Thiers (te-air'), Louis Adolphe. An eminent statesman and historian, and president of the French Republic. Born of humble parentage in Marseilles in 1797. Was educated for the law, but discarding the idea of following that profession, Thiers, at an early age, entered the field of journalism as a contributor to the columns of the "Constitutionnel." Between the years 1823-27, appeared his "History of the French Revolution," a work which stamped him an historian of the first order. Thiers largely contributed to the revolution of 1830. In 1832 he was made minister of the interior. In 1834 he was admitted into the French Academy, and from February to August, 1836, filled the post of president of the council and minister for foreign affairs. In March, 1840, Thiers was recalled to power, but being unable to prevail upon Louis Philippe to support his Eastern policy, he resigned office in October, and employed his leisure in writing his "History of the Consulate and Empire," one of the greatest historical works of the age. In July 1870 Thiers resolutely opposed the impending war against Germany. In 1871 he succeeded in effecting peace on the best terms possible under the circumstances and, in the same year, was elected president of the new republic. In 1873, after an adverse vote of the legislative body, he resigned, and was succeeded by Marshal MacMahon. Thiers died in 1877.

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