Raymond Poincaré

views updated May 29 2018

Raymond Poincaré

The French statesman Raymond Poincaré (1860-1934) served as president of France during World War I and four times as its premier.

French politics from 1912 to 1929 was largely dominated by the figures of Raymond Poincaré and Georges Clemenceau. As premier, and then as president before World War I, Poincaré pursued a nationalistic policy that contributed toward world tension. During World War I he entrusted the premiership to Clemenceau. Returning to active politics in 1922, Poincaré, as premier, followed an intransigent policy toward Germany, occupying the Ruhr in order to ensure German payment of reparations, an action that contributed to economic collapse in Germany. He also dealt effectively with French financial crises in 1924 and 1926.

Education and Early Career

Poincaré was born at Bar-le-Duc in Lorraine on Aug. 20, 1860. The son of a meteorologist and civil servant, he was educated at the lycées of Bar-le-Duc and Louis le Grand in Paris, and he studied law at the Sorbonne. Poincaré then practiced law in Paris, contributed to political journals, and served in the Department of Agriculture.

In 1887 Poincaré was elected deputy for the Meuse. At that time Louis Madelin described him as "short, slender, rather pale, with crewcut hair, and his serious face framed by a young beard." Later observers were impressed by his unemotional and distant manner.

Poincaré became a member of the Budget Commissions of 1890-1891 and 1892, and he served during 1893 and 1894 in the Cabinets of Charles Dupuy, first as minister of education and then as minister of finance. Next he became minister of public instruction in the Ribot Cabinet. In 1895 he was chosen vice president of the Chamber of Deputies, and Poincaré retained this position until 1897. In 1899 President émile Loubet asked him to form a Cabinet, but he was unsuccessful because he would not accept a Socialist minister in his coalition.

From this time until 1912, Poincaré refused to join any government except for a brief period between March and October 1906, when he was minister of finance in the Sarrien Cabinet. He emphasized his withdrawal from an active role by accepting a seat in the Senate. During this period Poincaré devoted himself to his law practice, and he became one of the wealthiest and most successful lawyers in France. In 1909 his literary efforts won him election to the French Academy.

Political Ideas

Poincaré's political ideas remained relatively constant throughout his career. He was conservative in his basic outlook, and as the balance of power in the legislature shifted to the left, he found himself and the moderates, whom he represented, moving to the right. He was fundamentally anticlerical, believing that the Church should remain in its own sphere and play no part in education or politics. He was a dedicated republican and a patriot of the Lorraine variety whose sentiments had been molded by the German seizure of most of Lorraine in 1870.

First Premiership

In the reaction after the crisis at Agadir, Morocco, in January 1912, Poincaré formed a "national ministry." He emphasized the need for a strong, authoritative government, and his program called for electoral reform at home and maintenance of France's alliances and friendships abroad. Poincaré expressed his desire for peace, but he also stressed military preparedness.

Concerned to maintain France's security and prestige, Poincaré supported Russia's policy during the First Balkan War, and later he again assured the Russians that they could depend upon France. Poincaré also obtained a reorganization and strengthening of the French navy. His government entered into a naval agreement with Great Britain that resulted in France's concentrating its fleet in the Mediterranean. Poincaré also reestablished friendly relations with Italy after a naval incident in January 1912. By the end of 1912 Poincaré was widely acknowledged as France's strongest statesman.

Poincaré's Presidency

In December 1912 Poincaré announced his intention to run for the presidency of the republic, although open candidacies were not customary. Poincaré's campaign marked the climax of the strong presidency agitation that had been growing for some time. He openly advocated a fuller use of the president's constitutional powers, and he doubtless expected to revitalize the weak office of the presidency. On Jan. 17, 1913, he was elected the ninth president of the French Republic by the National Assembly.

His strong nationalist beliefs led Poincaré to support the bill raising the term of military service from 2 to 3 years. He was, to a large extent, responsible for its passage, and he maintained it despite opposition, which continued to grow. This active role in policy formulation made him a party president, and it produced frequent attacks upon him by the left Radical-Socialist elements.

In foreign affairs Poincaré followed the program he had inaugurated as premier, supporting Théophile Delcasséas ambassador to Russia and attempting to preserve peace by ensuring that the Entente powers pursued a strong and united policy. He made state visits to England in June 1913 and to Russia in July 1914, and he was returning to France by way of the Scandinavian capitals when Austria delivered its ultimatum to Serbia on July 23, 1914. Hastening to Paris, he urged Russia to delay mobilization, and he presided over the foreign-policy decisions of the Cabinet.

During the war Poincaré worked tirelessly to maintain morale. He urged Frenchmen to perform heroically and visited training camps, hospitals, and front lines. In November 1917 in a decision proving his statesmanship and self-sacrifice, Poincaré called upon his traditional political foe, Clemenceau, to form a Cabinet. During the peace negotiations, Poincaré found himself again in opposition to Clemenceau. Poincaré supported Marshal Ferdinand Foch in his campaign for a separate Rhineland, and he disputed Clemenceau's policy, urging a firm stand and heavy reparations. These attempts to influence policy were generally unsuccessful, and Poincaré completed his term of office in January 1920. He had been France's strongest president, but he had made no basic alteration in the office.

Second Premiership

Reelected as senator from the Meuse, Poincaré accepted the premiership in January 1922, and he retained this post, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, until June 1, 1924. The chief problem at this time was reparations. Poincaré insisted that Germany fulfill its obligations. Unable to reach agreement on policy with the British in Interallied conferences held in London and Paris, Poincaré's government decided to act alone. When Germany defaulted on fuel deliveries in January 1923, French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr. The Germans adopted a policy of passive resistance for some months, and the German mark collapsed completely. The cost of occupation was undermining the French economy as well, and Poincaré agreed to an Anglo-American proposal to review the reparations issue. The result was the Dawes Plan, accepted in April 1924, which stabilized the mark, provided foreign loans for Germany, and reduced reparations payments.

