went to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
for a State visit in August 1912. He faced a choice between protecting French interests at home or in the colonies. France's European allies and interests were menaced by tensions with Germany, and its colonies in the eastern Mediterranean were increasingly vulnerable to rebellion. Italy was challenging France's religious and cultural predominance in Syria and the Lebanon, and Britain her economic influence in the area. Poincaré focused intently on the importance of these eastern Mediterranean colonies, particularly Syria, and thereby drew closer to Germany. His policies and strong opposition to nascent pan-Arab movements prefigure the French political strategy after the First World War.
Presidency
Poincaré won election as President of the Republic in 1913, in succession to Armand FallièresArmand Fallières
Clément Armand Fallières was a French politician, president of the French republic from 1906 to 1913.He was born at Mézin in the département of Lot-et-Garonne, France, where his father was clerk of the peace...
. He attempted to make that office into a site of power for the first time since MacMahon
Patrice MacMahon, duc de Magenta
Marie Edme Patrice Maurice de Mac-Mahon, 1st Duke of Magenta was a French general and politician with the distinction Marshal of France. He served as Chief of State of France from 1873 to 1875 and as the first president of the Third Republic, from 1875 to 1879.-Early life:Born in Sully , in the...
in the 1870s. He generally managed to continue to dominate foreign policy, in particular. He went to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, for the second time (but for the first time as president) to reinforce the Franco-Russian Alliance
Franco-Russian Alliance
The Franco-Russian Alliance was a military alliance between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire that ran from 1892 to 1917. The alliance ended the diplomatic isolation of France and undermined the supremacy of the German Empire in Europe...
after Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
in July 1914.
He became increasingly sidelined after the accession to power of Georges Clemenceau
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...
as Prime Minister in 1917. He believed the Armistice
Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)
The armistice between the Allies and Germany was an agreement that ended the fighting in the First World War. It was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender...
happened too soon and that the French Army should have penetrated Germany far more. At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, negotiating the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
, he wanted France to wrest the Rhineland
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
from Germany to put it under Allied military control. Poincaré wrote a memorandum for the conference, saying that after the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
Germany occupied various French provinces and did not leave until it received all of the indemnity, whereas France wanted reparations for damage caused. He further claimed that if the Allies did not occupy the Rhineland and at a later date found that they would need to do so again, Germany would label them the aggressors:
And, further, shall we be sure of finding the left bank free from German troops? Germany is supposedly going to undertake to have neither troops nor fortresses on the left bank and within a zone extending 50 k.m. east of the Rhine. But the Treaty does not provide for any permanent supervision of troops and armaments on the left bank any more than elsewhere in Germany. In the absence of this permanent supervision, the clause stipulating that the League of Nations may order enquiries to be undertaken is in danger of being purely illusory. We can thus have no guarantee that after the expiry of the fifteen years and the evacuation of the left bank, the Germans will not filter troops by degrees into this district. Even supposing they have not previously done so, how can we prevent them doing it at the moment when we intend to re-occupy on account of their default? It will be simple for them to leap to the Rhine in a night and to seize this natural military frontier well ahead of us. The option to renew the occupation should not therefore from any point of view be substituted for occupation.
Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch , GCB, OM, DSO was a French soldier, war hero, military theorist, and writer credited with possessing "the most original and subtle mind in the French army" in the early 20th century. He served as general in the French army during World War I and was made Marshal of France in its...
urged Poincaré to invoke his powers as laid down in the Constitution and take over the negotiations of the treaty due to worries that Clemenceau was not achieving France's aims. He did not, and when the French Cabinet approved of the terms which Clemenceau obtained, Poincaré considered resigning, although again he refrained.
Second premiership
Frustrated at Germany's unwillingness to pay reparations, Poincaré hoped for joint Anglo-French economic sanctions against Germany in 1922, opposing military action. However, by December 1922 he was faced with British-American-German hostility and saw coal for French steel production and money for reconstructing the devastated industrial areas draining away. Poincaré was exasperated with British failure to act, and wrote to the French ambassador in London:
Judging others by themselves, the English, who are blinded by their loyalty, have always thought that the Germans did not abide by their pledges inscribed in the Versailles Treaty because they had not frankly agreed to them... We, on the contrary, believe that if Germany, far from making the slightest effort to carry out the treaty of peace, has always tried to escape her obligations, it is because until now she has not been convinced of her defeat... We are also certain that Germany, as a nation, resigns herself to keep her pledged word only under the impact of necessity.
Poincaré decided to occupy the Ruhr
Occupation of the Ruhr
The Occupation of the Ruhr between 1923 and 1925, by troops from France and Belgium, was a response to the failure of the German Weimar Republic under Chancellor Cuno to pay reparations in the aftermath of World War I.-Background:...
on 11 January 1923, to extract the reparations himself. This, according to historian Sally Marks, "was profitable and caused neither the German hyperinflation, which began in 1922 and ballooned because of German responses to the Ruhr occupation, nor the franc's 1924 collapse, which arose from French financial practices and the evaporation of reparations". The profits, after Ruhr-Rhineland occupation costs, were nearly 900 million gold marks. Poincaré lost the 1924 parliamentary election "more from the franc's collapse and the ensuing taxation than from diplomatic isolation".
