Adolphe Thiers

Louis Adolphe Thiers (April 16, 1797–September 3 1877) was a French statesman and historian. Thiers was a prime minister under King Louis-Philippe of France. Following the overthrow of the Second Empire he again came to prominence as the French leader who suppressed the revolutionary Paris Commune of 1871. From 1871 to 1873 he served initially as Chief of State (effectively a provisional President of France, then a full provisional President. When following a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly his offer of resignation was accepted (he had expected another rejection) and he was forced to vacate office. He was replaced as Provisional President by Patrice MacMahon, duc de Magenta, who became full President of the Third Republic, a post Thiers had coveted, in 1875 when a series of Organic Laws officially creating the Third Republic were enacted.

Notes

A republic was declared following the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War. However it was intended to be a provisional republic, pending the restoration of the monarchy under the Comte de Chambord. Hence, Thiers initially was not president but "Chief of State" (chef d'etat). Though formally made "President of the Republic", historians disagree as to whether to regard Thiers as President of the Third Republic or President of a provisional republic, given that the constitutional structures of the Third Republic, and the creation of a constitutionally-based President of the Third Republic, and even legislative mention of the word 'republic' only occurred in a series of laws passed in 1875 and known as the 'Constitution of 1875'.

Related Topics:
Franco-Prussian War - Comte de Chambord - Legislative

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Karl Marx described him in The Civil War in France as follows:

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"Thiers, that monstrous gnome, has charmed the French bourgeoisie for almost half a century, because he is the most consummate intellectual expression of their own class corruption. Before he became a statesman, he had already proved his lying powers as an historian. The chronicle of his public life is the record of the misfortunes of France. Banded, before 1830, with the republicans, he slipped into office under Louis Philippe by betraying his protector Lafitte, ingratiating himself with the king by exciting mob riots against the clergy, during which the church of Saint Germain l'Auxerrois and the Archbishop's palace were plundered, and by acting the minster-spy upon, and the jail-accoucheur of the Duchess de Berry. The massacre of the republicans in the Rue Transnonian, and the subsequent infamous laws of September against the press and the right of association, were his work. Reappearing as the chief of the cabinet in March 1840, he astonished France with his plan for fortifying France ..... Thiers was consistent only in his greed for wealth and his hatred of the men that produce it. Having entered his first ministry, under Louis Philippe, poor as Job, he left it a millionaire..... "

Related Topics:
Bourgeoisie - Class - 1830 - Saint Germain l'Auxerrois - Rue Transnonian - Job

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