1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barthou, Louis

BARTHOU, LOUIS (1862–), French statesman, advocate, author, journalist, and lecturer, was born at Oleron Aug. 25 1862. He was elected to Parliament in 1889, and five years later he became Minister of Public Works. He was successively Minister of the Interior (Aug. 1896 to June 1898) ; Minister of Public Works (March-Oct. 1906 and in the subsequent Clemenceau Cabinet until July 1909); Minister of Justice from July 1909 until March 1913; prime minister from May 22 to Dec. 2 1913; Minister of State in the Painleve Ministry during the World War, subsequently succeeding Ribot as Minister for Foreign Affairs; Minister of War Jan. 16 1921. His most notable political achievement was the manner in which he pushed through the Three Years’ Service Bill, which was a response to German military preparations before the war of 1914. He was elected a member of the French Academy in 1918.