Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Jules Ferry

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Jules-François-Camille Ferry
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

(born April 5, 1832, Saint-Dié, France — died March 17, 1893, Paris) French politician. He held a number of offices in the early Third Republic, including mayor of Paris (1870) and premier of France (1880 – 81, 1883 – 85). His government established free, compulsory, secular education (1882), enacting such anticlerical measures as dissolving the Jesuits and forbidding their members to teach. Ferry played a major part in extending France's colonial territories in Asia and Africa, but public anger for colonial expenditures forced his resignation, though he was later elected to the Senate. He was assassinated by a madman.

For more information on Jules-François-Camille Ferry, visit Britannica.com.

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Biography: Jules François Camille Ferry
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Biographies

The French statesman Jules François Camille Ferry (1832-1893) was a major political leader during the first 2 decades of the Third Republic. He played a key role in expanding public education and in developing France's colonial empire.

Jules Ferry was born at Saint-Dié, Vosges Department, on April 5, 1832. On receiving his law degree in 1851, he was admitted to the Paris bar, but he first made his name in journalism as one of the most vigorous critics of the Second Empire. His successes led him into more active politics, and in 1869 he was elected to the legislature from Paris.

Entering the Government of National Defense after the fall of the Empire, Ferry became the top civil administrator for Paris and had to struggle with the difficult problems caused by the siege. His stringent but necessary measures earned him an unpopularity in the capital that lasted throughout his career.

Ferry became minister of public instruction in 1879 and initiated a number of reforms, the most controversial being those aimed at reducing the influence of the Church on education. The state recovered its monopoly in the awarding of degrees, but his proposal to prohibit teaching by members of religious orders (the famous Article 7) was defeated in the Senate. In 1880 he took administrative measures to dissolve unauthorized religious orders. More important was his introduction of legislation to make elementary education compulsory, free, and laic. In September 1880 he became premier and was able to further his program by decrees, but lack of funds and personnel prevented his ambitious plans from being implemented at once.

An ardent colonial expansionist when most republican politicians saw foreign questions only in terms of Alsace-Lorraine and the German menace, Ferry was charged with diverting attention - and troops - away from the Continent. His first ministry ended in November 1881 as a result of criticism of the Tunisian expedition which led to the French protectorate.

Ferry returned to the Ministry of Public Instruction in January 1882. In February 1883 he was again premier and carried out a purge of antirepublican elements in the judiciary. Although his power and prestige seemed as great as ever, this time the opposition to his foreign policy proved fatal to Ferry's career. He supported French involvement in Indochina, but news of a minor defeat there, much exaggerated in the first report, compelled his resignation on March 30, 1885. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency in 1887 and never again played a leading role in government. Shot by an Alsatian fanatic on Dec. 10, 1892, Ferry died in Paris on March 17, 1893.

Further Reading

For an important aspect of Ferry's career see Thomas F. Power, Jr., Jules Ferry and the Renaissance of French Imperialism (1944).

Additional Sources

Guilhaume, Philippe, Jules Ferry, Paris: Encre, 1980.

French Literature Companion: Jules Ferry
Top
Home > Library > Literature & Language > French Literature Companion

Ferry, Jules (1832-93). Third-Republic politician, twice prime minister, who is remembered (and commemorated in the name of many lycées) as the architect of the lois Ferry (1881-2) which brought in free compulsory primary education for all. He was assassinated by a madman.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Jules Ferry
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopedia - People
Ferry, Jules (zhül fĕrē'), 1832-93, French statesman. A member of the government of national defense established after the defeat of Emperor Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), he later rose to prominence as minister of public instruction (1879-80, 1882). He was twice premier (1880-81, 1883-85). Ferry established the modern French educational system with universal, free, and compulsory education in the primary schools. He secularized the public schools, abolishing religious education in them and barring members of Roman Catholic orders as public-school teachers. Ferry is best known, however, as the builder of the French colonial empire. An exponent of imperialism, he was willing to cooperate with the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck in order to secure French expansion overseas. During his premiership the French occupied Tunis, entered Tonkin and Madagascar, and penetrated the regions of the Niger and the Congo. Ferry was overthrown after a temporary French defeat in Indochina. He was assassinated by a religious fanatic.

Bibliography

See study by T. F. Power (1944, repr. 1966).

