Louis-Adolphe Thiers
Louis-Adolf Thiers (often known as Adol-phe Thiers, 1797.4.15-1877.9.3), French statesman, historian, and party member of Orleans. In his early years, he worked as a lawyer and journalist. After the July Revolution, he successively served as Cabinet Minister (1832, 1834-1836), Prime Minister (1836) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (1840). Later, he also served as a member of the Constituent Assembly and a member of the National Assembly. From 1871 to 1873, Thiers served as the first president of the Third French Republic. During Thiers' political career, he left the deepest impression on people of all countries that he was the chief culprit in the cruel suppression of the Paris Commune. Historian Thiers was born in Marseille on April 15, 1797. His father was a merchant captain. He has higher education. Once in the Provence region Aix-en- read the book University Faculty of Law, in 1818 when a lawyer. In the early autumn of 1821, he came to Paris. Active in the anti-government bourgeois salon and a liberal press. Soon, he took office in the famous "Constitution" in Paris at the time. His article published in this newspaper attracted the attention of all walks of life in Paris. Later, he was tired of journalism, so with the cooperation of Bodin, he began to compile the " History of the French Revolution ". " History of the French Revolution " has a total of 10 volumes, which caused a sensation after its publication. Although it is a historical work, it showed his literary talent and won a certain reputation. More importantly, politically, his views lean towards the bourgeois historiography school of the French restoration dynasty. Thiers, in the first volume of this work, claimed that he was in favor of the French Constituent Assembly. The " History of the French Revolution " was written in 1823 and finished in 1827. As it was close to the time of the French Revolution, historical materials have been collected in a detailed and informative manner. He described the situation of the French Revolution in a smooth style. In the work, he, like his lifelong friend Minne, first insisted on citing original materials, which provided a guarantee for the reliability of the work. In this regard, Engels once commented. When talking about an author named Jorge Avenel who wrote some excellent works on the French Revolution, he said that these works “to get a clear idea, you have to always ask Migne or Tiere. You go to find the exact materials." The book " History of the French Revolution " not only comprehensively describes the situation of the French Revolution, but also involves financial, social and historical issues. This is for later generations to study the history of the French revolution work of high reference value. When the restored Bourbon dynasty ruled France, although many French bourgeois scholars opposed the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, they were all bewildered in their understanding. They believed that the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty was as difficult to control like natural disasters. They cannot explain the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty in a correct way. Thiers, like some discerning historians of this period, saw the class struggle in history and believed that the French Revolution was a struggle between the landlord aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, a decisive battle between classes. His restoration of the Bourbon dynasty also used the key of class struggle to understand it, thinking that it was also a class struggle. Thiers, as one of the first French scholars to study history from the perspective of class struggle, is eye-catching. For this, Lenin pointed out: "The French Restoration period there are some historians (such as ladder Ye Li, Guizot, Migne, Thiers) In conclusion, the time of the incident, can not but admit that the class struggle is to understand all of France The key to history." Orleans Party In 1830, Thiers, Minie, and Karel co-founded the " National ". At that time, the newspaper was opposed to the extreme right policy of Charles X of the feudal Bourbon dynasty, advocated the implementation of a British parliamentary system, encouraged the press to protest the July edict that restricted the freedom of the press, and praised the working class of France and worked in the bank. J. Lafayette and the Orleans party formed a bridge, launched Lafayette as the commander of the National Army, and played a positive role in overthrowing and restoring the Bourbon dynasty. However, the restoration of the dynasty in July 1830 was overthrown, mainly as a result of the heroic struggle of the workers and citizens of Paris. After the victory of the July Revolution, the French liberal bourgeoisie monopolized the fruits of the revolution. They were afraid of the masses, especially the growing working class, and therefore refused to establish a republic. Instead, they took Louis Philip, the Duke of Orleans, who was close to the big bourgeoisie, to the throne of the king and established the July dynasty. At this time, Thiers was appointed as the dean of the Senate. From then on, Thiers appeared on the French political stage