Third premiership
As early as 1915, Raymond Poincaré introduced a controversial denaturalization law which was applied to naturalized French citizens with "enemy origins" who had continued to maintain their original nationality. Through another law passed in 1927, the government could denaturalize any new citizen who committed acts contrary to French "national interest".
He died in Paris in 1934.
Family
His brother, Lucien PoincaréLucien Poincaré
-Biography:Poincaré was born at Bar-le-Duc July 22, 1862. After a distinguished academic career he became in succession inspector general of physical science in 1902, director of secondary education at the Ministry of Public Instruction in 1910, director of higher education in 1914 and rector of...
(1862–1920), famous as a physicist, became inspector-general of public instruction in 1902. He is the author of La Physique moderne (1906) and L'Électricité (1907). Jules Henri Poincaré (1854–1912), also a distinguished physicist and mathematician, belonged to another branch of the same family.
First ministry, 21 January 1912 21 January 1913
- Raymond Poincaré – President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Alexandre MillerandAlexandre MillerandAlexandre Millerand was a French socialist politician. He was President of France from 23 September 1920 to 11 June 1924 and Prime Minister of France 20 January to 23 September 1920...
– Minister of War - Théodore SteegThéodore SteegThéodore Steeg was a French politician of the Third Republic, deputy of the Seine from 1906 to 1914 and senator of the same department from 1914 to 1940....
– Minister of the Interior - Louis Lucien Klotz – Minister of Finance
- Léon BourgeoisLéon Bourgeois-Biography:He was born in Paris, and was trained in law. After holding a subordinate office in the department of public works, he became successively prefect of the Tarn and the Haute-Garonne , and then returned to Paris to enter the ministry of the interior...
– Minister of Labour and Social Security Provisions - Aristide BriandAristide BriandAristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...
– Minister of Justice
- Théophile DelcasséThéophile DelcasséThéophile Delcassé was a French statesman.-Biography:He was born at Pamiers, in the Ariège département...
– Minister of Marine - Gabriel Guist'hauGabriel Guist'hauGabriel Guist'hau, was a French politician .Guist'hau left Réunion for Nantes to study law there, and was elected the mayor of Nantes in 1908. He went on to become a deputy to the Assemblée nationale from 1910 to 1924...
– Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts - Jules Pams – Minister of Agriculture
- Albert LebrunAlbert LebrunAlbert François Lebrun was a French politician, President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the center-right Democratic Republican Alliance .-Biography:...
– Minister of Colonies - Jean DupuyJean Dupuy (politician)Jean Dupuy - 31 December 1919, Paris) was a French politician and media owner.-Life:A huissier by profession, he practised in Paris and quickly became interested in the press and in politics, taking over leadership of Le Petit Parisien on the death of Paul Piégut in 1888...
– Minister of Public Works, Posts, and Telegraphs - Fernand DavidFernand DavidFernand David was the French Minister of Agriculture from 21 January 1913 to 22 March 1913.-References:...
– Minister of Commerce and Industry
Changes
- 12 January 1913 – Albert LebrunAlbert LebrunAlbert François Lebrun was a French politician, President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the center-right Democratic Republican Alliance .-Biography:...
succeeds Millerand as Minister of War. René Besnard succeeds Lebrun as Minister of Colonies.
Second ministry, 15 January 1922 29 March 1924
- Raymond Poincaré – President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
- André MaginotAndré MaginotAndré Maginot was a French civil servant, soldier, and Member of Parliament. He is undoubtedly best known for his advocacy for the string of forts that would be known as the Maginot Line.- Early years, to World War I :...
– Minister of War - Maurice MaunouryMaurice MaunouryMaurice Maunoury was a French politician born 16 October 1863 in Alexandria and died 16 May 1925 in Paris*Député for Eure-et-Loir from 1910 to 1924*Minister of the Colonies from 9 to 13 June 1914 in the Alexandre Ribot government...
– Minister of the Interior - Charles de Lasteyrie – Minister of Finance
- Albert Peyronnet – Minister of Labour
- Louis BarthouLouis BarthouJean Louis Barthou was a French politician of the Third Republic.-Early years:He was born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and served as Deputy from that constituency. He was an authority on trade union history and law. Barthou was Prime Minister in 1913, and held ministerial office...
– Minister of Justice - Flaminius Raiberti – Minister of Marine
- Léon BérardLéon BérardLéon Bérard was a French politician and lawyer.He was Minister of Public Instruction in 1919 and from 1921 to 1924, and Minister of Justice from 1931 to 1932 and was elected to the Académie française in 1934.Bérard was the Ambassador from Vichy France to the Holy See from 1940 to 1945.-Léon Bérard...
– Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts - Henry Chéron – Minister of Agriculture
- Albert SarrautAlbert SarrautAlbert-Pierre Sarraut was a French Radical politician, twice Prime Minister during the Third Republic.Sarraut was born in Bordeaux, Gironde, France.He was Governor-General of French Indochina, from 1912 to 1919....
– Minister of Colonies - Yves Le Trocquer – Minister of Public Works
- Paul Strauss – Minister of Hygiene, Welfare Work, and Social Security Provisions
- Lucien Dior – Minister of Commerce and Industry
- Charles Reibel – Minister of Liberated Regions
Changes
- 5 October 1922 – Maurice Colrat succeeds Barthou as Minister of Justice.