Wikipedia: Jules Ferry
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Jules Ferry

In office
23 September 1880 – 14 November 1881
Preceded by Charles de Freycinet
Succeeded by Léon Gambetta
In office
21 February 1883 – 6 April 1885
Preceded by Armand Fallières
Succeeded by Henri Brisson
Born 5 April 1832
Died March 17, 1893 (aged 60)
Political party None

Jules François Camille Ferry (5 April 1832 – 17 March 1893) was a French statesman, republican. Was a promoter of laicism and among others, supported colonial expansion.[1]

Contents

Early life

Born in Saint-Dié, in the Vosges département, France, he studied law, and was called to the bar at Paris, but soon went into politics, contributing to various newspapers, particularly to Le Temps. He attacked the Second French Empire with great violence, directing his opposition especially against Baron Haussmann, prefect of the Seine département. Elected republican deputy for Paris in 1869, he protested against the declaration of war with Germany, and on 6 September 1870 was appointed prefect of the Seine by the Government of National Defense.

In this position he had the difficult task of administering Paris during the siege, and after the Paris Commune was obliged to resign (5 June 1871). From 1872 to 1873 he was sent by Adolphe Thiers as minister to Athens, but returned to the chamber as deputy for the Vosges, and became one of the leaders of the republican party. When the first republican ministry was formed under WH Waddington on 4 February 1879, he was one of its members, and continued in the ministry until 30 March 1885, except for two short interruptions (from 10 November 1881 to 30 January 1882, and from 29 July 1882 to 21 February 1883), first as minister of education and then as minister of foreign affairs. A leader of the Opportunist Republicans faction, he was twice premier (1880-1881 and 1883-1885).

Major works

Jules Ferry, by Nadar.

Two important works are associated with his administration, the non-clerical organization of public education, and the beginning of the colonial expansion of France. Following the republican programme he proposed to destroy the influence of the clergy in the university and found his own system of republican schooling. He reorganized the committee of public education (law of 27 February 1880), and proposed a regulation for the conferring of university degrees, which, though rejected, aroused violent polemics because the 7th article took away from the unauthorized religious orders the right to teach. He finally succeeded in passing his eponymous laws of 16 June 1881 and 28 March 1882, which made primary education in France free, non-clerical (laïque) and mandatory. In higher education, the number of professors, called the "hussards noirs de la République" ("Republic's black hussars") because of their Republican support, doubled under his ministry[citation needed].

The education policies establishing French language as the language of the Republic have been contested in the second half of the 20th century insofar as, if they played an important role in unifying the French nation-state and the Third Republic, they also nearly provoked the extinction of several regional languages [2].

After the military defeat of France by Germany in 1870, Ferry formed the idea of acquiring a great colonial empire, principally for the sake of economic exploitation. In a speech before the Chamber of Deputies on 28 July 1883, he declared that "the superior races have a right because they have a duty: it is their duty to civilize the inferior races." Ferry directed the negotiations which led to the establishment of a French protectorate in Tunis (1881), prepared the treaty of 17 December 1885 for the occupation of Madagascar; directed the exploration of the Congo and of the Niger region; and above all, he organized the conquest of Annam and Tonkin in what became Indochina.

The last endeavor led to a war with Imperial China, whose Qing dynasty had a claim of suzerainty over the two provinces. The excitement caused in Paris by the sudden retreat of the French troops from Lang Son during this war led to the Tonkin Affair: his violent denunciation by Clemenceau and other radicals, and his downfall on 30 March 1885. Although the treaty of peace with China (9 June 1885), in which the Qing Dynasty ceded suzerainty of Annam and Tonkin to France, was the work of his ministry, he would never again serve as premier.

The desire for a monarchy was still strong in France even under the Third Republic — the comte de Chambord having made a bid early in its history. A committed republican, Ferry proceeded to a wide-scale "purge" by dismissing many known monarchists from top positions in the magistrature, army and civil and diplomatic service.

The key to understanding Ferry's unique position in Third Republic history is that until his political critic, Georges Clemenceau became Prime Minister twice in the 20th Century Ferry has the longest tenure as Prime Minister under that regime. He also played with political dynamite that eventually destroyed his success. Ferry (like his 20th Century equivalent Joseph Caillaux) believed in not confronting Wilhelmine Germany by threats of a future war of revenge. Most French politicians in the middle and right saw it as a sacred duty to one day lead France again against Germany to reclaim Alsace-Lorraine, and avenge the awful defeat of 1870. But Ferry realized that Germany was too powerful, and it made more sense to cooperate with Otto von Bismarck and avoid trouble. A sensible policy - but hardly popular.

