Henri Hauser (19 July 1866 – 27 May 1946) was a French historian, geographer, and economist. A pioneer in the study of the economic history of the early modern period, he also wrote on contemporary economic issues and held the first chair in economic history to be established at a French university.
He was born in Oran into a middle-class Jewish family who had moved to French Algeria for health reasons but returned to France when Hauser was four years old. Hauser was educated at the Lycée Condorcet in Paris and then at the École Normale Supérieure where he came first in both the entrance and leaving examinations. He initially taught in provincial lycées before taking his doctorate in 1892 with a thesis on the 16th-century Huguenot leader, François de la Noue. Hauser went on to become a professor of ancient and medieval history at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, modern history and geography at the University of Dijon, and finally a professor of history and economic history at the Sorbonne from 1919 to 1936. His 1905 book L'impérialisme américain predicted the decline of Europe and the dominance of the United States, while his 1915 Méthodes allemandes d'expansion économique analyzed the role played by German industry in the outbreak of World War I. Hauser was awarded the Legion of Honor in 1919 and in 1945 the Académie française awarded him the Prix de l'Académie for his life's work.
Biography
Early life and education
Hauser was born into a Jewish family of republican sympathies. His father Auguste Hauser (1816–1884) had been a Freemason and was a tailor by trade. His mother, Zélia Hauser née Aron (1840–1879), was the daughter of a prosperous merchant and exporter in Besançon. Although both of Hauser's parents were born in Besançon, their families' origins were in Luemschwiller in the Alsace region. Henri and his elder brother Félix-Paul were born in Oran in French Algeria where the family had relocated to improve Zélia's health and where Auguste had a tailor shop. The family returned to France when Henri was four years old, on the eve of the Franco-Prussian War. After a short stay in Marseille, they settled in Seine-Saint-Denis near Paris where Auguste resumed his trade as a tailor. Hauser's mother Zélia died of tuberculosis when he was thirteen. His maternal uncle, Henry Aron, then looked after the education of Henri and Félix-Paul. He enrolled Henri in the Lycée Condorcet to prepare him for eventual study at the École Normale Supérieure.
Hauser entered the École Normale Supérieure in August 1885. One of his mentors there was the geographer Paul Vidal de la Blache who would be a lifelong influence on him. Upon his graduation from the École in 1888 when he came first in the Agrégation examinations for history and geography, Hauser received a teaching appointment at the lycée in Bourges. He subsequently taught at the lycées of Pau and Poitiers before receiving his doctorate in 1892 from the Faculté des lettres de Paris (University of France). His doctoral dissertation, supervised by Gabriel Monod, was on the 16th-century Huguenot leader, François de la Noue. It was published by Hachette that same year and reviewed by Jean Réville in the Revue de l'histoire des religions. Réville noted the dissertation's erudition and the new light shed on de la Noue's reputation by Hauser's study.
Academic career
Hauser's first university appointment was as a lecturer (chargé de cours) in ancient and medieval history at the University of Clermont-Ferrand in 1893. There he published several studies which continued to shed new light on the religious and economic history of the 16th century, including Voyage du Levant. Hauser had discovered Philippe Canaye's hitherto unpublished account of his 1573 voyage to Constantinople in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. He translated the Italian manuscript and published it in 1897 with extensive notes and a biography of Canaye which corrected many errors in previous accounts of his life. Hauser was promoted to Professor of History at Clermont-Ferrand in 1896 and remained at the university until 1899 when the Dreyfus Affair made his position untenable. During that year he established a section of the Ligue des droits de l'homme at Clermont-Ferrand and gave a series of public lectures attacking the conviction of Dreyfus for treason as "illegal". Hauser wrote, "I want a France great and noble, a France faithful to its mission of justice and truth." Antisemitic students at the university and the right-wing press attacked him as a "traitor" and a "Prussian".