Léon Gambetta

France state institutions Liberalism and republicanism 1838–1882 ○ Natural causes

Republican who proclaimed the Republic on 4 September 1870, left besieged Paris by balloon and organised the war in the provinces

Born at Cahors, the son of a Genoese grocer, he was called to the bar in 1859 and made his name in 1868 defending Delescluze with an attack on the coup of 1851. Elected in 1869, he became the leading defender of the lower classes against the Empire. He opposed the declaration of war in 1870 but voted funds for the army, proclaimed the Republic at the Hôtel de Ville on 4 September and became interior minister of the Government of National Defence. On 7 October he left Paris by balloon and at Tours, as minister of the interior and of war, raised new armies in the provinces; opposing the armistice, he resigned on 6 February 1871. He led the republicans through the constitutional laws of 1875 and the crisis of 16 May 1877, telling MacMahon to "submit or resign", was president of the Chamber from 1879 and prime minister for 66 days in 1881–82, and died of cancer in 1882.

Also known as: Léon Michel Gambetta · Leon Gambetta