Third ministry, 29 March 9 June 1924
- Raymond Poincaré – President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
- André MaginotAndré MaginotAndré Maginot was a French civil servant, soldier, and Member of Parliament. He is undoubtedly best known for his advocacy for the string of forts that would be known as the Maginot Line.- Early years, to World War I :...
– Minister of War - Justin de SelvesJustin de SelvesJustin de Selves was a French politician....
– Minister of the Interior - Frédéric François-MarsalFrédéric François-MarsalFrédéric François-Marsal was a French Politician of the Third Republic, who served briefly as Prime Minister in 1924. Due to his premiership he also served for two days as the Acting President of the French Republic between resignation of Alexandre Millerand and election of Gaston...
– Minister of Finance - Charles Daniel-Vincent – Minister of Labour and Hygiene
- Edmond Lefebvre du PreyEdmond Lefebvre du PreyEdmond Lefebvre du Prey was a French politician of the Third Republic....
– Minister of Justice - Maurice Bokanowski – Minister of Marine
- Henry de Jouvenel – Minister of Public Instruction, Fine Arts, and Technical Education
- Joseph Capus – Minister of Agriculture
- Jean Fabry – Minister of Colonies
- Yves Le Trocquer – Minister of Public Works, Ports, and Marine
- Louis LoucheurLouis LoucheurLouis Loucheur was a French politician in the Third Republic, at first a member of the conservative Republican Federation, then of the Democratic Republican Alliance and of the Independent Radicals.-Life:Coming from a background in the arms industry, Loucheur became Minister of Munitions in...
– Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts, and Telegraphs - Louis MarinLouis MarinLouis Marin was a French philosopher, historian, semiotician and art critic of the 20th century.He was born in La Tronche, He is usually referred to as a French Post-Structuralism thinker. He attended the University of Paris, Sorbonne and graduated with a Licence in Philosophy in 1952...
– Minister of Liberated Regions
Fourth ministry, 23 July 1926 11 November 1928
- Raymond Poincaré – President of the Council and Minister of Finance
- Aristide BriandAristide BriandAristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...
– Minister of Foreign Affairs - Paul PainlevéPaul PainlevéPaul Painlevé was a French mathematician and politician. He served twice as Prime Minister of the Third Republic: 12 September – 13 November 1917 and 17 April – 22 November 1925.-Early life:Painlevé was born in Paris....
– Minister of War - Albert SarrautAlbert SarrautAlbert-Pierre Sarraut was a French Radical politician, twice Prime Minister during the Third Republic.Sarraut was born in Bordeaux, Gironde, France.He was Governor-General of French Indochina, from 1912 to 1919....
– Minister of the Interior - André Fallières – Minister of Labour, Hygiene, Welfare Work, and Social Security Provisions
- Louis BarthouLouis BarthouJean Louis Barthou was a French politician of the Third Republic.-Early years:He was born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and served as Deputy from that constituency. He was an authority on trade union history and law. Barthou was Prime Minister in 1913, and held ministerial office...
– Minister of Justice - Georges LeyguesGeorges LeyguesGeorges Leygues was a French politician of the Third Republic. During his time as Minister of Marine he worked with the navy's chief of staff Henri Salaun in unsuccessful attempts to gain naval re-armament priority for government funding over army rearmament such as the Maginot Line.He was born...
– Minister of Marine
- Édouard HerriotÉdouard HerriotÉdouard Marie Herriot was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister and for many years as President of the Chamber of Deputies....
– Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts - Louis MarinLouis MarinLouis Marin was a French philosopher, historian, semiotician and art critic of the 20th century.He was born in La Tronche, He is usually referred to as a French Post-Structuralism thinker. He attended the University of Paris, Sorbonne and graduated with a Licence in Philosophy in 1952...
– Minister of Pensions - Henri QueuilleHenri QueuilleHenri Queuille was a French Radical politician prominent in the Third and Fourth Republics. After World War II, he served three times as Prime Minister.He was the son of a noblewoman.-First ministry :...
– Minister of Agriculture - Léon Perrier – Minister of Colonies
- André TardieuAndré TardieuAndré Pierre Gabriel Amédée Tardieu was three times Prime Minister of France and a dominant figure of French political life in 1929-1932.-Biography:...
– Minister of Public Works - Maurice Bokanowski – Minister of Commerce and Industry
Changes
- 1 June 1928 – Louis LoucheurLouis LoucheurLouis Loucheur was a French politician in the Third Republic, at first a member of the conservative Republican Federation, then of the Democratic Republican Alliance and of the Independent Radicals.-Life:Coming from a background in the arms industry, Loucheur became Minister of Munitions in...
succeeds Fallières as Minister of Labour, Hygiene, Welfare Work, and Social Security Provisions - 14 September 1928 – Laurent EynacLaurent EynacLaurent Eynac was a French politician who was appointed Minister of Transportation on 7 June 1935 until 24 January 1936.He was born in Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille, Haute-Loire.-References:...
enters the ministry as Minister of Air. Henry Chéron succeeds Bokanowski as Minister of Commerce and Industry, and also becomes Minister of Posts and Telegraphs.
Fifth ministry, 11 November 1928 29 July 1929
- Raymond Poincaré – President of the Council
- Aristide BriandAristide BriandAristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...
