Émile Combes
Émile Justin Louis Combes GCVO (born September 6, 1835 in Roquecourbe , Tarn , † May 25, 1921 in Pons (Charente-Maritime) ) was a French politician and Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905 .
biography
context
Combes was born five years after the July 1830 Revolution . In the July monarchy , Louis-Philippe, considered liberal, came to the French throne from the Orléans branch of the House of Bourbon . As a so-called citizen king , he led his government, supported by the upper classes, initially liberally, but then gave his politics an increasingly reactionary direction, up to and including France's entry into the Holy Alliance , an alliance of states originally founded by Prussia, Russia and Austria and committed to restoration . In the February Revolution of 1848 , which led to the Second French Republic , Louis-Philippe was overthrown. Louis Napoléon Bonaparte , a nephew of Napoléon Bonaparte , was elected President .
On December 2, 1852 this crowned himself as Napoléon III. to the emperor. He secured his power through military and repression measures, through a successful foreign policy and through material concessions to the population. His Second Empire lasted until September 1870 when he failed militarily in the Franco-German War and was taken prisoner by Prussia. On September 4th the Third French Republic was proclaimed; it existed until 1940.
Long-time mayor and senator
Combes came from a relatively poor family, but was due to his uncle, the theologian Abbe Gaubert, in 1860 to study theology with the promotion to Doctor of Divinity complete. After his separation from the Catholic Church, he began to study medicine , after which he settled in 1867 as a doctor in Pons (Charente-Maritime).
Combes political career began when he was elected mayor ( maire ) of Pons in 1876 . He held this office until 1919 - 43 years. After he ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for Saintes for the Senate in 1881 , he was elected Senator in 1885 as a representative of the former Charente-Inférieure department . In the Senate, to which he was a member until his death in 1921, he became President of the Democratic Left (Gauche Démocratique) in 1894. In 1893 and 1894 he was Vice President of the Senate.
On November 1, 1895, because of his knowledge of educational issues, Léon Bourgeois (Prime Minister from 1895 to 1896) appointed him Minister for Public Education (Ministre de l'Instruction Publique) to the first purely left-wing democratic cabinet in France, to which he belonged until this on April 29, 1896 was replaced by the cabinet of Félix Jules Méline .
Prime Minister 1902 to 1905 and separation of church and state
In the parliamentary elections in France in 1902 (April 27 and May 11) - in the wake of the Dreyfus affair - a political left alliance ('Bloc des gauches') won the parliamentary elections for the first time.
On June 7, 1902, Combes finally became Prime Minister (President of the Council) as the successor to Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau . At the beginning of his term of office he had a comfortable parliamentary majority of 368 to 220 seats, which was essentially composed of 129 radicals, 99 members of various republican parties, 90 radical socialists and 48 socialists . As a result, the representatives of the left from Démocratique, Radicaux, Radicaux-Socialistes and Socialistes were reunited in the government in order to solve the problems at hand. Combes sought in particular a constant exchange of views with the National Assembly , in which Jean Jaurès played a prominent role.
Despite his own membership in the Senate , he avoided the participation of the Senate in government as far as possible in order to approach his own ideal of a single and sovereign assembly. He also promoted politicians and administrative officials close to him during his reign. In a letter to the prefect dated June 20, 1902, for example, he demanded the favor of "personalities sincerely devoted to the regime". During his tenure there were reforms in administration, magistrates and the army. In addition, there was a church policy that continues to have an impact today: the influence of the churches on society and in particular on education was limited.
The relationship between the Church and the French state was re-regulated in a number of laws:
- July 1902: Closure of the approx. 3,000 non-state-approved church schools. This led to violent public protests - 74 bishops signed a "protestation".
- Thereupon the government ceased to pay bishops.
- March 1903: Dissolution of all male religious orders
- July 1903: Dissolution of all female religious orders
- July 7, 1904: Prohibition of founding new religious orders
- December 9, 1905: Law separating church and state (France) .
His policy, known as "Combisme", was shaped by anti-clericalism , which in 1905 led to the complete separation of church and state and to the introduction of the secular school in France.
As early as 1904, a new association law stipulated that religious orders had to apply for recognition as an association , which was subject to strict conditions . In 1905 around 2500 church-run schools were closed. This led to the dissolution of all female religious orders; only five of the male orders of priests remained. Members of the order were no longer allowed to work as teachers, and crucifixes and religious symbols were removed from public buildings such as schools or courts.
On December 9, 1905, the so-called Loi Combes was finally adopted. This law on the separation of religion and state established the principle of secularism , which is still valid today, in France . H. the complete separation of religion and state. Although the law applied primarily to the Catholic Church , the other denominations were included in this regulation for reasons of neutrality .
The laws were condemned by Pope Pius X in the encyclical Vehementer nos and for many years worsened the relationship between the French Republic and the Catholic Church. In some cases, the laws could only be enforced against considerable opposition from loyal to the church. On July 28, 1904, diplomatic relations between France and the Vatican were completely broken off.
With the law of 1905, the French government also denounced the 1801 Concordat that Napoleon and the Vatican had concluded. The general prohibition of state promotion of religion does not apply to institutional pastoral care (“Aumôneries”), whereby reference is made to the realization of religious freedom (Art. 1 (2) of the Separation Act of 1905). Combes, who wanted to further strengthen the French Republic , justified the conflict with the Vatican with a reinterpretation of the Concordat of 1801.
On January 24, 1905, he resigned from the office of Prime Minister and was replaced by his previous Finance Minister Maurice Rouvier . During his reign he also took over the office of Minister of the Interior. The reason for his resignation was the so-called "Affaire Des Fiches", in which there was criticism of the promotion practice by War Minister Louis André .
After his resignation as Prime Minister he was from 1905 to 1906 and from 1911 to 1912 President of the Parti Radical-Socialiste . Between October 1915 and December 1916 he was Minister of State (Ministre d'État) in the Government of National Unity (Gouvernement d'Union Nationale) of Prime Minister Aristide Briand .
In his honor the high school in Pons was named 'Lycée Émile Combes'.
Publications
- De l'état actuel de la médecine et des médecins en France. (1869)
- Une campagne laïque. (1904)
- Une deuxième campagne laïque. (1905).
swell
- Senate homepage
- Biography on LAROUSSE
- Biography on the homepage for the 100th anniversary of secularism in France
- Max Nordau : French statesmen - Émile Combes in the Gutenberg-DE project
- EMILE COMBES DIES, EX-FRENCH PREMIER; Originator of the Law Separating the Church and State Was 86 Years Old. Obituary NEW YORK TIMES May 26, 1921
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b rulers.org: French ministries since 1870
- ↑ Guy Laperrière: Les congrégations religieuses: Au plus fort de la tourmente, 1901-1904 . In: Guy Laperrière (ed.): Les congrégations religieuses: de la France au Québec, 1880-1914 . tape 2 . Presses Université Laval, Sainte-Foy 1996, ISBN 2-7637-7631-0 , p. 142 (French, 597 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ "L'Affaire des fiches"
- ↑ For more details, see also French Wikipedia
- ↑ Lycee Emile COMBES ( Memento from July 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau |
Prime Minister of France June 7, 1902 - January 24, 1905 |
Maurice Rouvier |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Combes, Émile |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Combes, Émile Justin Louis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 6, 1835 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Roquecourbe , Tarn department |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 25, 1921 |
| Place of death | Pons (Charente-Maritime) |