Before the First World War Maurras was born into a
Provençal family, brought up by his mother and grandmother in a Catholic and monarchist environment. In his early teens, he became deaf. Like many other French politicians, he was affected greatly by France's defeat in the 1870
Franco-Prussian War. At this time Maurras was influenced by Orleanism, as well as
German philosophy reviewed by Catholic thinker
Léon Ollé-Laprune, an influence of
Henri Bergson, and by the philosopher
Maurice Blondel, one of the inspirations of Christian "modernists", who would later become his greatest opponents. In 1890 Maurras approved
Cardinal Lavigerie's call for the rallying of Catholics to the Republic, thus making his opposition not to the Republic in itself, but to "sectarian Republicanism". In 1899, Maurras founded the review
Action Française (AF), an offshoot of the newspaper created by
Maurice Pujo and
Henri Vaugeois the year preceding. It had a wide readership during the implementation of the
1905 law on the separation of Church and State. In 1899 he wrote a short notice in favour of monarchy, "Dictateur et roi" ("Dictator and King"), and then in 1900 his
Enquête sur la monarchie (
Investigations on Monarchy), published in the
Legitimist mouthpiece
La Gazette de France, which made him famous. Maurras also published thirteen articles in the newspaper
Le Figaro during 1901 and 1902, as well as six articles between November 1902 and January 1903 in
Edouard Drumont's anti-Semitic newspaper,
La Libre Parole. Many early members of the Action Française were practising Catholics, including
Bernard de Vésins, the art historian
Louis Dimier and the essayist
Léon de Montesquiou. They helped Maurras develop the royalist league's pro-Catholic policies. Maurras entered into a conflict with Paul Granier de Cassagnac editor of L'Autorite, and his brother Guy. The affair ended with a sword duel between Paul de Cassagnac and Charles Maurras which took place in
Neuilly on 26 February 1912. Maurras was struck in the forearm, and his arm was seriously injured, which brought the combat to a close.
From the First World War to the end of the 1930s Maurras then endorsed France's entry into the First World War (even to the extent of supporting the thoroughly republican
Georges Clemenceau) against the
German Empire. During the war the Jewish businessman Emile Ullman was forced to resign from the board of directors of the
Comptoir d'Escompte bank after Maurras accused him of being a German agent. He then criticised the
Treaty of Versailles for not being harsh enough on the Germans and condemned
Aristide Briand's policy of cooperation with Germany. In 1925, he called for the murder of
Abraham Schrameck, the
Interior Minister of
Paul Painlevé's
Cartel des Gauches's (left-wing coalition) government, who had ordered the disarming of the
far-right leagues. alongside the movement's official newspaper. This was a devastating blow to the movement. On 8 March 1927, AF members were prohibited from receiving the
sacraments. Many of its members left (two Catholics who were forced to look for a different path in politics and life were the writers
François Mauriac and
Georges Bernanos) and it entered a period of decline. Maurras again voiced death threats against the President of the Council (prime minister)
Léon Blum, organiser of the
Popular Front, in the
Action Française of 15 May 1936, emphasising his Jewish origins (he once called him an "old semitic camel"). Fearing communism, he joined the
pacifists and praised the
Munich Agreement of 1938, which the President of the Council
Édouard Daladier had signed without any illusions. He also wrote in
Action Française: in 1934. During the 1930s – especially after the
6 February 1934 crisis—many of Action Française members turned to fascism, including
Robert Brasillach,
Lucien Rebatet,
Abel Bonnard, Paul Chack and
Claude Jeantet. Most of them belonged to the staff of the fascist newspaper
Je suis partout (
I am everywhere). Influencing
António de Oliveira Salazar's
Estado Novo regime in Portugal, Maurras also supported
Francisco Franco and, until spring 1939,
Benito Mussolini's
Fascist regime. Opposing
Adolf Hitler because he was anti-German, Maurras himself criticised the
racist policies of Nazism in 1936, and requested a complete translation of
Mein Kampf – some passages had been censored in the French edition. After his failure against
Charles Jonnart in 1924 to be elected to the Académie française, he succeeded in entering the ranks of the "Immortals" on 9 June 1938, replacing
Henri-Robert, winning by 20 votes against 12 to
Fernand Gregh. He was received into the Academy on 8 June 1939 by the Catholic writer
Henry Bordeaux. In the same year,
Pope Pius XII repealed his predecessor's condemnation of the
Action Française. While Maurras described Marshal
Philippe Pétain as a "divine surprise", the statement is usually quoted without context; Maurras was referring specifically to Pétain having political talent as well as being a symbol of France, and there is no evidence of the remark until February 1941.
Vichy France's reactionary program of a
Révolution Nationale (National Revolution) was fully approved of by Maurras, who inspired large parts of it. In
La Seule France (1941) Maurras argued for a policy of ''France d'abord'' ("France First"), whereby France would restore itself politically and morally under Pétain, resolving what Maurras saw as the causes of France's defeat in 1940, before dealing with the issue of the foreign occupation. This position was contrasted to the attitude of the Gaullists, who fled France and continued the military struggle. Maurras savaged the pre-war French governments for taking an increasingly bellicose position vis-à-vis Germany at precisely the same time that these governments were weakening France, militarily, socially and politically, thereby making France's defeat during 1940 all but inevitable. Maurras also criticised the 1940
Law on the status of Jews for being too moderate. and he opposed both the "
dissidents" in London and the collaborators in Paris and Vichy (such as
Lucien Rebatet,
Robert Brasillach,
Pierre Laval or
Marcel Déat). In 1943 the Germans planned to arrest Maurras. A pre-war admirer of de Gaulle, who himself had been influenced by Maurras'
integralism, Maurras then harshly criticised the General in exile. He later claimed he believed that Pétain was playing a "double game", working for an
Allied victory in secret. After the liberation of France Maurras was arrested in September 1944 together with his right-hand man
Maurice Pujo, and indicted before the High Court of Lyon for "complicity with the enemy" on the basis of the articles he had published since the beginning of the war. At the end of the trial, during which there were many irregularities such as false dating or truncated quotations, Maurras was sentenced to life imprisonment and deprivation of civil liberties. He was automatically dismissed from the Académie française (a measure included in the ordinance of 26 December 1944). Meanwhile, the Académie française declared his seat vacant, as it had for Pétain's, instead of expelling him as it did for
Abel Hermant and
Abel Bonnard. == Work ==