Adolphe Thiers

Born in Marseille in 1797, Adolphe Thiers trained in law before moving to Paris and making his name as a journalist. He helped found the newspaper Le National in 1830 and quickly became an important public voice during the turbulent years that followed the July Revolution.

Thiers built a major political career under the July Monarchy, serving more than once as prime minister, and he later became one of the central figures in French public life after the fall of the Second Empire. In 1871 he was chosen to lead the executive power of France and soon became the first president of the Third Republic, serving until 1873.

He was also a remarkably successful historian. His multivolume histories of the French Revolution and of the Consulate and Empire were widely read and helped fix his reputation far beyond politics. Remembered as both a man of letters and a controversial statesman, he remains a key figure for anyone interested in 19th-century France.