as an important person and began his political career. On April 9, 1834, the Lyon workers held the second Lyon workers' uprising in order to oppose the case of the bourgeois government banning associations and strive for the establishment of a democratic republic. Thiers was the mastermind of the suppression of this uprising. The workers' uprising in Lyon was suppressed on April 13. In September 1835, France promulgated the September decree to abolish newspapers and associations. Thiers was the mastermind of this reactionary decree. From 1836 to 1840 Thiers served as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Cruelly suppressed the orthodoxy led by the Duchess of Berry in 1832The uprising and the Paris Republican movement in 1834; the Lyon workers held the second Lyon workers' uprising in order to oppose the case of the bourgeois government banning associations and strive for the establishment of a democratic republic. Thiers was the mastermind of the suppression of this uprising. The workers' uprising in Lyon was suppressed on April 13. In September 1835, France promulgated the September decree to abolish newspapers and associations. Thiers was the mastermind of this reactionary decree. From 1836 to 1840 Thiers served as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Cruelly suppressed the orthodoxy led by the Duchess of Berry in 1832The uprising and the Paris Republican movement in 1834; advocating the restoration of the French military reputation, opposing British interference in continental European affairs, and supporting Egypt to get rid of Turkish control. In 1840, he was forced to resign on October 29, 1840, due to the interference of Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria in supporting Muhammad Ali's opposition to Turkey. Become a parliamentary opposition and attack the FPG Kizo government. After that, he resumed his historical research work. Seclusion in downtown On the eve of the revolution in 1848, Thiers, who had been unable to get an ideal official position for a long time, realized that the storm of the people's revolution was coming with his unique political sensitivity, so he made an impassioned speech, "I will always belong to the Revolutionary Party!" However, the French workers saw through. After Thiers ' conspiracy to "replace Kizo's cabinet with Thiers' cabinet", he didn't believe him at all and gave him the nickname "Mirabe the Flies". In December 1848, after Napoleon I's nephew Louis Napoleon Bonaparte became the president of France, he was devoted to rebuilding the empire. Thiers was the leader of the Orleans faction. He had a profound contradiction with Louis Bonaparte and opposed him to dictatorship. In the coup on the night of December 1, 1851, Louis Bonaparte ordered Thiers, who was still sleeping in bed, to be arrested and deported abroad. Less than a year later, he returned to Paris and did not show up for a long time. Instead, he immersed himself in writing another historical work of his, "History of the Archons and the French Empire". This work was written in 1845 and was completed in 1862. There are 20 volumes in total, and it took 17 years on and off. An obvious feature of this book is that it worships personal achievement and praises Napoleon I vigorously, especially for Napoleon's military command ability. From 1863 to 1870, he returned to the political arena again. Was elected as a member of the Seine province. In January 1864, he delivered a speech calling for the five necessary freedoms (individual freedom, freedom of the press, freedom of election, the right of questioning by members, and the responsibility of ministers) in the parliament for the next 7 years. He often accused Napoleon III of his autocratic rule and foreign policy of risk-taking. He opposed the declaration of war on Prussia in 1870. He believes that the time to declare war on Prussia is not ripe, and the domestic preparations for war with Prussia are not enough. But he failed to achieve his goal. National disaster massacre On February 17, 1871, after the news of the fiasco of the Battle of Sedan, the Second French Empire was overthrown and Thiers became the head of the French government. On February 26th, Thiers signed a draft peace treaty with Prussia in Versailles and passed by the French National Assembly on March 1. The treaty stipulates that France pays 5 billion francs to Prussia, ceding Alsace and eastern Lorraine. The Prussian army continued to occupy France until the compensation was paid. When Paris was surrounded by the Prussian army, the Paris workers spontaneously organized the National Guard to defend their homeland. This armed force is a serious threat to the French government. Thiers decided to disarm the Paris Commune. In mid-March, he made a special trip to Paris to discuss and deploy a disarmament plan. On March 18th, he sent an army to snatch the arms of the Paris workers according to the original plan, but unfortunately, the plan was leaked and failed. Thiers and the members of the provisional government retreated to Versailles. The army controlled by the Paris Commune completely controlled all of Paris. On April 6, Thiers appointed General McMahon as the commander-in-chief in charge of the military