Born on April 2, 1838, Leon Gambetta would become one of France's great patriots during the final half of the 1800s.
Gambetta was trained to be a lawyer. He opposed Emperor Napoleon III's empire and gained election to the Chamber of Deputies in 1869. Napoleon III's government fell in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War and Gambetta took over the temporary provisional government.
Gambetta opposed the German occupation of France, setting up a national defense to push the Germans out. He is remembered for a bizarre incident in which he escaped Paris in a hot air balloon after fear of a revolution in the French capital.
Gambetta returned and tried to oppose Otto von Bismarck's terms on France, but was forced to resign, and France capitulated to Germany. Leon Gambetta retired from politics briefly, but returned in 1871 to help set up the French Third Republic.
Gambetta tried to compromise with both the conservative monarchists and the liberal republicans. He helped set up a constitution in 1875. Gambetta favored a republican form of government, and he opposed the strong Roman Catholic influence over France.
In 1881, Gambetta was appointed French premire. Gambetta tried to bring together rival factions in the government, enact electoral reforms, and strengthen the executive branch of the French government, but his efforts proved futile. Gambetta died in 1882.
Today, Leon Gambetta is remembered for his French patriotism, and he is revered by the French people.
Sources: Columbia Encyclopedia, Wikipedia
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