Albert Auguste Gabriel Hanotaux

He received his historical training in the École des Chartes, and became maître de conférence in the École des Hautes Etudes. His political career was rather that of a civil servant than of 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 St 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. As an 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 Troisiéme République (1904), the standard history of contemporary France.

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

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.