Bismarck was constantly nervous about the situation with France. Although he had despised the ineptness of the French under Napoleon III and the government of Adolphe Thiers and Jules Favre, he had not planned for all the demands he presented the French in 1870. He only wished to temporarily cripple France by the billion franc reparation, but suddenly he was confronted by the demands of Marshals Albrecht von Roon and Helmut von Moltke (backed by Emperor Wilhelm I) to annex the two French provinces as further payment. Bismarck, for all his abilities regarding manipulating events, could not afford to anger the Prussian military. He got the two provinces, but he realized it would eventually have severe future reprecussions.

Bismarck was able to ignore the French for most of the 1870s and early 1880s, but as he found problems with his three erstwhile allies (Austria, Russia, and Italy) he realized France might one day take advantage of this (as it did with Russia in 1894). When Ferry came up with a radically different approach to the situation and offered an olive branch Bismarck reciprocated. A Franco-German friendship would alleviate problems of siding with either Austria or Russia, or Austria and Italy. Bismarck approved of the colonial expansion that France pursued under Ferry. He only had some problems with local German imperialists who were critical that Germany lacked colonies, so he found a few in the 1880s, making certain he did not confront French interests. But he also suggested Franco-German cooperation on the imperial front against the British Empire, thus hoping to create a wedge between the two Western European great powers. It did as a result, leading to a major race for influence across Africa that nearly culminated in war in the next decade, at Fashoda in the Sudan in 1898. But by then both Bismarck and Ferry were dead, and the rapproachment policy died when Ferry lost office. As for Fashoda, while it was a confrontation, it led to Britain and France eventually discussing their rival colonial goals, and agreeing to support each other's sphere of influence - the first step to the Entente Cordiale between the countries in 1904.

Ferry remained an influential member of the moderate republican party, and directed the opposition to General Boulanger. After the resignation of Jules Grévy (2 December 1887), he was a candidate for the presidency of the republic, but the radicals refused to support him, and he withdrew in favour of Sadi Carnot.

In 1887, a man named Aubertin attempted to assassinate Jules Ferry, who later died from complications attributed to this wound on 17 March 1893. The Chamber of Deputies gave him a state funeral.

Ferry's 1st Ministry, 23 September 1880 - 14 November 1881

Ferry's 2nd Ministry, 21 February 1883 - 6 April 1885

  • Jules Ferry - President of the Council and Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
  • Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour - Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • Jean Thibaudin - Minister of War
  • Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau - Minister of the Interior
  • Pierre Tirard - Minister of Finance
  • Félix Martin-Feuilléee - Minister of Justice and Worship
  • Charles Brun - Minister of Marine and Colonies
  • Jules Méline - Minister of Agriculture
  • David Raynal - Minister of Public Works
  • Adolphe Cochery - Minister of Posts and Telegraphs
  • Anne Charles Hérisson - Minister of Commerce

Changes

  • 9 August 1883 - Alexandre Louis François Peyron succeeds Charles Brun as Minister of Marine and Colonies
  • 9 October 1883 - Jean-Baptiste Campenon succeeds Thibaudin as Minister of War.
  • 20 November 1883 - Jules Ferry succeeds Challemel-Lacour as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Armand Fallières succeeds Ferry as Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts.
  • 14 October 1884 - Maurice Rouvier succeeds Hérisson as Minister of Commerce
  • 3 January 1885 - Jules Louis Lewal succeeds Campenon as Minister of War.

See also

References

  1. ^ A History of Western Society, Seventh Edition. John Buckler, Bennett D. Hill, John P. McKay
  2. ^ 1998 report from Bernard Poignant, mayor of Quimper, to Lionel Jospin (French)
  • Taylor, A.J.P. Germany's First Bid For Colonies, 1884-1885: A Move in Bismarck's European Policy (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., Inc. - the Norton Library, 1970), p. 17-31: Chapter 1. Bismarck's Approach to France, December 1883 - April 1884.
Political offices
Preceded by
Agénor Bardoux		 Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
1879–1881		 Succeeded by
Paul Bert
Preceded by
Charles de Freycinet		 Prime Minister of France
1880–1881		 Succeeded by
Léon Gambetta
Preceded by
Paul Bert		 Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
1882		 Succeeded by
Jules Duvaux
Preceded by
Armand Fallières		 Prime Minister of France
1883–1885		 Succeeded by
Henri Brisson
Preceded by
Jules Duvaux		 Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
1883		 Succeeded by
Armand Fallières
Preceded by
Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour		 Minister of Foreign Affairs
1883–1885		 Succeeded by
Charles de Freycinet
Preceded by
Philippe Le Royer		 President of the Senate
1893		 Succeeded by
Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Biography. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
French Literature Companion. The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. Copyright © 1995, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Jules Ferry".  Read more