René Henry Besnard (12 April 1879 – 12 March 1952) was a French politician who was a deputy for

Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.Minister of the Colonies and then Minister of Labor and Social Welfare in 1913. He was twice Undersecretary of State for War during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

(1914–18), and did much to reform aircraft production. He was briefly Minister of Colonies in 1917. From 1924 to 1928 Besnard was Ambassador of France to Rome. For a few days in 1930 he was

Minister of War A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in ...

Pre-war period (1879–1914)

René Henry Besnard was born in

Artannes-sur-Indre Artannes-sur-Indre (, literally ''Artannes on Indre'') is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and mil ...

, Indre-et-Loire, on 12 April 1879. His family was from

Touraine Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and V ...

. He qualified as a doctor of Law in 1903 with the thesis on search and seizure in criminal cases, and became a lawyer. He was elected deputy for the 1st district of

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metr ...

in the national elections of 6/20 May 1906 representing a group of Republicans, Radicals and anti-clerical Radical Socialists. In 1909 he was appointed secretary of the chamber of deputies. He was active in the chamber, and introduced several bills. Besnard was reelected in the second round in the elections of April–May 1910. He became a member of the committees on Labor, Budget and Universal Suffrage. On 27 June 1911 he was appointed Undersecretary of State for Finance under Louis-Lucien Klotz, the Minister of Finance in the cabinet of Joseph Caillaux. He retained this position in the subsequent cabinet of Raymond Poincaré formed on 14 January 1912. He was appointed Colonial Secretary on 12 January 1913. On 21 January 1913 he was appointed Minister of Labor and Social Welfare by Briand, holding office until 18 March 1913 when the government of

Louis Barthou Jean Louis Barthou (; 25 August 1862 – 9 October 1934) was a French politician of the Third Republic who served as Prime Minister of France for eight months in 1913. In social policy, his time as prime minister saw the introduction (in July ...

took office. Besnard was re-elected in the general elections of April–May 1914. He became a member of the committees on Appropriations, Commerce and Industry, Army and Merchant Marine.

World War I (1914–18)

At the outbreak of

(1914–18) Besnard joined the army as a second lieutenant. He returned to the government as Undersecretary of State for War in the cabinet of René Viviani on 14 September 1915. He was given responsibility for aviation, replacing the director of aviation, Auguste Hirschauer. A member of the aviation directorate said, "Young, dedicated and affable, he had all the qualities required to succeed in his difficult task, particularly that of reconciling those two warring brothers, the front and the rear." Besnard returned skilled craftsmen from the army to their previous jobs, brought the flying schools under control of the army and created the ''Service Technique de l'Aéronautique'' (STAé) to undertake research and development. He established a statistical office to accurately track airplanes and ground vehicles for the first time, and reorganized the technical, construction and repair services. Besnard supported the plans of lieutenant-colonel Édouard Barès for large-scale production of airplanes using

Hispano-Suiza 8 The Hispano-Suiza 8 was a water-cooled V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914, and was the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original Hispano-Suiza 8 ...

engines. He also decided to hasten development of the promising

Caudron R.4 The Caudron R.4 (officially Caudron 40 A.3) was a French World War I twin-engine biplane reconnaissance/artillery cooperation aircraft and the progenitor of a series of successful aircraft that filled a variety of roles with the French Aéronauti ...

. Besnard was in favor of using the multi-purpose Caudron R.4 in place of specialized bombers and pursuit airplanes. He proposed to merge specialized bombing and pursuit squadrons with all-purpose combat squadrons, but this did not happen. He retained his position as secretary of state for aviation in the broad-based cabinet of

Aristide Briand Aristide Pierre Henri Briand (; 28 March 18627 March 1932) was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic. He is mainly remembered for his focus on international issues and reconcilia ...

formed on 29 October 1915. Besnard supported some level of political independence for the air force. Besnard did not have authority over the aircraft industry, in which the manufacturers such as Édouard Michelin and

Gabriel Voisin Gabriel Voisin (5 February 1880 – 25 December 1973) was a French aviation pioneer and the creator of Europe's first manned, engine-powered, heavier-than-air aircraft capable of a sustained (1 km), circular, controlled flight, which was made ...

were mainly interested in profiting from their existing designs rather than innovating. He made many enemies with his reforms. He found grave defects in some Canton-Uni motors made by the Salmson company, who were supported by senator Charles Humbert, a newspaper proprietor. A violent press campaign was launched against him in which

Georges Clemenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was ...

participated. Besnard was dismissed from office and his post abolished in the aftermath of a

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, ...

raid on Paris on 29 January 1916. His resignation was accepted on 8 February 1916. Besnard returned to the army as a captain. However, a secret committee of the Chamber of Deputies recognized the value of Besnard's efforts in December 1916. He was again appointed Undersecretary of State for War on 28 December 1916 in the cabinet of

under

Hubert Lyautey Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey (17 November 1854 – 27 July 1934) was a French Army general and colonial administrator. After serving in Indochina and Madagascar, he became the first French Resident-General in Morocco from 1912 to 1925. Early ...

