Raymond Poincaré

Raymond Poincaré (1913)

Raymond Poincaré (born August 20, 1860 in Bar-le-Duc , Département Meuse , † October 15, 1934 in Paris ) was a French politician in the Third Republic ( ARD ). He was Prime Minister several times and from February 18, 1913 to February 17, 1920 President of the State . He was a cousin of the mathematician Henri Poincaré .

Life

Youth and Studies

In 1870, when Poincaré was ten years old, his hometown Bar-le-Duc was overrun by German troops during the Franco-Prussian War , which may have influenced his later negative attitude towards the German Empire .

After his military service from 1879 to 1880, he studied at the Sorbonne , in 1881 a member of the Paris Bar Association and in 1882 a doctorate in law.

Politician

After becoming head of cabinet for Agriculture Minister Jules Develle in 1886 , Poincaré was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the Meuse département in 1887 and made a name for himself as an economic expert in budget consultations from 1890 to 1892. He particularly distinguished himself through his efforts to mediate between the political camps.

In 1893 Poincaré became the spokesman for the budget committee. From April to November of the same year he was Minister for Education, Art and Religion in the Charles Dupuy cabinet . From May 1894 to January 1895 he was Minister of Finance and then again Minister of Education in the Alexandre Ribot cabinet . In this function, he represented the state in the dispute with the Catholic Church over the French school system and secularism in general, before he left politics in 1895 to only work as a lawyer.

In the Dreyfus Affair (1894–1906) Poincaré initially acted neutrally, only to take the side of Dreyfus supporters after a long period of hesitation. He did not approach the left one, however.

In 1903, when he was elected to the Senate for the Meuse department, Poincaré became politically active again and in 1906 again became finance minister, this time in the cabinet of Ferdinand Sarrien . From 1909 he was a member of the Académie française, and from 1911 he focused on a markedly national stance. From January 14, 1912 to January 18, 1913 he was Prime Minister, strengthened the Triple Entente and generally pursued an armament policy. On January 27, 1913, based on a center-right alliance, he was elected President (in office until 1920). The Church's marriage to his wife Henriette on May 5, 1913 ( registry office had married the two in 1904) attracted despite confidentiality stir among anticlerical Republicans, who after the separation of church and state expected that high officials of the Republic on the blessing of Church renounced.

During the July crisis in 1914, President Poincaré traveled to Saint Petersburg with Prime Minister René Viviani and gave his Russian hosts a "solemn confirmation of the commitments for both countries resulting from the alliance ". This strengthened its backs on Russia , which has since seen no reason to back off its support for Serbia, which is threatened by Austria-Hungary . One week after Poincare's departure, Tsar Nicholas II declared the general mobilization of Russia , which resulted in Germany's declaration of war .

After the beginning of the First World War , he spoke out in favor of continuing the war until victory and called for the Union sacrée , the counterpart to the German truce . His sharpest political opponent was Georges Clemenceau , whom Poincaré nevertheless appointed Prime Minister in 1917 in order to secure political unity and thus France's ability to go to war. By the end of the war, Clemenceau had ousted Poincaré as the most important decision maker in French politics. In 1919 Poincaré was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Raymond Poincaré was Prime Minister of the country for the following periods:

• January 14, 1912 to January 21, 1913 (at the same time he was Foreign Minister )
• January 15, 1922 to June 9, 1924 (at the same time he was Foreign Minister)
• July 23, 1926 to November 11, 1928 (at the same time he was Minister of Finance)
• November 11, 1928 to July 29, 1929 (without additional tasks)

After the end of his tenure as President Poincaré temporarily headed the Allied Reparations Commission formed as a result of the Versailles Treaty . He initially pursued a strictly anti-German policy (see war guilt question ). Poincaré is considered to be the driving force behind the Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr area from 1923 to 1924. The burdens on the state treasury associated with the occupation led to his defeat in the 1924 elections. In addition, France's relentless Germany policy opposed the other victorious powers . He owed his return in 1926 to a financial crisis that followed shortly after he lost power . In the course of time Poincaré's policy of tough hands towards Germany softened significantly. In an interview with Vorwärts he said, for example: B. 1928 on a possible new occupation of the Ruhr: Never! Once evacuated, today a new line-up would mean putting the fuse on the powder keg . In addition: A German left-wing government could expect ten times more from me than a right-wing government . The Franc Poincaré , introduced in 1928, was named after Raymond Poincaré . In 1929 Poincaré resigned for health reasons. He died in Paris in 1934 and was buried in Nubécourt in his home department.

Web links

Commons : Raymond Poincaré  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Raymond Poincaré in the catalog of the German National Library
• Newspaper article about Raymond Poincaré in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
• Anne-Cécile Renouard / Gabriel Eikenberg: Raymond Poincaré. Tabular curriculum vitae in the LeMO ( DHM and HdG )
• Short biography and list of works of the Académie française (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Christopher Clark in an interview with "Der Bund", published. on June 28, 2014; http://www.derbund.ch/wissen/geschichte/Das-Buch-ist-kein-Freisrauch-fuer-die-Deutschen/story/24143098?track accessed online on January 6, 2016
2. ↑ Christopher Clark : The Sleepwalkers: How Europe moved into the First World War . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Munich 2013, p. 403.
3. ↑ Erich Eyck : History of the Weimar Republic , Volume 2, 1956, p. 229

predecessor	Office	successor
Joseph Caillaux Aristide Briand Édouard Herriot	Prime Minister of France January 21, 1912 to January 21, 1913 January 15, 1922 to June 8, 1924 July 23, 1926 to July 29, 1929	Aristide Briand Frédéric François-Marsal Aristide Briand
Justin de Selves Aristide Briand	Foreign Minister of France January 14, 1912 to January 22, 1913 January 15, 1922 to June 15, 1924	Charles Jonnart Edmond Lefebvre du Prey
Charles Dupuy Georges Leygues	Minister of Education of France April 4, 1893 to December 3, 1893 January 26, 1895 to November 1, 1895	Eugène Spuller Émile Combes
Auguste Burdeau Pierre Merlou Anatole de Monzie	Minister of Finance of France May 30, 1894 to January 26, 1895 March 14, 1906 to October 25, 1906 July 23, 1926 to November 11, 1928	Alexandre Ribot Joseph Caillaux Henry Chéron