– Minister of Foreign Affairs - Paul PainlevéPaul PainlevéPaul Painlevé was a French mathematician and politician. He served twice as Prime Minister of the Third Republic: 12 September – 13 November 1917 and 17 April – 22 November 1925.-Early life:Painlevé was born in Paris....
– Minister of War - André TardieuAndré TardieuAndré Pierre Gabriel Amédée Tardieu was three times Prime Minister of France and a dominant figure of French political life in 1929-1932.-Biography:...
– Minister of the Interior - Henry Chéron – Minister of Finance
- Louis LoucheurLouis LoucheurLouis Loucheur was a French politician in the Third Republic, at first a member of the conservative Republican Federation, then of the Democratic Republican Alliance and of the Independent Radicals.-Life:Coming from a background in the arms industry, Loucheur became Minister of Munitions in...
– Minister of Labour, Hygiene, Welfare Work, and Social Security Provisions - Louis BarthouLouis BarthouJean Louis Barthou was a French politician of the Third Republic.-Early years:He was born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and served as Deputy from that constituency. He was an authority on trade union history and law. Barthou was Prime Minister in 1913, and held ministerial office...
– Minister of Justice - Georges LeyguesGeorges LeyguesGeorges Leygues was a French politician of the Third Republic. During his time as Minister of Marine he worked with the navy's chief of staff Henri Salaun in unsuccessful attempts to gain naval re-armament priority for government funding over army rearmament such as the Maginot Line.He was born...
– Minister of Marine
- Laurent EynacLaurent EynacLaurent Eynac was a French politician who was appointed Minister of Transportation on 7 June 1935 until 24 January 1936.He was born in Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille, Haute-Loire.-References:...
– Minister of Air - Pierre MarraudPierre MarraudPierre Marraud was a French politician born in Port-Sainte-Marie, Lot-et-Garonne, 8 January 1861, died in Paris 13.*Préfet in 1900, Councillor of State, commissaire du gouvernement at the end of the First World War until becoming prefect of in 1918.*Senator for Lot-et-Garonne from 1920 to...
– Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts - Louis Antériou – Minister of Pensions
- Jean HennessyJean HennessyJean Patrick Hennessy was a French politician.Hennessy was born at Cherves-Richemont in the Charente département, son of Maurice Hennessy and his wife Jeanne, née Foussat. His very wealthy family, of Irish origin, were the proprietors of the Hennessy cognac business, now part of LVMH...
– Minister of Agriculture - André MaginotAndré MaginotAndré Maginot was a French civil servant, soldier, and Member of Parliament. He is undoubtedly best known for his advocacy for the string of forts that would be known as the Maginot Line.- Early years, to World War I :...
– Minister of Colonies - Pierre Forgeot – Minister of Public Works
- Georges Bonnefous – Minister of Commerce and Industry
Further reading
Raymond Poincaré (ʁɛmɔ̃ pwɛ̃kaʁe; 20 August 1860 – 15 October 1934) was a FrenchHistory of France
The history of France goes back to the arrival of the earliest human being in what is now France. Members of the genus Homo entered the area hundreds of thousands years ago, while the first modern Homo sapiens, the Cro-Magnons, arrived around 40,000 years ago...
statesman who served as Prime Minister of France
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
on five separate occasions and as President of France from 1913 to 1920. Poincaré was a conservative leader primarily committed to political and social stability.
Early life
Born in Bar-le-DucBar-le-Duc
Bar-le-Duc, formerly known as Bar, is a commune in the Meuse département, of which it is the préfecture . The department is in Lorraine in north-eastern France-Geography:...
, Meuse, France, Raymond Poincaré was the son of Nicolas Antonin Hélène Poincaré, a distinguished civil servant and meteorologist. Raymond was also the cousin of Henri Poincaré
Henri Poincaré
Jules Henri Poincaré was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and a philosopher of science...
, the famous mathematician. Educated 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...
, Raymond was called to the Paris bar, and was for some time law editor of the Voltaire.
As a lawyer, he successfully defended Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
in a libel suit presented against the famous author by the chemist Eugène Turpin
Eugene Turpin
François Eugène Turpin was a French chemist involved in research of explosive materials. He lived in Colombes.-Biography:...
, inventor of the explosive melinite
Picric acid
Picric acid is the chemical compound formally called 2,4,6-trinitrophenol . This yellow crystalline solid is one of the most acidic phenols. Like other highly nitrated compounds such as TNT, picric acid is an explosive...
, who claimed that the "mad scientist" character in Verne's book Facing the Flag
Facing the Flag
Facing the Flag or For the Flag is an 1896 patriotic novel by Jules Verne. The book is part of the Voyages Extraordinaires series....
was based on him.
Early political career
Poincaré had served for over a year in the Department of Agriculture when in 1887 he was elected deputy for the MeuseMeuse
Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
département. He made a great reputation in the Chamber as an economist, and sat on the budget commissions of 1890–1891 and 1892. He was minister of education, fine arts and religion in the first cabinet (April November 1893) of Charles Dupuy
Charles Dupuy
Charles Alexandre Dupuy was a French statesman, three times prime minister.-Biography:He was born in Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire, Auvergne, where his father was a minor official. After a period as a professor of philosophy in the provinces, he was appointed a school inspector, thus obtaining a...
