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Louis Barthou
Louis Barthou 01
78th Prime Minister of France

In office
22 March 1913 – 9 December 1913
Preceded by Aristide Briand
Succeeded by Gaston Doumergue
Personal details
Born (1862-08-25)August 25, 1862
Oloron-Sainte-Marie
Died 9 October 1934(1934-10-09) (aged 72)
Marseille
Political party Independent

Jean Louis Barthou (French pronunciation: ​[ʒɑ̃ lwi baʁtu]; 25 August 1862 – 9 October 1934) was a French politician of the Third Republic who served as Prime Minister of France for eight months in 1913.

Personal life[]

Louis Barthou 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 13 other times.

Death[]

As Foreign Minister, Barthou met King Alexander I of Yugoslavia during his state visit to Marseilles in October 1934. On 9 October, the King and Barthou were assassinated by Velicko Kerin, a Bulgarian revolutionary wielding a handgun. One of the bullets struck Barthou in the arm, passing though and fatally severing an artery. He died of excessive blood loss less than an hour later. The assassination was planned in Rome by Ante Pavelić, head of the Croatian Ustaše, in August 1934. Pavelić was assisted by Georg Percevic, a former Austro-Hungarian military officer. France unsuccessfully requested extradition of Percevic and Pavelić.[1] This assassination ended the careers of the Bouches-du-Rhone prefect, Pierre Jouhannaud, and the director of the Surete Nationale, Jean Berthoin.[2]

The assassination of Barthou and the King led to the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Terrorism concluded at Geneva by the League of Nations on 16 November 1937.[3] The Convention was signed by 25 nations, ratified only by India.[4] Barthou was granted a state funeral four days after his demise.

Career[]

Piłsudski Barthou

Barthou (right) with Polish marshal Józef Piłsudski in 1934

File:1934-10-17 King Alexander Assassination.ogv Barthou served as Foreign Minister in 1934. He was the primary figure behind the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance of 1935, though it was signed by his successor, Pierre Laval. As a national WWI hero and a recognized author, Barthou was elected to the Académie française at the end of WWI.[5]

In 1934 Barthou tried to create an Eastern Pact that would include Germany, Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the Baltic states on the basis of a guarantee by France of the European borders of the Soviet Union and the eastern borders of Germany by the Soviet Union. He succeeded in obtaining entry of the Soviet Union into the League of Nations in September 1934.[6]

Barthou's ministry[]

22 March – 9 December 1913

  • Louis Barthou – President of the Council and Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
  • Stéphen Pichon – Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • Eugène Étienne – Minister of War
  • Louis Lucien Klotz – Minister of the Interior
  • Charles Dumont – Minister of Finance
  • Henry Chéron – Minister of Labour and Social Security Provisions
  • Antony Ratier – Minister of Justice
  • Pierre Baudin – Minister of Marine
  • Étienne Clémentel – Minister of Agriculture
  • Jean Morel – Minister of Colonies
  • Joseph Thierry – Minister of Public Works
  • Alfred Massé – Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts, and Telegraphs

References[]

  1. The Principle of Complementarity in International Criminal Law: Origin, Development and Practice by Mohamed M. El Zeidy, BRILL, September 15, 2008, p. 41
  2. The Boundaries of the Republic: Migrant Rights and the Limits of Universalism in France, 1918-1940 by Mary Lewis, Stanford University Press, June 7, 2007, p. 114
  3. The United Nations and the Control of International Violence: A Legal and Political Analysis by John Francis Murphy, Manchester University Press ND, 1983, p.179
  4. Terrorism: A History by Randall Law, Polity, June 29, 2009, p. 156
  5. Power and Pleasure: Louis Barthou and the Third French Republic by Robert J. Young, McGill-Queens 1991, p. X
  6. The Gathering Storm by Winston Churchill, RosettaBooks, 2010, p. 95

External links[]

Political offices
Preceded by
Charles Jonnart
Minister of Public Works
1894–1895
Succeeded by
Ludovic Dupuy-Dutemps
Preceded by
Ferdinand Sarrien
Minister of the Interior
1896–1898
Succeeded by
Henri Brisson
Preceded by
Armand Gauthier de l'Aude
Minister of Public Works
1906–1909
Succeeded by
Alexandre Millerand
Preceded by
George Trouillot
Minister of Posts and Telegraphs
1906–1909
Preceded by
Aristide Briand
Minister of Justice
1909–1910
Succeeded by
Théodore Girard
Preceded by
Aristide Briand
Minister of Justice
1913
Succeeded by
Antony Ratier
Preceded by
Aristide Briand
President of the Council
1913
Succeeded by
Gaston Doumergue
Preceded by
Théodore Steeg
Minister of Public Instruction
1913
Succeeded by
René Viviani
Preceded by
Minister of State
1917
With: Léon Bourgeois, Paul Doumer, Jean Dupuy
Succeeded by
Léon Bourgeois
Paul Doumer
Jean Dupuy
Preceded by
Alexandre Ribot
Minister of Foreign Affairs
1917
Succeeded by
Stéphen Pichon
Preceded by
Flaminius Rabierti
Minister of War
1921–1922
Succeeded by
André Maginot
Preceded by
Laurent Bonnevay
Minister of Justice
1922
Succeeded by
Maurice Colrat
Preceded by
Maurice Colrat
Minister of Justice
1926–1929
Succeeded by
Lucien Hubert
Preceded by
André Maginot
Minister of War
1930–1931
Succeeded by
André Maginot
Preceded by
Édouard Daladier
Minister of Foreign Affairs
1934
Succeeded by
Pierre Laval
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