Gabriel Hanotaux

Albert Auguste Gabriel Hanotaux, known as Gabriel Hanotaux, (november 19, 1853 – april 11, 1944) was a French statesman and historian.

Biography

He was born at Beaurevoir in the "département" of Aisne. He studied history at the École des Chartes, and became "maître de conférence" in the École des Hautes Études. His political career was that of a civil servant rather than a party politician. In 1879 he entered the ministry of foreign affairs as a secretary, and rose step by step through the diplomatic service.

In 1886 he was elected deputy for Aisne, but, defeated in 1889, he returned to his diplomatic career, and on May 31 1894 was chosen by Charles Dupuy to be minister of foreign affairs. With one interruption (during the Ribot ministry, from January 26 to November 2 1895) he held this portfolio until June 14 1898. During his ministry he developed the "rapprochement" of France with Russia—visiting Saint Petersburg with the president, Félix Faure—and sent expeditions to delimit the French colonies in Africa.

The Fashoda Incident of July 1898 was a result of this policy, and Hanotaux's distrust of England is frankly stated in his literary works.

Hanotaux served as a delegate for France with the League of Nations and participated in the 1st (November 15 - December 18, 1920), 2nd (September 5 - October 5, 1921), 3rd (September 4 - September 30, 1922) and 4th Assemblies (September 3 - September 29, 1923).

In the early 1920s, there was a proposal for the League Of Nations to accept Esperanto as their working language. Ten delegates accepted the proposal with only one voice against, the French delegate, Gabriel Hanotaux. Hanotaux did not like how the French language was losing its position as the international language of diplomacy and saw Esperanto as a threat.

Gabriel Hanotaux died in Paris in 1944 and was interred in the Passy Cemetery.

Works

As a historian he published:

*"Origines de l'institution des intendants de provinces" (1884), which is the authoritative study on the intendants
*"Etudes historiques sur les XVI et XVII siècles en France" (1886)
*"Histoire de Richelieu" (2 vols., 1888)
*"Histoire de la Troisième République" (1904), the standard history of contemporary France.

He also edited the "Instructions des ambassadeurs de France à Rome, depuis les traités de Westphalie" (1888). He was elected a member of the Académie française on April 1 1897.

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*1911