boulangist

Supporter of General George Boulanger (1837-1891) who led the revanchist (‘revenge’) movement in France in the late 1880s. It focused on restoring French territory in Europe as an alternative to colonial expansion.

Election successes in 1888 and 1889 with a programme designed to strengthen the executive at the expense of democracy, brought the movement close to power and posed a real threat to the Third Republic, but Boulanger's inability to exploit the situation and take the initiative allowed the government to regain control. Boulanger subsequently went into exile and was tried in his absence by the French courts. His movement was decimated in the elections of 1890.