Pierre Gaxotte (19 November 1895 – 21 November 1982) was a French

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

. Gaxotte was born in

Revigny-sur-Ornain Revigny-sur-Ornain (, literally ''Revigny on Ornain'') is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Geography The Chée, a tributary of the Saulx, forms part of the commune's north-western border. The Ornain, anot ...

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...

. He began his career as a history teacher at the

Lycée Charlemagne The Lycée Charlemagne is located in the Marais quarter of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, the capital city of France. Constructed many centuries before it became a lycée, the building originally served as the home of the Order of the Jesui ...

and later worked as a columnist for ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

''. Over the course of his life he authored numerous historical studies, and was elected to the '' Académie française'' in 1953. He is famous for his critical vision of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, notably in ''The French Revolution'' (1928), and for his rehabilitation of the French 18th century (''Louis XV's Century'', 1933). He is also known as a far-right-wing journalist of the '' Entre-deux-Guerres'' period, with links to the

Action française Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

and the newspaper ''

Je suis partout ''Je suis partout'' (, lit. ''I am everywhere'') was a French newspaper founded by , first published on 29 November 1930. It was placed under the direction of Pierre Gaxotte until 1939. Journalists of the paper included Lucien Rebatet, , the illu ...

''.

Works in English translation

* ''The French Revolution,'' C. Scribner's Sons, 1932. * ''Louis XV and His Times,'' J. B. Lippincott Co., 1934. * ''Frederick the Great,'' G. Bell and Sons, 1941 ep. by Yale University Press, 1942; Greenwood Press, 1975Brinton, Crane. "The Aggressor Can Win," ''The Saturday Review,'' May 9, 1942. * ''The Age of Louis XIV,'' Macmillan, 1970.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaxotte, Pierre 1895 births 1982 deaths People from Meuse (department) French monarchists People affiliated with Action Française Members of the Académie Française École Normale Supérieure alumni Historians of the French Revolution French anti-communists French male non-fiction writers 20th-century French historians 20th-century French male writers Le Figaro people