Thiers, Adolphe (ädôlf` tyĕr), 1797–1877, French statesman, journalist, and historian.

After studying law at Aix-en-Provence, Thiers went (1821) to Paris and joined the group of writers that attacked the reactionary government of King Charles X Charles X, 1757–1836, king of France (1824–30); brother of King Louis XVI and of King Louis XVIII, whom he succeeded. As comte d'Artois he headed the reactionary faction at the court of Louis XVI.
..... Click the link for more information. . Thiers reflected the views of the upper bourgeoisie. Although immensely popular in their time, Thiers's historical works are today generally regarded as superficial and inaccurate eulogies of the French Revolution and of Napoleon, written from the bourgeois point of view. His History of the French Revolution (10 vol., 1823–27; tr., 5 vol., 1895) illustrated his moderate liberal views. With F. A. M. Mignet Mignet, François Auguste Marie (fräNswä` ôgüst` märē` mēnyā`)
..... Click the link for more information. and others he started (1830) the journal National, which had an important part in bringing about the July Revolution July Revolution, revolt in France in July, 1830, against the government of King Charles X . The attempt of the ultraroyalists under Charles to return to the ancien régime provoked the opposition of the middle classes, who wanted more voice in the government.
..... Click the link for more information. of 1830.

Thiers held ministerial posts under Louis Philippe Louis Philippe (lwē fēlēp`)
..... Click the link for more information. , whose candidacy as king of the French he had promoted. As minister of the interior, he brutally suppressed the workers' insurrection of Apr., 1834, in Paris and Lyons. Thiers was premier in 1836, but his projected intervention against the Carlists Carlists, partisans of Don Carlos (1788–1855) and his successors, who claimed the Spanish throne under the Salic law of succession, introduced (1713) by Philip V.
..... Click the link for more information. in Spain caused his dismissal. In 1840 he again headed a cabinet, but his aggressive foreign policy—this time he sought to intervene in favor of Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali, 1769?–1849, pasha of Egypt after 1805. He was a common soldier who rose to leadership by his military skill and political acumen. In 1799 he commanded a Turkish army in an unsuccessful attempt to drive Napoleon from Egypt.
..... Click the link for more information. in Egypt, thus bringing France to the brink of war with Great Britain—once again lacked royal support and brought about his fall.

He then became a liberal opponent of the July Monarchy and again turned to writing, beginning his History of the Consulate and the Empire (20 vol., 1845–62; tr. 1845–62). In the midst of the February Revolution February Revolution, 1848, French revolution that overthrew the monarchy of Louis Philippe and established the Second Republic. General dissatisfaction resulted partly from the king's increasingly reactionary policy, carried out after 1840 by François Guizot ,
..... Click the link for more information. of 1848, Louis Philippe offered him the title of premier, but he refused, and both king and Thiers were soon swept aside by the revolutionary tide. Elected (1848) to the constituent assembly, Thiers was a leader of the right-wing liberals and bitterly opposed the socialists.

Thiers supported Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (later Emperor Napoleon III Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon Bonaparte), 1808–73, emperor of the French (1852–70), son of Louis Bonaparte (see under Bonaparte , family), king of Holland.
..... Click the link for more information. ) for president of the French republic, but his opposition to Bonaparte's coup in Dec., 1851, led to his arrest and exile. He was allowed to return not long afterward, but for ten years he remained out of government affairs. In 1863 he was elected to the legislature, where he opposed the emperor and helped to bring about reforms. Although he had previously favored an aggressive foreign policy, Thiers spoke out (1870) against involvement in the Franco-Prussian War Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, 1870–71, conflict between France and Prussia that signaled the rise of German military power and imperialism.
..... Click the link for more information. . Vindicated by the disastrous defeat of France, he was chosen chief executive of the provisional government at Bordeaux in 1871. He negotiated the preliminary Peace of Versailles with Otto von Bismarck and ordered his troops to suppress the Commune of Paris of 1871—an order carried out with ferocious severity.

In Aug., 1871, his title became president of the republic. Credit for France's quick payment of its war indemnity to Germany and for the consequent evacuation (1873) of France by German troops belongs largely to Thiers's efficient economic policy. However, his insistence upon a conservative republic alienated both the monarchist majority and the left-wing minority in the national assembly, and in 1873 he was forced to resign. In the elections of 1877 he helped to restore republican unity and bring about the election of a republican legislature.

Bibliography

See his memoirs (1903, tr. 1915); J. M. S. Allison, Thiers and the French Monarchy (1926, repr. 1968) and Monsieur Thiers (1932).

Thiers, (Louis-) Adolphe

(born April 18, 1797, Marseille, France—died Sept. 3, 1877, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris) French politician and historian. He went to Paris in 1821 as a journalist and cofounded the opposition newspaper National in 1830. In the July Revolution he supported Louis-Philippe and served as minister of the interior (1832, 1834–36) and premier and foreign minister (1836, 1840). A leader of the conservative moderates, he crushed all insurrections. Following the February Revolution, he helped elect Louis-Napoléon (later Napoleon III) president of the Second Republic. As a leader of the opposition (1863–70), he attacked Napoleon III's imperial policies. As president of the Third Republic (1871–73), he negotiated the end of the Franco-Prussian War and restored domestic order by crushing the Paris Commune. He also wrote major historical works, most importantly the huge History of the French Revolution (10 vol., 1823–27) and History of the Consulate and the Empire (20 vol., 1845–62).