Thiers, (Louis) Adolphe 1797-1877
French statesman and historian

Born in Marseilles, he studied law at Aix-en-Provence, where he made the acquaintance of Fran�ois Mignet (1796-1884) and cultivated literature. In Paris from 1821 he became a journalist, attacking the administration. He was elected Deputy for Aix, was appointed secretary-general to the Minister of Finance, and became one of the most formidable of parliamentary speakers. He held many posts in the government of Louis Philippe, and was twice Prime Minister (1836, 1839). He supported Napoleon III in 1848, but was arrested and banished in the coup d'�tat of 1851. He was allowed, however, to return the next year. After the collapse of the Empire during the Franco-Prussian War, he became head of the provisional government, suppressed the Paris Commune, and was elected first President of the Third Republic in August 1870. He negotiated peace with Prussia, and did much to ensure France's economic recovery. Defeated by a coalition of monarchists, he resigned in 1873. His most ambitious literary work was the 20-volume L'histoire du consulat et de l'empire (1845-62, 'History of the Consulate and the Empire').

Bibliography: Charles H Pomaret, Monsieur Thiers et son temps (1948)