, and minister of finance in the second and third (May 1894 January 1895).
In Alexandre Ribot
Alexandre Ribot
Alexandre-Félix-Joseph Ribot was a French politician, four times Prime Minister.-Biography:He was born in Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais.After a brilliant academic career at the University of Paris, where he was lauréat of the faculty of law, he rapidly made his mark at the bar...
's cabinet Poincaré became minister of public instruction. Although he was excluded from the Radical cabinet which followed, the revised scheme of death duties proposed by the new ministry was based upon his proposals of the previous year. He became vice-president of the chamber in the autumn of 1895, and in spite of the bitter hostility of the Radicals retained his position in 1896 and 1897.
Along with other followers of "Opportunist
Opportunism
-General definition:Opportunism is the conscious policy and practice of taking selfish advantage of circumstances, with little regard for principles. Opportunist actions are expedient actions guided primarily by self-interested motives. The term can be applied to individuals, groups,...
" Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta was a French statesman prominent after the Franco-Prussian War.-Youth and education:He is said to have inherited his vigour and eloquence from his father, a Genovese grocer who had married a Frenchwoman named Massabie. At the age of fifteen, Gambetta lost the sight of his right eye...
, Poincaré founded the Democratic Republican Alliance
Democratic Republican Alliance
The Democratic Republican Alliance was a French political party created in 1901 by followers of Léon Gambetta, such as Raymond Poincaré who would be president of the Council in the 1920s...
(ARD) in 1902, which became the most important center-right party under the Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
.
In 1906 he returned to the ministry of finance in the short-lived Sarrien
Ferdinand Sarrien
Jean Marie Ferdinand Sarrien was a French politician of the Third Republic. He was born in Bourbon-Lancy, Saône-et-Loire and died in Paris. He headed a cabinet supported by the Bloc des gauches parliamentary majority....
ministry. Poincaré had retained his practice at the bar during his political career, and he published several volumes of essays on literary and political subjects.
"Poincarism" was a political movement, 1902–20. In 1902 it was used by Clemenceau to define a young generation of conservative politicians who had lost the idealism of the founders of the republic. After 1911 the term was used to mean "national renewal" when faced with the German threat. After the First World War, "Poincarism" refers to his support of business and financial interests.
First premiership
Poincaré became Prime MinisterPrime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
in January 1912, and began pursuing a hardline anti-German policy, noted for restoring close ties with France's Russian ally. He went to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
for a State visit in August 1912. He faced a choice between protecting French interests at home or in the colonies. France's European allies and interests were menaced by tensions with Germany, and its colonies in the eastern Mediterranean were increasingly vulnerable to rebellion. Italy was challenging France's religious and cultural predominance in Syria and the Lebanon, and Britain her economic influence in the area. Poincaré focused intently on the importance of these eastern Mediterranean colonies, particularly Syria, and thereby drew closer to Germany. His policies and strong opposition to nascent pan-Arab movements prefigure the French political strategy after the First World War.
Presidency
Poincaré won election as President of the Republic in 1913, in succession to Armand FallièresArmand Fallières
Clément Armand Fallières was a French politician, president of the French republic from 1906 to 1913.He was born at Mézin in the département of Lot-et-Garonne, France, where his father was clerk of the peace...
. He attempted to make that office into a site of power for the first time since MacMahon
Patrice MacMahon, duc de Magenta
Marie Edme Patrice Maurice de Mac-Mahon, 1st Duke of Magenta was a French general and politician with the distinction Marshal of France. He served as Chief of State of France from 1873 to 1875 and as the first president of the Third Republic, from 1875 to 1879.-Early life:Born in Sully , in the...
in the 1870s. He generally managed to continue to dominate foreign policy, in particular. He went to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, for the second time (but for the first time as president) to reinforce the Franco-Russian Alliance
Franco-Russian Alliance
The Franco-Russian Alliance was a military alliance between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire that ran from 1892 to 1917. The alliance ended the diplomatic isolation of France and undermined the supremacy of the German Empire in Europe...
after Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
in July 1914.
He became increasingly sidelined after the accession to power of Georges Clemenceau
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...
as Prime Minister in 1917. He believed the Armistice
Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)
The armistice between the Allies and Germany was an agreement that ended the fighting in the First World War. It was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender...
happened too soon and that the French Army should have penetrated Germany far more. At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, negotiating the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
, he wanted France to wrest the Rhineland
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
from Germany to put it under Allied military control. Poincaré wrote a memorandum for the conference, saying that after the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
Germany occupied various French provinces and did not leave until it received all of the indemnity, whereas France wanted reparations for damage caused. He further claimed that if the Allies did not occupy the Rhineland and at a later date found that they would need to do so again, Germany would label them the aggressors:
And, further, shall we be sure of finding the left bank free from German troops? Germany is supposedly going to undertake to have neither troops nor fortresses on the left bank and within a zone extending 50 k.m. east of the Rhine. But the Treaty does not provide for any permanent supervision of troops and armaments on the left bank any more than elsewhere in Germany. In the absence of this permanent supervision, the clause stipulating that the League of Nations may order enquiries to be undertaken is in danger of being purely illusory. We can thus have no guarantee that after the expiry of the fifteen years and the evacuation of the left bank, the Germans will not filter troops by degrees into this district. Even supposing they have not previously done so, how can we prevent them doing it at the moment when we intend to re-occupy on account of their default? It will be simple for them to leap to the Rhine in a night and to seize this natural military frontier well ahead of us. The option to renew the occupation should not therefore from any point of view be substituted for occupation.
Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch , GCB, OM, DSO was a French soldier, war hero, military theorist, and writer credited with possessing "the most original and subtle mind in the French army" in the early 20th century. He served as general in the French army during World War I and was made Marshal of France in its...
urged Poincaré to invoke his powers as laid down in the Constitution and take over the negotiations of the treaty due to worries that Clemenceau was not achieving France's aims. He did not, and when the French Cabinet approved of the terms which Clemenceau obtained, Poincaré considered resigning, although again he refrained.
Second premiership
Frustrated at Germany's unwillingness to pay reparations, Poincaré hoped for joint Anglo-French economic sanctions against Germany in 1922, opposing military action. However, by December 1922 he was faced with British-American-German hostility and saw coal for French steel production and money for reconstructing the devastated industrial areas draining away. Poincaré was exasperated with British failure to act, and wrote to the French ambassador in London:
Judging others by themselves, the English, who are blinded by their loyalty, have always thought that the Germans did not abide by their pledges inscribed in the Versailles Treaty because they had not frankly agreed to them... We, on the contrary, believe that if Germany, far from making the slightest effort to carry out the treaty of peace, has always tried to escape her obligations, it is because until now she has not been convinced of her defeat... We are also certain that Germany, as a nation, resigns herself to keep her pledged word only under the impact of necessity.
Poincaré decided to occupy the Ruhr
Occupation of the Ruhr
The Occupation of the Ruhr between 1923 and 1925, by troops from France and Belgium, was a response to the failure of the German Weimar Republic under Chancellor Cuno to pay reparations in the aftermath of World War I.-Background:...
on 11 January 1923, to extract the reparations himself. This, according to historian Sally Marks, "was profitable and caused neither the German hyperinflation, which began in 1922 and ballooned because of German responses to the Ruhr occupation, nor the franc's 1924 collapse, which arose from French financial practices and the evaporation of reparations". The profits, after Ruhr-Rhineland occupation costs, were nearly 900 million gold marks. Poincaré lost the 1924 parliamentary election "more from the franc's collapse and the ensuing taxation than from diplomatic isolation".
Third premiership
As early as 1915, Raymond Poincaré introduced a controversial denaturalization law which was applied to naturalized French citizens with "enemy origins" who had continued to maintain their original nationality. Through another law passed in 1927, the government could denaturalize any new citizen who committed acts contrary to French "national interest".
He died in Paris in 1934.
Family
His brother, Lucien PoincaréLucien Poincaré
-Biography:Poincaré was born at Bar-le-Duc July 22, 1862. After a distinguished academic career he became in succession inspector general of physical science in 1902, director of secondary education at the Ministry of Public Instruction in 1910, director of higher education in 1914 and rector of...
(1862–1920), famous as a physicist, became inspector-general of public instruction in 1902. He is the author of La Physique moderne (1906) and L'Électricité (1907). Jules Henri Poincaré (1854–1912), also a distinguished physicist and mathematician, belonged to another branch of the same family.
First ministry, 21 January 1912 21 January 1913
- Raymond Poincaré – President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Alexandre MillerandAlexandre MillerandAlexandre Millerand was a French socialist politician. He was President of France from 23 September 1920 to 11 June 1924 and Prime Minister of France 20 January to 23 September 1920...
– Minister of War - Théodore SteegThéodore SteegThéodore Steeg was a French politician of the Third Republic, deputy of the Seine from 1906 to 1914 and senator of the same department from 1914 to 1940....
– Minister of the Interior - Louis Lucien Klotz – Minister of Finance
- Léon BourgeoisLéon Bourgeois-Biography:He was born in Paris, and was trained in law. After holding a subordinate office in the department of public works, he became successively prefect of the Tarn and the Haute-Garonne , and then returned to Paris to enter the ministry of the interior...
– Minister of Labour and Social Security Provisions - Aristide BriandAristide BriandAristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...
– Minister of Justice
- Théophile DelcasséThéophile DelcasséThéophile Delcassé was a French statesman.-Biography:He was born at Pamiers, in the Ariège département...
– Minister of Marine - Gabriel Guist'hauGabriel Guist'hauGabriel Guist'hau, was a French politician .Guist'hau left Réunion for Nantes to study law there, and was elected the mayor of Nantes in 1908. He went on to become a deputy to the Assemblée nationale from 1910 to 1924...
– Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts - Jules Pams – Minister of Agriculture
- Albert LebrunAlbert LebrunAlbert François Lebrun was a French politician, President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the center-right Democratic Republican Alliance .-Biography:...
– Minister of Colonies - Jean DupuyJean Dupuy (politician)Jean Dupuy - 31 December 1919, Paris) was a French politician and media owner.-Life:A huissier by profession, he practised in Paris and quickly became interested in the press and in politics, taking over leadership of Le Petit Parisien on the death of Paul Piégut in 1888...
– Minister of Public Works, Posts, and Telegraphs - Fernand DavidFernand DavidFernand David was the French Minister of Agriculture from 21 January 1913 to 22 March 1913.-References:...
