Jules Ferry

French statesman Jules Ferry (1832-1963) was a strong Republican figure who was interestingly criticized. 

Initially a lawyer, he seemed more inclined to work in politics, especially when he began his newspaper contribution to Le Temps and consistently attacked Baron Haussmann for his representation of the Second French Empire (known as the regime of Napoleon III). Shortly after the fall of Napoleon III, he was established the mayor of Paris (1870-1871), but as he imposed harsh food restrictions during the Franco-Prussian War, he quickly became unpopular and was forced out of office. He returned into the chamber under the republican ministry (1880-1885), when he becomes influential for the secularization of public schools and the colonial expansion of France.

The end of the 19th century was significant for the debut of separation of church and state, as Ferry advocated non-clerical organization in education. He proposed to eliminate religion in universities, although it raised controversial views since it took away the right to teach from some religious orders. In 1882 he succeeded in passing laws which made primary schools free, secular, and mandatory, creating for the first time in world history free education for every child in the country. He also implemented the first school of female teachers as well as a few secondary schools for girls.

After France’s defeat by Prussia in the war (1870), Ferry decided the idea of a great colonial empire appropriate, particularly for the sake of economic exploitation. He considered colonialism a “right of the superior races”, more like a duty, to “civilize the inferior races”. This led to the establishment of a protected state in Tunis, Tunisia (1881), as well as Madagascar (1885), the Congo and the Niger regions, and Annam and Tonkin of Indochina, which led to trouble with the Qing dynasty in China and the Tonkin Affair: his downfall in the ministry in 1885. Nonetheless, he remained an influential figure in the republican  party. He was later a victim of attempted assassination by a religious fanatic in 1887, but complications to his wound only let him rest in ’93.