The French statesman Raymond Poincaré (1860-1934) during the First World War was president and then prime minister during a series of financial crises. He was a conservative, committed to political and social stability.
Raymond Poincare: biography
The future president of France was born in Bar-le-Duc, a city in the north-east of the country, on August 20, 1860 in the family of engineer Nicolas-Antoine Poincare, who later became the inspector general of bridges and roads. Raymond studied law at the University of Paris, was admitted to the bar in 1882 and continued to practice law in Paris. Extremely ambitious Poincare gave all his strength to be the best in everything he did, and at the age of 20 he managed to become the youngest lawyer in France. As a lawyer, he successfully defended Jules Verne in a libel lawsuit filed by the chemist and inventor of the explosive, Eugene Turpin, who claimed to be the prototype of the mad scientist portrayed in The Flag of the Homeland.
In 1887, Raymond Poincaré (photo below in the article) was elected deputy from the French department of Meuse. So began his career as a politician. In subsequent years, he grew to work in the cabinet, including the post of Minister of Education and Finance. In 1895, Poincare was elected vice president of the Chamber of Deputies (legislative assembly of the French parliament). However, in 1899 he refused a request to French President Emile Loubet (1838-1929) to form a coalition government. A strong-willed, conservative nationalist, Poincare did not agree to accept the Minister of Socialism into the coalition. In 1903, he left the Chamber of Deputies and practiced law, and also served in the less politically significant Senate until 1912.
Prime and President
Raymond Poincare returned to big politics when he became prime minister in January 1912. In this most influential position in France, he proved to be a strong leader and foreign minister. To everyone’s surprise, the next year he decided to run for president - a relatively less significant post, and was elected to this post in January 1913.
Unlike previous presidents, Poincare took an active part in shaping politics. A strong sense of patriotism prompted him to work hard to protect France, strengthening the alliance with England and Russia and supporting laws to increase military service from two to three years. Despite working for peace, a native of Lorraine, Poincare, was suspicious of Germany, which had taken over the area in 1871.
War with Germany
When World War I broke out in August 1914, Raymond Poincare, President of France, turned out to be a strong military leader and stronghold of the morale of the nation. Indeed, he showed his loyalty to the idea of a united France when, in 1917, he asked his longtime political adversary Georges Clemenceau to form a government. Poincare believed that Clemenceau was the most competent candidate for the duties of prime minister and could lead the country, despite his leftist political views, which the French president opposed.
Treaty of Versailles and German reparations
Raymond Poincare did not agree with Clemenceau about the Treaty of Versailles, signed in June 1919, which determined the conditions of peace after the First World War. He was firmly convinced that Germany should reimburse France a significant amount of reparations and take responsibility for the outbreak of war. Although American and British leaders considered the treaty to be excessively strict, the document that contained substantial financial and territorial requirements for Germany, according to Poincare, was not severe enough.
The occupation of the Ruhr
Poincaré later showed his aggressive stance towards Germany when he again took over as prime minister in 1922. During this period, he was also the Minister of Foreign Affairs. When the Germans failed to recover their reparation payments in January 1923, Poincaré ordered the French troops to occupy the Ruhr Valley, a large industrial region in western Germany. Despite the occupation, the German government refused to pay. The passive resistance of German workers to the French authorities damaged the German economy. The German brand collapsed, the French economy also suffered due to the costs of the occupation.
Election defeat
German-Soviet propaganda of the 1920s depicted the July crisis of 1914 as the Poincaré-la-guerre (Poincare war), the purpose of which was to dismember Germany. Negotiations about this were allegedly conducted since 1912 by Emperor Nicholas II and "crazy militarist and revenge-seeker" Raymond Poincare. Information about this was published in the front pages of the French communist newspaper Humanite. The President of France and Nicholas II were accused of plunging the world into World War I. This propaganda proved very effective in the 1920s, and to a certain extent Poincare’s reputation has not yet been restored.
In 1924, the British and American governments negotiated a settlement, trying to stabilize the German economy and soften the conditions of reparations. In the same year, the Poincare party was defeated in the general election, and Raymond stepped down as prime minister.
The financial crisis of 1926
Raymond Poincare did not stay idle for long. In 1926, amid a serious economic crisis in France, he was again asked to form a government and assume the role of prime minister. To improve the financial situation, the politician acted quickly and decisively: government spending was reduced, interest rates were raised, new taxes were introduced and the value of the franc was stabilized by linking it to the gold standard. The growth of public confidence was the result of the country's prosperity, which followed the Poincare measures. The general election in April 1928 demonstrated popular support for his party and his role as prime minister.
Raymond Poincare: personal life
An outstanding politician had an outstanding family. His brother Lucien (1862–1920) was a physicist and became inspector general in 1902. Raymond's cousin Ari Poincare was a famous mathematician.
With his wife, Henrietta Adeline Benucci, Poincare met in 1901. She was the mistress of the salon for intellectuals in Paris and had already managed to be married twice. A civil ceremony took place in 1904, and a church ceremony shortly after Poincare became president of France in 1913.
