Ernest Psichari

Ernest Psichari
Ernest Psichari in artillery officer's uniform
Born	(1883-09-27)27 September 1883 Paris, France
Died	22 August 1914(1914-08-22) (aged 30) Rossignol, Belgium
Buried at	Rossignol cemetery
Allegiance	France
Service/branch	French Army
Years of service	1904–1914
Rank	Lieutenant
Battles/wars	First World War (1914)
Other work	Noted writer on military, religious and nationalist topics

Ernest Psichari (27 September 1883 – 22 August 1914) was a French author, religious thinker and soldier. The son of noted intellectual Ioannis Psycharis and grandson of liberal writer Ernest Renan, Psichari was baptised into the Greek Orthodox faith. After a troubled upbringing which saw him attempt suicide over an unrequited love, Psichari entered the army for his national service. Enjoying military life, he re-enlisted in the ranks and transferred to the Troupes coloniales in search of adventure abroad. He saw service in the French Congo and Mauritania and wrote a number of militaristic autobiographical works that proved popular with French nationalists. Converting to Catholicism in 1913, Psichari considered becoming a priest but instead decided he could better serve his church in the army. Fighting in the defence of Belgium in August 1914 during World War I, he was killed at Rossignol during the Battle of the Frontiers.

Ernest Psichari was born on 27 September 1883 in Paris. His father was the Greek-French Ioannis Psycharis, professor of Greek philology at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and one of the leading champions of demotic Greek. His mother was Noémi Psichari, daughter of the anti-clerical, liberal historian and philosopher Ernest Renan, one of the most famous intellectuals of 19th-century France. Born into one of the most famous republican families of France, he was baptised into the Greek Orthodox Church at the insistence of his mother, though the family had a background of agnosticism. Psichari's parents argued much; his father was concerned that his children (he had a younger brother Michel and a sister Henriette) saw too little of him and knew only their mother and maternal grandfather. Psichari's parents eventually separated just prior to the First World War. Renan died in 1892 when Psichari was nine.