F.-A. (François-Alphonse) Aulard

Born in Montbron, France, on July 19, 1849, François Victor Alphonse Aulard became one of the best-known historians of the French Revolution. He studied literature, earned a doctorate in 1877, and early in his career also worked on subjects such as Leopardi before focusing on revolutionary France.

Aulard is widely remembered as the first professional French historian of the Revolution and of Napoleon. He taught at the University of Paris, held the chair in the history of the French Revolution, and was known for applying careful documentary criticism to a period that had often been treated more polemically than scientifically.

His major works include studies of revolutionary parliamentary life and The French Revolution: A Political History, 1789–1804. He also edited important collections of primary sources and helped institutionalize historical research in France, leaving a lasting mark on how the Revolution has been studied ever since.