Gustave Bloch (21 July 1848 – 3 December 1923) was a French Jewish historian of

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian language, ...

. He was the father of historian

Marc Bloch Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch ( ; ; 6 July 1886 – 16 June 1944) was a French historian. He was a founding member of the Annales School of French social history. Bloch specialised in medieval history and published widely on France in the Middle ...

(1886–1944), who along with

Lucien Febvre Lucien Paul Victor Febvre ( ; ; 22 July 1878 – 11 September 1956) was a French historian best known for the role he played in establishing the Annales School of history. He was the initial editor of the ''Encyclopédie française'' together wit ...

(1878–1956) was co-founder of the

École des Annales The ''Annales'' school () is a group of historians associated with a style of historiography developed by French historians in the 20th century to stress long-term social history. It is named after its scholarly journal ''Annales. Histoire, Sci ...

Biographical sketch

Born in

Fegersheim Fegersheim () is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Geography and Economics Fegersheim is located to the south of Strasbourg, between the Rivers Andlau, Scheer and Ill. Between 1962 and 1999 the regi ...

, Bas-Rhin, Bloch received his

agrégation In France, the () is the most competitive and prestigious examination for civil service in the French public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all stu ...

in 1872, and during the following year began teaching classes in

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

Lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

Besançon Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...

. In 1876, he became a lecturer, and several years later started work as a professor of Greek and Roman antiquities at the

University of Lyon The University of Lyon ( , or UdL) is a university system ( ''ComUE'') based in Lyon, France. It comprises 12 members and 9 associated institutions. The 3 main constituent universities in this center are: Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, which f ...

. Beginning in 1888, he taught history at the

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

, where he succeeded historian Paul Guiraud (1850–1907). From 1904 to 1919, he was a professor of

Roman history The history of Rome includes the history of the Rome, city of Rome as well as the Ancient Rome, civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman la ...

at the

Faculté des lettres de Paris The Faculty of Humanities of Paris (in French: ''Faculté des Lettres de Paris''), commonly known as the ''Sorbonne'', was one of the four faculties of the University of Paris, refounded in 1896, and an independent entity from 1808 to 1896, based ...

Selected writings

* "La République romaine. Les Conflits politiques et sociaux", in ''The Roman Republic. Political and Social Conflicts'' (1913). * "L'Empire romain. Evolution et décadence", in ''The Roman Empire. Evolution and Decadence'' (1922).

References

Rhetorical connections and networks in the nineteenth century
(biographical information)

Members of École Française d'Athenes 1848 births 1923 deaths 19th-century French historians 20th-century French historians French scholars of Roman history Academic staff of the University of Lyon Academic staff of the École Normale Supérieure École Normale Supérieure alumni People from Bas-Rhin Officers of the Legion of Honour {{France-historian-stub