Louis Barthas (; 14 July 1879 – 4 May 1952) was a French infantry corporal who served on the Western Front of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

for nearly the entire duration of conflict, stationed on the front lines for a significant amount of time. He was a politically active socialist, an

anti-militarist Antimilitarism (also spelt anti-militarism) is a doctrine that opposes war, relying heavily on a critical theory of imperialism and was an explicit goal of the First and Second International. Whereas pacifism is the doctrine that disputes (especi ...

and a professional barrelmaker. Barthas extensively documented his wartime experiences. After the war, he set out to compile these into a series of notebooks, forming a single comprehensive manuscript. He did not think to have them published, and the notebooks were kept in the back of a drawer for the next couple of decades. His grandson, a teacher at a secondary school in

Carcassonne Carcassonne is a French defensive wall, fortified city in the Departments of France, department of Aude, Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the department. ...

, consigned the notebooks to a colleague history teacher who used them in his curriculum. Word of mouth brought renewed attention to Barthas' manuscript, and in 1978, sixty years after the war, it was published as ''Poilu: the World War I notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, barrelmaker, 1914–1918''.

Early life

Louis Barthas was born on 14 July 1879—

Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. It is referred to, both legally and commonly, as () in French, though ''la fête nationale'' is also u ...

—in the town of Homps, Aude. His father, Jean, was a barrelmaker and his mother, Louise, was a seamstress. At the outbreak of the First World War, Barthas was a barrelmaker in Peyriac-Minervois, a job he returned to after the

Armistice of 11 November 1918 The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed in a railroad car, in the Compiègne Forest near the town of Compiègne, that ended fighting on land, at sea, and in the air in World War I between the Entente and their las ...

. As a socialist activist, he participated in the creation of the union of agricultural workers and shared the peaceful ideas of

Jean Jaurès Auguste Marie Joseph Jean Léon Jaurès (3 September 185931 July 1914), commonly referred to as Jean Jaurès (; ), was a French socialist leader. Initially a Moderate Republican, he later became a social democrat and one of the first possibi ...

World War I

Barthas was mobilized to the 280th Infantry Regiment of

Narbonne Narbonne ( , , ; ; ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and was ...

in August 1914, with the rank of corporal – a rank he held for the duration of the conflict. In December 1915, he joined the 296th Infantry Regiment. In November 1917, he joined the 248th Infantry Regiment. For four years he fought in the most dangerous sectors of the front: Notre-Dame-de-Lorette,

Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...

the Somme The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...

, and the Chemin des Dames. He took part in the French Army mutinies of 1917. His wartime memoir seems to have begun as a diary, which over the years came to fill many volumes.

Later life

Barthas was decommissioned in February 1919, and soon set out to assemble a comprehensive narrative of his wartime years. He transcribed his diaries and letters into 19 notebooks, pasting in picture postcards, illustrations, and maps clipped from newspapers and magazines. He did not think to have them published, therefore the notebooks remained unpublished in the family armoire for more than sixty years. Eventually discovered by professor Rémy Cazals of the

University of Toulouse The University of Toulouse (, ) is a community of universities and establishments ( ComUE) based in Toulouse, France. Originally it was established in 1229, making it one of the earliest universities to emerge in Europe. Suppressed during the ...

, they were published in 1978.

Legacy

On a memorial to the fallen of World War I in Pontcharra-sur-Bréda in the

Département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

Isère Isère ( , ; ; , ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the southeastern French Regions of France, region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère (river), Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.

, a quote of Barthas' diary is engraved, reading:

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barthas, Louis 1879 births 1952 deaths French male writers French military personnel of World War I French military writers French memoirists French socialists People from Aude French Army soldiers