– Minister of Commerce and Industry
Changes
- 12 January 1913 – Albert LebrunAlbert LebrunAlbert François Lebrun was a French politician, President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the center-right Democratic Republican Alliance .-Biography:...
succeeds Millerand as Minister of War. René Besnard succeeds Lebrun as Minister of Colonies.
Second ministry, 15 January 1922 29 March 1924
- Raymond Poincaré – President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
- André MaginotAndré MaginotAndré Maginot was a French civil servant, soldier, and Member of Parliament. He is undoubtedly best known for his advocacy for the string of forts that would be known as the Maginot Line.- Early years, to World War I :...
– Minister of War - Maurice MaunouryMaurice MaunouryMaurice Maunoury was a French politician born 16 October 1863 in Alexandria and died 16 May 1925 in Paris*Député for Eure-et-Loir from 1910 to 1924*Minister of the Colonies from 9 to 13 June 1914 in the Alexandre Ribot government...
– Minister of the Interior - Charles de Lasteyrie – Minister of Finance
- Albert Peyronnet – Minister of Labour
- Louis BarthouLouis BarthouJean Louis Barthou was a French politician of the Third Republic.-Early years:He was born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and served as Deputy from that constituency. He was an authority on trade union history and law. Barthou was Prime Minister in 1913, and held ministerial office...
– Minister of Justice - Flaminius Raiberti – Minister of Marine
- Léon BérardLéon BérardLéon Bérard was a French politician and lawyer.He was Minister of Public Instruction in 1919 and from 1921 to 1924, and Minister of Justice from 1931 to 1932 and was elected to the Académie française in 1934.Bérard was the Ambassador from Vichy France to the Holy See from 1940 to 1945.-Léon Bérard...
– Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts - Henry Chéron – Minister of Agriculture
- Albert SarrautAlbert SarrautAlbert-Pierre Sarraut was a French Radical politician, twice Prime Minister during the Third Republic.Sarraut was born in Bordeaux, Gironde, France.He was Governor-General of French Indochina, from 1912 to 1919....
– Minister of Colonies - Yves Le Trocquer – Minister of Public Works
- Paul Strauss – Minister of Hygiene, Welfare Work, and Social Security Provisions
- Lucien Dior – Minister of Commerce and Industry
- Charles Reibel – Minister of Liberated Regions
Changes
- 5 October 1922 – Maurice Colrat succeeds Barthou as Minister of Justice.
Third ministry, 29 March 9 June 1924
- Raymond Poincaré – President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
- André MaginotAndré MaginotAndré Maginot was a French civil servant, soldier, and Member of Parliament. He is undoubtedly best known for his advocacy for the string of forts that would be known as the Maginot Line.- Early years, to World War I :...
– Minister of War - Justin de SelvesJustin de SelvesJustin de Selves was a French politician....
– Minister of the Interior - Frédéric François-MarsalFrédéric François-MarsalFrédéric François-Marsal was a French Politician of the Third Republic, who served briefly as Prime Minister in 1924. Due to his premiership he also served for two days as the Acting President of the French Republic between resignation of Alexandre Millerand and election of Gaston...
– Minister of Finance - Charles Daniel-Vincent – Minister of Labour and Hygiene
- Edmond Lefebvre du PreyEdmond Lefebvre du PreyEdmond Lefebvre du Prey was a French politician of the Third Republic....
– Minister of Justice - Maurice Bokanowski – Minister of Marine
- Henry de Jouvenel – Minister of Public Instruction, Fine Arts, and Technical Education
- Joseph Capus – Minister of Agriculture
- Jean Fabry – Minister of Colonies
- Yves Le Trocquer – Minister of Public Works, Ports, and Marine
- Louis LoucheurLouis LoucheurLouis Loucheur was a French politician in the Third Republic, at first a member of the conservative Republican Federation, then of the Democratic Republican Alliance and of the Independent Radicals.-Life:Coming from a background in the arms industry, Loucheur became Minister of Munitions in...
– Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts, and Telegraphs - Louis MarinLouis MarinLouis Marin was a French philosopher, historian, semiotician and art critic of the 20th century.He was born in La Tronche, He is usually referred to as a French Post-Structuralism thinker. He attended the University of Paris, Sorbonne and graduated with a Licence in Philosophy in 1952...
– Minister of Liberated Regions
Fourth ministry, 23 July 1926 11 November 1928
- Raymond Poincaré – President of the Council and Minister of Finance
- Aristide BriandAristide BriandAristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...
– Minister of Foreign Affairs - Paul PainlevéPaul PainlevéPaul Painlevé was a French mathematician and politician. He served twice as Prime Minister of the Third Republic: 12 September – 13 November 1917 and 17 April – 22 November 1925.-Early life:Painlevé was born in Paris....
– Minister of War - Albert SarrautAlbert SarrautAlbert-Pierre Sarraut was a French Radical politician, twice Prime Minister during the Third Republic.Sarraut was born in Bordeaux, Gironde, France.He was Governor-General of French Indochina, from 1912 to 1919....
