Louis Barthou

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French politician Louis Barthou

Jean Louis Barthou (August 25, 1862 – October 9, 1934) was a French politician of the Third Republic.

Born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Basses-Pyrénées, he was Prime Minister of France in 1913. Barthou was an authority on Trade Union history and law.

Louis Barthou was the primary figure behind the Franco-Soviet Mutual Assistance Pact, which was signed by his successor, Pierre Laval. He was serving as Foreign Minister when he was killed in Marseille in 1934 by a French policeman reacting to the assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia by Vlado Chernozemski.

[edit] Operation Teutonic Sword vs. Bureaucratic incompetence

In 1957, in a book and a subsequent film called Unternehmen Teutonenschwert ("Operation Teutonic Sword"), East German propaganda published an alleged correspondence involving a high-ranking NATO official, Hans Speidel, then an assistant to the German military attaché in Paris, with Hermann Goering, to disseminate the idea that the assassination was planned and prepared by Germans, having got Hitler's personal sanction on it..

Yet, the dictatorship of Alexander was reason enough to kill him in the eyes of a Macedonian revolutionary, and at least Barthou was a mere victim of bureaucratic incompetence: the wound he had received in the arm — his humeral artery was severed— received no treatment until it was too late and it has been known since 1974 that the bullet, a 8mm and not a 7,65mm caliber, came from a policeman. At least the Préfet Jouhannaud had his carreer ruined.

[edit] Barthou's Ministry, 22 March - 9 December 1913

Louis Barthou - President of the Council and Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
Stéphen Pichon - Minister of Foreign Affairs
Eugène Étienne - Minister of War
Louis Lucien Klotz - Minister of the Interior
Charles Dumont - Minister of Finance
Henry Chéron - Minister of Labour and Social Security Provisions
Antony Ratier - Minister of Justice
Pierre Baudin - Minister of Marine
Étienne Clémentel - Minister of Agriculture
Jean Morel - Minister of Colonies
Joseph Thierry - Minister of Public Works
Alfred Massé - Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts, and Telegraphs

[edit] External links

Preceded by Charles Jonnart	Minister of Public Works 1894–1895	Succeeded by Ludovic Dupuy-Dutemps
Preceded by Ferdinand Sarrien	Minister of the Interior 1896–1898	Succeeded by Henri Brisson
Preceded by Armand Gauthier de l'Aude	Minister of Public Works 1906–1909	Succeeded by Alexandre Millerand
Preceded by George Trouillot	Minister of Posts and Telegraphs 1906–1909	Succeeded by Alexandre Millerand
Preceded by Aristide Briand	Minister of Justice 1909–1910	Succeeded by Théodore Girard
Preceded by Aristide Briand	Minister of Justice 1913	Succeeded by Antony Ratier
Preceded by Aristide Briand	President of the Council 1913	Succeeded by Gaston Doumergue
Preceded by Théodore Steeg	Minister of Public Instruction 1913	Succeeded by René Viviani
Preceded by —	Minister of State with Léon Bourgeois, Paul Doumer, Jean Dupuy 1917	Succeeded by Léon Bourgeois, Paul Doumer, Jean Dupuy
Preceded by Alexandre Ribot	Minister of Foreign Affairs 1917	Succeeded by Stéphen Pichon
Preceded by Flaminius Rabierti	Minister of War 1921–1922	Succeeded by André Maginot
Preceded by Laurent Bonnevay	Minister of Justice 1922	Succeeded by Maurice Colrat
Preceded by Maurice Colrat	Minister of Justice 1926–1929	Succeeded by Lucien Hubert
Preceded by André Maginot	Minister of War 1930–1931	Succeeded by André Maginot
Preceded by Édouard Daladier	Minister of Foreign Affairs 1934	Succeeded by Pierre Laval