Emmanuel de Martonne
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Through World War I, Balkans and Paris
Early life and education
Martonne was born on 1 April 1873 in Chabris, Indre, France, and was the son-in-law of Paul Vidal de la Blache. In 1892, he entered the École Normale Supérieure. He graduated three years later with a degree in history and geography. After that, he worked with Ferdinand von Richthofen and Albrecht Penck.
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Career
In 1899, de Martonne became a professor at the University of Rennes. There he founded the institute of geography on the German model. In October 1905 he moved to the University of Lyon, replaced at Rennes by Antoine Vacher. Four years later he moved to the Sorbonne. During World War I (1914–18), in January 1915 the Geographical Commission was established in close liaison with the 2nd Bureau of the Army Staff with six geographers, Albert Demangeon, Lucien Gallois, Emmanuel de Martonne, Emmanuel de Margerie, Louis Raveneau and Paul Vidal de La Blache.
During the Paris Peace Conference after the war, de Martonne was an adviser of Minister of Foreign Affairs André Tardieu and Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau. He also lobbied for the return of Alsace-Lorraine to the French. De Martonne was also secretary of the Comité D'études, which worked on fixing boundary issues following the war, especially in Romania and the Balkans. He was familiar with Central Europe and Romania, as he had conducted studies in the Southern Carpathians earlier in his life.
After that, he taught at the University of Cluj in 1921. He died on 24 July 1955 in Sceaux, a commune near Paris.