President of the
French Republic
Patrice de Mac-Mahon
3rd President of the Republic
Elected on Appointment May 25, 1873 by the Assembly
Extended for 7 years on November 20, 1873
Presidency May 24, 1873
January 30, 1879
Predecessor Adolphe Thiers
Successor Jules Grévy
Born July 13, 1808
in Sully (Saône-et-Loire)
Died October 8, 1893
at Château de la Forêt (Loiret)
Nature of death Natural death
Third Republic
Marie Edme Patrice Maurice, Count of Mac-Mahon, Duke of Magenta, born July 13, 1808 at the Château de Sully (Saône-et-Loire) near Autun, died October 8, 1893 at the Château de la Forêt, in Montcresson ( Loiret), was Marshal of France and was President of the French Republic from May 24, 1873 to January 30, 1879.
Irish origin
Mac-Mahon descended from an Irish family, which left for exile with James II and claimed descent from the ancient kings of Ireland.
Beginnings
Leaving Saint-Cyr, he entered the army in 1827 and served first during the Algiers expedition, where he stood out for his ability and bravery. Called back to France, he again attracted attention during the Antwerp expedition in 1832. He became a captain in 1833 and that year returned to Algeria. He led daring cavalry raids across the plains occupied by the Bedouins and distinguished himself at the siege of Constantine in 1837. From that date until 1855 he was almost constantly in Algeria and rose to the rank of major general.
Crimean War, Sevastopol
During the Crimean War he was given command of a division and, in September 1855, he successfully led the attack on the fortified works of Malakoff, where he pronounced his famous "I'm there, I'm there ! which resulted in the fall of Sevastopol.
Senator, winner in Algeria
After his return to France, he was showered with honors and made a senator. However, desiring a more active life, he refused the supreme command of the French troops and was once again sent, at his request, to Algeria, where he completely defeated the Kabyles. Back in France, he voted as a senator against the unconstitutional General Security Law, which was proposed after Orsini's failed attempt on the Emperor's life.
Magenta:Marshal of France
He particularly distinguished himself during the Italian campaign of 1859. Half by luck, half by audacity and flair, he pushed his troops forward without having received orders at a critical moment during the battle of Magenta, which ensured the French victory. For these brilliant services, he received from Napoleon III the baton of Marshal and was titled Duke of Magenta.
Governor in Algeria
In 1861 he represented France at the coronation of William I of Prussia and in 1864 was appointed Governor General of Algeria. His action in this position represents the least successful episode of his career. Although he did implement some reforms in the colonies, the complaints were so numerous that twice in the first half of 1870 he tendered his resignation to Napoleon III. When the Ollivier Cabinet, which was to end so badly, was formed, the Emperor abandoned his Algerian plans and Mac-Mahon was recalled.
1870-1871.
He participated in the Franco-German war of 1870, and suffered several defeats to end up prisoner in Sedan. In 1871, he was appointed head of the so-called "Versailles" army which severely repressed the Paris Commune by massacring 30,000 people, imprisoning 38,000 and deporting 7,000 others to prison.
President of the Republic
Driven by his popularity, he was elected President of the Republic after the fall of Adolphe Thiers on May 24, 1873, and planned a restoration of the monarchy, after dismissing the Prime Minister to replace him with a monarchist. But the failure of this restoration led him to vote for the presidential term. With Duke Albert de Broglie as President of the Council, he took a series of measures for moral order; but it is not to him that we owe the seven-year term; it was the deputies who voted for it because they hoped that in the next seven years the problem of the merger would be solved by the death of the Comte de Chambord ("Waiting for God to open his eyes of the Count of Chambord... or to close them to him", they said in Orléanist circles).
The Assembly having on November 9, 1873 fixed his term of office at seven years, following the adoption of the amendment proposed by the deputy Henri Wallon, he declared in a speech delivered on February 4, 1874 that he would know for seven years to enforce the legally established order. Preferring to remain above parties, he attended rather than took part in the proceedings which, in January and February of 1875, resulted in the fundamental laws which finally established the Republic as the legal government of France. Yet MacMahon was to write in his still unpublished memoirs:“By my family tradition and because of the feelings that my education had inculcated in me from an early age towards the royal house, I could not be anything other than a legitimist. It was with reluctance that he consented in 1876 to the formation of the Dufaure and Jules Simon cabinets, dominated by the Republicans.
When the episcopal mandates of the bishops of Poitiers, Nîmes and Nevers, commending the sympathy of the French government for the case of the captive Pope Pius IX, were followed by a resolution of the Chamber proposed by the left and asking the Government to "suppress the demonstrations ultramontaines” (May 4, 1877), Mac-Mahon, twelve days later, asked Jules Simon to resign and set up a Conservative ministry under the direction of the Duc de Broglie; he convinced the Senate to dissolve the House and traveled across the country to ensure the Conservatives' success in the elections, while protesting that he did not wish to overthrow the Republic. This was called “the May 16 coup”. However, the subsequent October 14 election gave the left a majority of 120 seats, and de Broglie's ministry resigned on November 19. Mac Mahon first tried to form a government of civil servants led by General de Rochebouët, but the Chamber having refused to enter into contact with him, Rochebouët resigned the next day and the president was forced to recall Dufaure as head of a leftist ministry. He kept his post until 1878, to allow political peace during the Universal Exhibition but, the senatorial elections of January 5, 1879, having now delivered this assembly to the left, Mac-Mahon who no longer had any parliamentary support preferred to resign on January 30, 1879 and Jules Grévy succeeded him.
Death[edit]
He died on October 8, 1893 at the Château de La Forêt, near Montargis, after having begun writing his memoirs. He will be buried on October 22 at the Invalides, after a state funeral.
Quotes
Mac-Mahon remained famous for a number of statements, probably not all authentic:
* During the Crimean War which opposed France and the United Kingdom to Russia, Mac-Mahon took the position of Malakoff. To a British emissary who begged him to leave the place, which he said was mined, Mac-Mahon replied, inventing the formula:"I am there, I am staying there". He stayed and did not jump.
* Seeing floods that hit the town of Moissac:“What water! What water! And again, we only see the top.”
* “Typhoid fever is a terrible disease. Either we die of it, or we remain stupid. And I know what I'm talking about, I got it."
* While going to review the students of the Special Military School of Saint-Cyr, Mac-Mahon was informed that the most brilliant soldier of the class was black. At the military school of Saint-Cyr, the word negro has been used since the 19th century to designate the major, that is to say the most brilliant student in the class. Arrived in front of him, and when it was obviously difficult not to recognize the soldier, Mac-Mahon asked him:“Ah, are you the nigger? ". And at a loss for words, he added, “Very well, carry on! .