Duroselle, Jean Baptiste, 1917-1994

Jean-Baptiste Duroselle (17 November 1917, Paris – 12 September 1994, Arradon) was a French historian and professor. He had initially considered an army career or study of geography, but his poor skills in mathematics and drawing led him to turn to historical study. Pierre Renouvin's course fascinated him, and he became his assistant in 1945. He went on to teach at University of Saarbrücken from 1950 to 1957 and returned to the Sorbonne afterward. Between 1977 and 1979, he was visiting professor of the history of international relations at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. Duroselle's writings include La Decadence (1980), L'Abime (1985), and others. Duroselle was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1975. He was noted for his study of international relations and won a 1982 Balzan Prize for Social Sciences for his work. Among his students was Élisabeth Du Réau, biographer of Édouard Daladier. He supervised her 1987, eight-volume thesis on Daladier, published in condensed form in 1993 as Édouard Daladier, 1884-1970.