suppression of the mutiny and was assisted by the 100,000 French soldiers captured by Prussia and the Prussian army released by Bismarck and began to attack Paris. On the evening of May 21, the government forces from Thiers invaded the city. The revolutionary masses of the Paris Commune were cut off by Bismarck's invading army. On May 28th, Thiers’ army captured the last few strongholds of the commune. After Thiers occupied Paris, he immediately carried out a bloody suppression of the Paris Commune. When the French newspaper reported the scene of the massacre, it wrote: “A blood canal was injected into the Seine from a barracks. The water of several hundred meters was polluted, showing a long and narrow bloodstream.” The massacre continued for more than one whole. moon. More than 30,000 revolutionary masses in the Paris Commune were "orderly" massacred. The members of the Paris Commune were killed, exiled, and imprisoned as many as 100,000, including those who died heroically in the defense of the commune.Political chaos
After the suppression of the Paris Commune, Thiers became President of the Republic in August of the same year. As the first president of the Third French Republic, Thiers relied on the huge borrowings of the bourgeoisie to pay off the German compensation in advance, and the German army withdrew from France in March 1873. However, the political situation in France is turbulent, and political forces of various factions are fighting endlessly on the issue of republic and monarchy. The three kingly factions: the Orthodox ( supporters of the Bourbon dynasty ), the Orleans (supporters of the Louis Philippe dynasty), and the Bonapartists, have a majority in the National Assembly. These factions are ready to restore the monarchy. Only because the workers and peasants resolutely opposed the monarchy and supported the republican regime, coupled with the contradictions among the various factions, the monarchy could not be restored. On August 31, 1871, the National Assembly elected Thiers as president. Thiers called himself a "royalist" and wanted to restore the monarchy, but he was afraid that imposing the king on the French people might provoke the French proletariat to revolutionize again. He had to admit that the conditions were not yet ripe for the restoration of the monarchy at the time. After Thiers became president, his reactionary arrogance became even more arrogant. He ordered the military courts of the reactionary government to continue to interrogate, exile, and execute the leaders and participants of the Paris Commune revolution. Even those who were suspected of sympathizing with members of the Commune were brutally persecuted. During his reign, 39 provinces across the country were under martial law. In 1872, the reactionary government of Thiers promulgated a law stating that those who propagate socialism should be punished with imprisonment of two to five years. The Thiers government also shut down all trade union organizations and abolished freedom of publication and association. In order to pay Germany’s indemnities, public bonds were issued twice, and each time the sales were largely in excess. The 5 billion francs compensation was paid off ahead of schedule, but the national debt increased, and the heavy economic burden fell on the French people.
The royalists were not satisfied with the series of counter-revolutionary policies adopted by Thiers. He still has no prestige in the eyes of the royalists. The Republicans received the support of the majority of the residents, and the Republicans won in the 1872-73 by-election. Thiers' rule was faltering. At this time, Thiers advocated the establishment of a republic that maintained reactionary content. He proposed, "The republic is either a conservative republic, or it doesn’t need a republic at all." This angered the Republicans in Congress. The Baowang faction also believed that Thiers was no longer qualified for the position he held. Thus, Thiers was forced to resign on May 24, 1873. Thiers returned to the political arena for a short time in 1877 and wanted to implement the "republic" he advocated. On September 3, he also read out a newly written declaration to "defend" this "republic". That night, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died in Saint-Hermain in Paris.
Academic Career
Thiers has written many historical works, including important works such as " The History of the French Revolution" (10 volumes) and " The History of the Ruling Government and Empire " (20 volumes).
In 1823, he published the first two volumes of "The History of the French Revolution ". In 1827, the ten major volumes of the book were published and 1.5 million copies were sold.
On June 20, 1833, at the age of 36, he was elected a member of the French Academy.
Theirs was an executioner whose hands were stained with the blood of the French people, and also a historian. He has written some historical works of high academic value, and he is also the first French scholar to investigate history from the perspective of class struggle. However, these historical achievements cannot conceal the blood on his hands, nor can it alleviate the ruthless condemnation of historical justice and public opinion on him.
