Louis Léger (15 January 1843– 30 April 1923) was a French writer and pioneer in Slavic studies. He was honorary member of Bulgarian Literary Society (now Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, also member of Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres in Paris. Academic institutions in Saint-Petersburg, Belgrade and Bucharest had given him a different status of membership. Léger studied under Aleksander Chodźko at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

, whose position he eventually succeeded in 1885 by taking up the ''Slav Literature and Language'' chair of

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...

, which he occupied until 1923. Léger claimed that those who had not lived during the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France. Historians in the 1930 ...

could not possibly imagine the effect of Polish influence on French society. Léger helped translate various Polish works. His "A History of Austro-Hungary", first edition published in 1879 and last in 1920, was considered one of the best textbooks on the subject in any Western language. In 1916, Tomas Garrique Masaryk and

Edvard Beneš Edvard Beneš (; 28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948) was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1945 to 1948. He also led the Czechoslovak government-in-exile 1939 to 194 ...

founded the ''Comité national tchèque'' in Paris, and almost at the same time

Louis Eisenmann Louis Eisenmann (31 July 1869 – 14 May 1937) was a French historian and professor of Slavic studies. Born in Haguenau into a Jewish family, Eisenmann held a chair at the University of Dijon from 1905.Ernest Denis Ernest Denis (January 3, 1849 – January 4, 1921) was a French historian. Denis became known as a specialist of Germany and Bohemia, and played a major role in the establishment of the Czechoslovak state in 1918. Along with Louis Léger, he i ...

founded the ''Comité national d'études'' , which also advocated for the independence of a Czech state. In 1918, the French government created Czechoslovak legions, which represented a significant auxiliary force at a decisive phase of the war after Russia had made peace. On 28 October 1918, the Republic of Czechoslovakia was proclaimed in Prague.Finis Austriae
radio.cz, 24/10/2007, accessed 29 July 2021

Works

* * ''La Crise autrichienne'', Paris, 1868 * ''Histoire de Autriche-Hongrie'', Paris, 1879 * ''Contes Populaires Slaves'', 1882 * * ''La Bulgarie'', Paris, 1885 * ''Nouvelles études slaves histoire et littérature'', 1886 * ''Russes et Slaves, études politiques et littéraires'', Hachette, 1890 * * ''Le monde slave, études politiques et littéraires'', Hachette, 1902 * ''Moscou'', 1910 * ''Nicolas Gogol'', 1913

Notes

External links

* Translators from Polish 1843 births 1923 deaths Writers from Toulouse Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences French male writers Academic staff of the Collège de France Members of the Ligue de la patrie française Cyrillo-Methodian studies {{france-nonfiction-writer-stub