BAINVILLE, JACQUES

born Feb. 9, 1879, Vincennes, Fr. died Feb. 9, 1936, Paris French political writer and historian, a leading exponent of conservative ideals between World Wars I and II. Although born into a family of republican sympathies, Bainville came under the influence of the royalist propagandists Maurice Barrs and Charles Maurras and early embraced the cause of the restoration of the monarchy. After being associated with the royalist papers Action Franaise and Gazette de France, he published his first book, La Rpublique de Bismarck, ou Origines allemandes de la Troisime Rpublique (1905; The Republic of Bismarck: German Origins of the Third Republic), in which he emphasized the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck's support of French Republicanism. During World War I Bainville wrote several works on Russia, Italy, and Germany; notable is his Histoire de deux peuples (1915; History of Two Nations), an anti-German work dealing with the recurrent German invasions of France. In 1920 he published Les Consquences politiques de la paix (1920; The Political Consequences of the Peace), in which he attacked the Treaty of Versailles and predicted the danger of a unified Germany. His Histoire de France (1924) was later republished with other studies under the title Heur et malheur des franais (The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the French). His Napolon (1931) is an excellent psychological study. In his later years Bainville, concerned with the rising German threat, wrote Les Dictateurs (1935) and La Troisime Rpublique 18701935 (1935; The Third Republic), in which he predicted what he saw as two inevitable events: a German attack on France and a national revolution. He also published works on German and English history and literary essays. Bainville was elected to the Acadmie Franaise in 1935.