3-057-146 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Leon Gambetta, French statesman, 1882. A republican politician, Gambetta (1838-1882), was an opponent of the French Second Empire. In 1870 he proclaimed the Third Republic after Napoleon III was captured by the Prussians after the Battle of Sedan. Gambetta himself famously escaped from Paris in a hot air balloon when the city was besieged by the Prussians, rallying support for resistance to the invaders in the provinces. He was influential as the real leader of the republicans in politics in the first decade of the Third Republic, but did not actually hold office until a brief and unsuccessful period as premier in 1881-1882.