– Minister of the Interior - André Fallières – Minister of Labour, Hygiene, Welfare Work, and Social Security Provisions
- Louis BarthouLouis BarthouJean Louis Barthou was a French politician of the Third Republic.-Early years:He was born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and served as Deputy from that constituency. He was an authority on trade union history and law. Barthou was Prime Minister in 1913, and held ministerial office...
– Minister of Justice - Georges LeyguesGeorges LeyguesGeorges Leygues was a French politician of the Third Republic. During his time as Minister of Marine he worked with the navy's chief of staff Henri Salaun in unsuccessful attempts to gain naval re-armament priority for government funding over army rearmament such as the Maginot Line.He was born...
– Minister of Marine
- Édouard HerriotÉdouard HerriotÉdouard Marie Herriot was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister and for many years as President of the Chamber of Deputies....
– Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts - Louis MarinLouis MarinLouis Marin was a French philosopher, historian, semiotician and art critic of the 20th century.He was born in La Tronche, He is usually referred to as a French Post-Structuralism thinker. He attended the University of Paris, Sorbonne and graduated with a Licence in Philosophy in 1952...
– Minister of Pensions - Henri QueuilleHenri QueuilleHenri Queuille was a French Radical politician prominent in the Third and Fourth Republics. After World War II, he served three times as Prime Minister.He was the son of a noblewoman.-First ministry :...
– Minister of Agriculture - Léon Perrier – Minister of Colonies
- André TardieuAndré TardieuAndré Pierre Gabriel Amédée Tardieu was three times Prime Minister of France and a dominant figure of French political life in 1929-1932.-Biography:...
– Minister of Public Works - Maurice Bokanowski – Minister of Commerce and Industry
Changes
- 1 June 1928 – Louis LoucheurLouis LoucheurLouis Loucheur was a French politician in the Third Republic, at first a member of the conservative Republican Federation, then of the Democratic Republican Alliance and of the Independent Radicals.-Life:Coming from a background in the arms industry, Loucheur became Minister of Munitions in...
succeeds Fallières as Minister of Labour, Hygiene, Welfare Work, and Social Security Provisions - 14 September 1928 – Laurent EynacLaurent EynacLaurent Eynac was a French politician who was appointed Minister of Transportation on 7 June 1935 until 24 January 1936.He was born in Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille, Haute-Loire.-References:...
enters the ministry as Minister of Air. Henry Chéron succeeds Bokanowski as Minister of Commerce and Industry, and also becomes Minister of Posts and Telegraphs.
Fifth ministry, 11 November 1928 29 July 1929
- Raymond Poincaré – President of the Council
- Aristide BriandAristide BriandAristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...
– Minister of Foreign Affairs - Paul PainlevéPaul PainlevéPaul Painlevé was a French mathematician and politician. He served twice as Prime Minister of the Third Republic: 12 September – 13 November 1917 and 17 April – 22 November 1925.-Early life:Painlevé was born in Paris....
– Minister of War - André TardieuAndré TardieuAndré Pierre Gabriel Amédée Tardieu was three times Prime Minister of France and a dominant figure of French political life in 1929-1932.-Biography:...
– Minister of the Interior - Henry Chéron – Minister of Finance
- Louis LoucheurLouis LoucheurLouis Loucheur was a French politician in the Third Republic, at first a member of the conservative Republican Federation, then of the Democratic Republican Alliance and of the Independent Radicals.-Life:Coming from a background in the arms industry, Loucheur became Minister of Munitions in...
– Minister of Labour, Hygiene, Welfare Work, and Social Security Provisions - Louis BarthouLouis BarthouJean Louis Barthou was a French politician of the Third Republic.-Early years:He was born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and served as Deputy from that constituency. He was an authority on trade union history and law. Barthou was Prime Minister in 1913, and held ministerial office...
– Minister of Justice - Georges LeyguesGeorges LeyguesGeorges Leygues was a French politician of the Third Republic. During his time as Minister of Marine he worked with the navy's chief of staff Henri Salaun in unsuccessful attempts to gain naval re-armament priority for government funding over army rearmament such as the Maginot Line.He was born...
– Minister of Marine
- Laurent EynacLaurent EynacLaurent Eynac was a French politician who was appointed Minister of Transportation on 7 June 1935 until 24 January 1936.He was born in Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille, Haute-Loire.-References:...
– Minister of Air - Pierre MarraudPierre MarraudPierre Marraud was a French politician born in Port-Sainte-Marie, Lot-et-Garonne, 8 January 1861, died in Paris 13.*Préfet in 1900, Councillor of State, commissaire du gouvernement at the end of the First World War until becoming prefect of in 1918.*Senator for Lot-et-Garonne from 1920 to...
– Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts - Louis Antériou – Minister of Pensions
- Jean HennessyJean HennessyJean Patrick Hennessy was a French politician.Hennessy was born at Cherves-Richemont in the Charente département, son of Maurice Hennessy and his wife Jeanne, née Foussat. His very wealthy family, of Irish origin, were the proprietors of the Hennessy cognac business, now part of LVMH...
– Minister of Agriculture - André MaginotAndré MaginotAndré Maginot was a French civil servant, soldier, and Member of Parliament. He is undoubtedly best known for his advocacy for the string of forts that would be known as the Maginot Line.- Early years, to World War I :...
– Minister of Colonies - Pierre Forgeot – Minister of Public Works
- Georges Bonnefous – Minister of Commerce and Industry