Anatole de Monzie
Encyclopedia
Bazas
Bazas is a commune in the Gironde department in southwestern France.-Geography:Bazas stands on a narrow promontory above the Beuve valley 60 km/37 mi southeast of Bordeaux and 40 km/25 mi southwest of Marmande.-History:...
, Gironde
Gironde
For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...
– 11 January 1947, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
administrator
Administrator of the Government
An Administrator in the constitutional practice of some countries in the Commonwealth is a person who fulfils a role similar to that of a Governor or a Governor-General...
, encyclopaedist (Encyclopédie française
Encyclopédie française
The Encyclopédie française was a French encyclopedia designed by Anatole de Monzie and Lucien Febvre. It appeared between 1935 and 1966.-Volumes:*I. L'Outillage mental. Pensée, langage, mathématique.*II. La physique.*III. Le Ciel et la Terre....
), political figure and scholar. His father was a tax collector in Bazas
Bazas
Bazas is a commune in the Gironde department in southwestern France.-Geography:Bazas stands on a narrow promontory above the Beuve valley 60 km/37 mi southeast of Bordeaux and 40 km/25 mi southwest of Marmande.-History:...
, Gironde
Gironde
For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...
where Anatole - a name he disliked from an early age - was born in 1876. A nurse mishap resulted in an accident where the child Anatole lost the proper use of his leg and he remained crippled for the rest of his life. He never married but had several affairs. A brilliant mind, he studied in Agen before attending the Collège Stanislas, a famous catholic school in Paris, where he became friend with writer to be Henry de Jouvenel and catholic activist Marc Sangnier.
Career
He studied law and started to practice but finally chose politics. He was chef de cabinet of education minister Joseph Chautemps in 1902. At about the same time, he started a career as a local politician in the Lot, a forlorn and backwater, yet charming, department in the south west of France. Successively, and very often simultaneously, he became counsellor, general, mayor of CahorsCahors
Cahors is the capital of the Lot department in south-western France.Its site is dramatic being contained on three sides within an udder shaped twist in the river Lot known as a 'presqu'île' or peninsula...
(the local prefecture), deputy and senator. Soon commanding a huge following among the local voters, pleased by his culture, his easy access to government and proficiency in handing out public sector jobs, he made of the Lot a lifelong stronghold.
Member of a small centrist faction, called Républicains Socialistes, he soon cut a fine figure in the Chambre des Députés because of its abilities and its central positioning. His thriving ministerial career started in 1913 when he was appointed sous-secrétaire d'État à la marine marchande. From 1918 to 1940, he occupied numerous positions in all sorts of governments and was appointed minister eighteen times.
As a finance minister, he is remembered for recommending to cut the budget in 1925. He was deeply involved in the diplomatic affairs, starting a campaign for a renewal of the relations with the Holy Seat followed, in 1922, by a plea for the acknowledgment of the Soviet Union.
From 1924 to 1927, he headed the Russian Affairs commission and as such dealt with some of the prominent Russian figures of that time. He started discussing the reimbursement of the Russian loans but, after the return to power of Poincaré in 1926, the negotiation failed.
In 1925, he also served briefly as Minister of Education and Fine Arts. He is credited for introducing philosophy in the high school curriculum, perhaps a reflect of its masonic affiliation. He also banned the teaching of local dialects in school. During a new stint as Minister of Education in the government of Édouard Herriot
Édouard Herriot
Édouard Marie Herriot was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister and for many years as President of the Chamber of Deputies....
in 1932, the name of the department was changed to Éducation nationale, a name it has kept hitherto. His policy generally promoted a free and neutral education system.
Minister of Travaux publics in 1938, he was confronted to a great dockers strike, which enhanced the Left distrust for his person. Between 1938 and 1940, he led several delicate diplomatic missions. During that time of international tensions, Anatole's position was a matter of controversy. A stalwart pacifist, he was indeed actively promoting a Latin alliance between France and Italy who would mediate between Hitler and the Allies.
He voted the powers to Maréchal Pétain in 1940. Friend of Otto Abetz
Otto Abetz
Dr. Heinrich Otto Abetz was the German ambassador to Vichy France during World War II.-Early years:Abetz was born in Schwetzingen on May 26, 1903. He was the son of an estate manager, who died when Otto was only 13...
, Darquier de Pellepoix and Fernand de Brinon
Fernand de Brinon
Fernand de Brinon, Marquis de Brinon was a French lawyer and journalist who was one of the architects of French collaboration with the Nazis during World War II...
, he was nonetheless an object of hatred for many among the regime de Vichy. He was forced to resign from his mayorship in 1942. Indicted by the Comité national des écrivains in 1945, he died in Paris two years later.
Anatole de Monzie was a scholar and something of a writer. His intellectual legacy numbers the publication of the Encyclopédie française from 1935 on. He was also connected to various French writers and intellectuals of the time, including Colette
Colette
Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...
, Roland Dorgelès
Roland Dorgelès
Roland Dorgelès , was a French novelist and a member of the Académie Goncourt.Born Roland Lecavelé , he spent his childhood in Paris....
, Lucien Febvre
Lucien Febvre
Lucien Febvre was a French historian best known for the role he played in establishing the Annales School of history. He has designed the Encyclopédie française together with Anatole de Monzie.-Biography:...
and Pierre Benoit
Pierre Benoit
Pierre Benoit may refer to:*Pierre Benoit , novelist and member of the Académie française*Pierre Basile Benoit , former member of the Canadian House of Commons...
, whom he introduced to the Lot, especially the little town of Saint-Céré, where the writer wrote several of his works.
Works of Anatole de Monzie
- Les Réformes scolaires, Paris, Stock, 1905
- Aux confins de la politique, Paris, Grasset, 1913
- Si resucitara !, Paris, Alcan, 1915 (sur les relations franco-espagnoles)
- Rome sans Canossa, ou la diplomatie de la présence, Paris, Albin Michel, 1918
- L'entrée au forum : vingt ans avant, Paris, Albin Michel, 1920
- La Mort de Julie, Paris, Auguste Blaizot, 1922
- Du Kremlin au Luxembourg, Paris, Delpuech, 1924
- Les Contes de Saint-Céré, Paris, Gallimard, 1929
- Grandeur et servitude judiciaires, Paris, Kra, 1931
- Petit manuel de la Russie nouvelle, Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1931
- Livre d'oraisons, Paris, Excelsior, 1934
- Les Veuves abusives, Paris, Grasset, 1937
- Ci-devant, Paris, Flammarion, 1941
- Pétition pour l'histoire, Paris, Flammarion, 1942
- Mémoires de la tribune, Paris, Correa, 1943
- La Saison des juges, Paris, Flammarion, 1943
- Le Conservatoire du peuple, Paris, Société d'Édition d'enseignement supérieur, 1948