Marx Evaluation
Thiers, a dwarf monster, has been adored by the French bourgeoisie for nearly half a century because he is the most complete ideological representative of the class corruption of this bourgeoisie. Before he became an important man in the country, he had already shown his ability to lie as a historian. The chronicle of his social activities is a history of French disasters.
——Marx: "The French Civil War " (May 30, 1871), " Selected Works of Marx and Engels " Vol. 2, page 357
This dwarf likes to wield the sword of Napoleon I in front of Europe. He wiped his boots for Napoleon I blindly in his historical works. In fact, his foreign policy was from the London Convention of 1840 to 1871. The surrender of Paris and the end of this civil war have always led France to extreme humiliation. In this civil war, he received the favor of Bismarck and drove the soldiers captured in Sedan and Metz to attack Paris. Although he has some ability to adapt to circumstances, and although his opinions are capricious, he has been extremely conservative throughout his life. It goes without saying that the more profound changes in modern society are always secrets that he cannot understand; all the energy of his mind is used for slurping, so even the most obvious changes on the surface of society cannot be understood. . For example, he tirelessly denounced all violations of France's outdated protective tariff system as blasphemy. When he was Minister of Louis Philippe, he once derided the railway as an absurd monster: and when he was in the opposition during the time of Louis Bonaparte, he denounced any attempt to reform France’s stale military system. It's so rebellious. In his many years of a political career, he has never done a very small thing of practical benefit.
What Thiers has consistently been, is his unquenchable avarice for riches and his contempt of abundance makers.
He has been in officialdom for a very long time. In any part of legislative issues or life, he has never upheld a helpful measure. He is vain, dubious, and avaricious for joy. He has never composed and discussed genuine issues. As he would like to think, what itself is only a justification him to utilize his pen and talk about it. Aside from his craving for high authorities and self-display, there isn't anything genuine in him, and surprisingly his haughtiness is no exemption.
Thiers is a specialist in playing little political tricks, a veteran of injustice and change, an expert of unimportant force, connivance, and plotting in the parliamentary party battle; he won't stop for a second to advance the upheaval when he loses force, and he won't spare a moment to advance the transformation once he is in power. He wondered whether or not to attack the upheaval in a pool of blood; he had just class bias yet no musings, just vanity however no still, small voice; his private life was pretty much as corrupt as his public activity, even presently, when he assumes the part of Sura in France , Still can't resist the urge to show the embarrassment of his conduct with his absurdly egotistical demeanor.
Assuming you need to discover something else or less like the conduct of Thiers and his homicidal wolves, you should return to when Sura and the Romans were in power: a similar merciless mass homicide; the equivalent paying little mind to men, ladies, and youngsters. Land slaughter; similar torment of the detainees; a similar remorseless abuse, however, this time the whole class; the similar severe quest for stowed away pioneers, so none of them are saved: the equivalent is the condemnation of political adversaries and private foes; the equivalent is self-assertive Annihilate individuals who steer clear of battle. The lone distinction is that the Romans didn't have various cannons to kill the detainees in clusters. They didn't "hold the law" or yell "acculturated".
The laborers' Paris and its collective will consistently be respected as the magnificent pioneers of the new society. Its legends have consistently been recalled in the incredible heart of the common laborers. The killers who killed it have been nailed to the mainstay of disgrace perpetually by history, and regardless of how much their ministers implored, they couldn't be liberated.
Do you know Jomini, who is presently praised by the French? I just found out with regards to Mr. Thiers from his discourse. Everybody realizes that Thiers duplicated his things indecently. This little Thiers is one of just the bold liars today, and he has not had the option to refer to the right number in a solitary fight. Since Mr. Jomini later abandoned to the Russians, he absolutely has the motivation not to portray the brave accomplishments of the French like Mr. Thiers. In Thiers' book, a Frenchman can generally overcome two. Of a foe.
Be that as it may, the honorable Thiers' work was copied from Savari, whose journal is well known in France, and his literary theft is in no way, shape, or forms sub-par compared to the English political financial analyst. Simultaneously, as far as bits of gossip, yet in addition to administration issues, and so on, he respects Mr. Savari as the principal source.