Jacques Ancel

Jacques Ancel (July 22 1879&mdash;1943) was a French geographer and geopolitician. He is author of several books, including Peoples and Nations of Balkans: political geography (1926) and Geopolitics (1936).

After studying history and geography and professing as a teacher, Ancel was drafted to fight in World War I. Wounded three times, he was detached to the Headquarters of the French Army's Oriental Corps (fighting in the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans). After the war, he helped mediate the tense relations between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. In 1930, Ancel obtained his doctorate with the thesis La Macédoine, étude de colonisation contemporaine ("Macedonia, a study in contemporary colonization").

He taught at the University of Paris' Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales, and was a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy and of other scientific forums. He was a knight of the Légion d'honneur.