Gambetta, le tribun de la République, avec Éric Anceau

Make a donation and receive a gift: http://don.storiavoce.com/ Gambetta is today one of the most frequently cited names for public roads in France, alongside Victor Hugo and Jules Ferry. Yet, compared to his colleagues from the Third Republic, he is undoubtedly the one whose legacy is the least well-known. Léon Gambetta came from a modest provincial background, which was far from predestining him to take the reins of state. Thanks to his talents as an orator, he became a lawyer, then a journalist, and finally a member of parliament. A fierce republican, he opposed Napoleon III and joined the provisional republican government after the defeat at Sedan. During the Siege of Paris in 1870, he managed to escape the besieged capital by flying a hot air balloon! After the war and the Commune, his involvement in the construction of a republican France focused his political efforts on perpetuating institutions, expanding the school system, participating in the colonial project, and rearming France against Germany. Guest: Éric Anceau is a professor of contemporary history at the University of Lorraine. He is the author of Histoire de la nation française. Du mythe des origines à nos jours (Tallandier, 528 pages, €24.50) and recently published Gambetta (PUF, 192 pages, €15).