The international exchange situation produced a financial crisis in France during the first quarter of 1924. Poincaré's adroit moves on the money market, and a 20 percent increase in indirect taxes in order to pay for the Ruhr occupation, saved the situation, but the taxes were unpopular. Attacks by the Radicals and Socialists won a substantial victory for the Cartel of the Left in the general elections of May 11, 1924, and when the new Chamber assembled, Poincaré resigned. During the next 2 years, though he retained his Senate seat, Poincaré was relatively inactive in politics.

Third Premiership

The economic policies of the Cartel proved unsatisfactory, and in the midst of a serious financial crisis, President Gaston Doumergue recalled Poincaré to head a National Union government. Public confidence was restored, and the franc immediately rose from 50 to 40 per American dollar. The legislature granted Poincaré decree powers to meet crises. He introduced new taxes, mostly indirect; he reduced government expenses; he created, through constitutional amendment, an inviolate fund to meet bond payments; and he increased interest rates. The result was a budgetary surplus and an exchange rate of 25 francs per dollar. The elections of April 1928 brought victory for the National Union, which had supported Poincaré, and, shortly after, he officially devalued the franc, establishing it at one-fifth its prewar value.

Fourth Premiership

The Radical-Socialists withdrew their support and obliged Poincaré to resign on Nov. 7, 1928, but he formed a new ministry on November 12 and retained his post until July 1929, when ill health forced him to retire. He refused a fifth offer of the premiership in 1930. Meanwhile, he had published his memoirs in 10 volumes, entitled Au service de la France (In the Service of France), describing the events of 1911-1920 and his role in them. Poincaré died in Paris on Oct. 15, 1934.

Additional Sources

Poincaré, Raymond, The memoirs of Raymond Poincaré, New York: AMS Press, 1975. □

Encyclopedia of World Biography

Poincaré, Raymond

views updated May 21 2018

POINCARÉ, RAYMOND

POINCARÉ, RAYMOND (1860–1934), French politician.

Born in Bar-le-Duc (Meuse) in Lorraine on 20 August 1860, Raymond Poincaré occupied the highest offices of the French state, including president of the republic, in a political career that ran from 1886 to 1934. Longevity and achievement made him one of the foremost statesmen of the French Third Republic. He played crucial roles in France's entry into World War I, the organization of the war effort, the peace settlement, the reparations question, the occupation of the Ruhr, and the reorganization of French finances in the 1920s.

Born into a solidly middle-class family, the eldest son of an engineer, Poincaré was educated at the lycées of Bar-le-Duc and Louis-le-Grand in Paris, and graduated from the Sorbonne with an arts and a law degree. He was called to the Paris bar in 1882. At an early age he displayed the intelligence and enormous capacity for work that were hallmarks of his political career.

Poincaré began his life in politics in 1886 as a councilor for the Meuse, a position he would retain until his death on 15 October 1934. In 1887, he was elected a member of the lower house of parliament for Meuse and sat on the center-left of the Chamber with the Progressists. His reputation for efficient committee work on legal and financial matters saw him appointed minister of education and culture (April–November 1893) at only thirty-two years of age. The following year he was finance minister (May 1894–January 1895), then education minister again (January–October 1895).

Throughout his political career, Poincaré always steered a middle course. A champion of secularism, he was no anticlerical. Although opposed to the more left-leaning Radicals, he was no reactionary, and often included them in the governments he later formed. Disillusioned with the radical turn in French politics from 1901, he withdrew from ministerial office (apart from a brief interlude as finance minister in 1906) and concentrated on his extremely successful legal practice. Politics were not abandoned altogether, as he was elected vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies in 1895 and remained a member of the lower house of parliament until his election to the Senate in 1903. During those wilderness years he produced a number of books and articles on politics, which helped secure his election to the Académie Française in 1909. Those years also saw him promote ideas far less associated with his austere legalistic image. He championed animal rights and antivivisectionism and promoted women's rights from the freedom to practice law to the vote.

Following the 1911 Franco-German Agadir crisis in Morocco, Poincaré was recalled to office as premier and foreign minister on 12 January 1912. He set about ensuring that diplomatically and militarily France was prepared for any eventuality. Although he did so by tightening up France's alliance and entente with Russia and Britain, he was careful not to adopt an aggressive policy toward Germany. Even when in January 1913 he was elected president of the Republic, he saw to it that governments were put in place that would continue his firm policy. This, combined with his Lorraine origins—supposedly synonymous with revanche—has been interpreted as meaning that he sought war. However, his role in the circumstances that led up to the outbreak of war in August 1914 was far more blameless than the myth of Poincaré-laguerre would suggest. That myth was the result of postwar propaganda generated by Germany and Poincaré's political opponents at home. The former wished to contest the principle of German war guilt on which the payment of reparations was built by displacing some of the blame onto France; the latter were intent on blocking Poincaré's return to power in the 1920s. His greatest triumph was to ensure that the country entered the war united, symbolized by his famous union sacrée speech of 4 August 1914, following Germany's declaration of war on France the day before.

Poincaré and his policies have traditionally been associated with values that posterity has tended to view as unfashionable—order, stability, dignity, politeness, honesty, and thrift. His identification with the middle class, which claimed to incarnate those values and which historiography has not found exciting or treated kindly, has left Poincaré, if not one of the unsung heroes of modern French history, then one whose political stature has not received the recognition it deserves.

See alsoAlliance System; France.