, Minister of War and retained this position in the cabinet of Alexandre Ribot under Paul Painlevé until 7 September 1917. When Paul Painlevé formed his government in September 1917 Besnard was appointed Minister of Colonies. He held office from 12 September to 16 November 1917, and soon came to support an active program of colonial expansion. Besnard decided to suspend recruiting in Africa until the end of the war, since the experience of the African troops might undermine their confidence in France. The government had decided to prepare a plan for settling post-war colonial issues, and the ministry was concerned that poorly-informed negotiators could use the colonies as bargaining counters in exchange for the return of Alsace-Lorraine. After eleven days in office, on 5 October 1917 Besnard established a ''commission de documentation'' "to collect and coordinate all the documents relating to post-war political problems in the colonial sphere." The commission was dominated by Albert Duchêne of the African department, and the resulting report made it clear that the main priority was to enlarge the French empire in Africa. Besnard left the Ministry of Colonies when the Painlevé cabinet fell on 13 November 1917.

Later career (1918–52)

In 1919 Besnard was a member of the Chamber of Deputies committee to review the peace treaties. He was the rapporteur of the bill to approve the section of the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1 ...

dealing with German colonies on 28 June 1919. That year he published a book on economics titled ''Où va-t-on?'' (Where are we going?). He did not run for reelection in the general elections on 16 November 1919. Besnard was elected to the Senate on 11 January 1920 for Indre-et-Loire, and was reelected on 6 January 1924, and 10 January 1933. He belonged to the Democratic Left group in the Senate. Besnard became rapporteur of the budgets for Public Education and for War, and a member of the Army Committee. From 1924 to 1928 Besnard was Ambassador of France to Rome. There he was involved in the early stages of what would become a major scandal concerning the financier Albert Oustric. In 1926 Oustric became involved in ''Snia Viscosa'', an Italian maker of artificial silk controlled by the financier Riccardo Gualino. Oustric wanted to list shares of Snia Viscosa in France. The responsible official in the Ministry of Finance asked the opinion of Besnard in Rome. Besnard wrote that he had no objection. The official then submitted the issue to Raoul Péret, Minister of Finance. Péret replied that Besnard had insisted that the authorization be granted, and the shares were listed. Prime Minister

Camille Chautemps Camille Chautemps (1 February 1885 – 1 July 1963) was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic, three times President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister). He was the father-in-law of U.S. politician and statesman Howard ...

named Besnard Minister of War on 21 February 1930, but the cabinet was forced out of office on 25 February 1930. After the spectacular and fraudulent bankruptcy of Albert Oustric in 1930 a commission of inquiry found that Péret had acted improperly. Besnard had been seriously involved in the Oustric affair, which caused the fall of the government of André Tardieu in December 1930. Besnard was investigated for his role in the affair by the High Court. He was acquitted on technical grounds, but his reputation was tainted. Nevertheless, he was reelected to the Senate in January 1933, and was admitted to the ''

Ligue des droits de l'homme The Human Rights League (french: Ligue des droits de l’homme ''t du citoyen' or LDH) of France is a Human Rights NGO association to observe, defend and promulgation of Rights Man within the French Republic in all spheres of public life. The ...

'' (Human Rights League), which was normally strongly opposed to corruption. After the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

(1939–45) Besnard visited Italy, which had not yet declared war against France, and had a long interview with the Foreign Minister,

Galeazzo Ciano Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari ( , ; 18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian diplomat and politician who served as Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister in the government of his father-in-law, ...

around 1 January 1940. Ciano warned him that the Germans were preparing a massive attack against Belgium and the Netherlands. Besnard visited Rome as high-commissioner of the planned 1942 Exposition, but did not meet the Italian dictator

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

. On 10 July 1940 Besnard voted to delegate power to Marshal

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of Worl ...

. He left politics after this. He died in Paris on 12 March 1952 at the age of 73 years. He was an officer of the Legion of Honor.

Publications

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Notes

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Besnard, René 1879 births 1952 deaths People from Indre-et-Loire Politicians from Centre-Val de Loire Radical Party (France) politicians French Ministers of the Colonies French Ministers of War French Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs Members of the 9th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 10th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 11th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic French Senators of the Third Republic Senators of Indre-et-Loire