page_title: Jules Isaac
section_title: Military service in First World War
hierarchical_section_title: Jules Isaac / Career / Military service in First World War
caption_attribution_description: English: Front entrance of Lycée Saint-Louis (a sixth form college) in Paris, taken from the other side of boulevard Saint-Michel. Español: La entrada principal del Lycée Saint-Louis (un instituto) Français&#160;: L'entrée principale du Lycée Saint-Louis
context_page_description: Jules Isaac was "a well known and highly respected Jewish historian in France with an impressive career in the world of education" by the time World War II began.
  Internationally, Isaac was most well known for his tireless work after the War in the field of Jewish-Christian relations, culminating in his decisive key role in the origin of the groundbreaking declaration Nostra Aetate during the Second Vatican Council. In the 1950s, Isaac had an international reputation for his work in Christian and Jewish relations.
context_section_description: During the First World War, Isaac was mobilized into the French army in August 1914 at age 37. He served as an infantryman for thirty-three months before being wounded in the Battle of Verdun on June 17, 1916. During his military service, Isaac and his wife Laura carried on a regular correspondence in which Isaac described his wound and the barbarism of the war.
  In the Battle of Verdun, the Germans took Fort Vaux from the French on June 7, 1916. After that, rain slowed the German advance towards Fort Souville (another fort protecting the city of Verdun). On June 23 the Germans attacked again. In that period, both sides attacked and counter-attacked with no major offensive. It was during this time that Isaac was wounded on June 17, 1916.
  After discharge from the army
  
  After being discharged from the army, Isaac returned to education. He was a teacher at the Lycée Saint-Louis in Paris from 1921 to 1936.
  In French universities, at the time of World War I (the Great War), there were only fifty-five Professors of history. However, the dearth of history courses in the universities was "balanced by the exceptional importance given to the teaching of history in high schools." History courses were required in French secondary schools. The courses were "taught by specialized teachers, who numbered 620 in 1914." When teaching about the Great War became part of the high school curriculum in 1928, a textbook by Isaac was available. In 1921, he had added a chapter of 100 pages as a separate volume on the history of the war to the "classic text" of Albert Malet, who in 1915 had been killed in the war.
  In October 1936, Isaac was appointed Inspector General of Public Education in France. At that time, Inspector General "was the highest position" in the French department of education and science.
  Isaac became a member of the League of Human Rights and the Vigilance Committee of Antifascist Intellectuals. He devoted himself to promoting "better understanding between France and Germany," especially in the text books he wrote or revised. He hoped that by doing this there would be less likelihood of another war between France and Germany.
  In 1939, Isaac became the President of the Jury of Aggregation of History. He was, by then, "considered one of the most prominent historians of his time." However, "it was his history text books that made him famous." Isaac's textbooks clarified historical events and "brought students into contact with the original source materials."
caption: Lycée Saint-Louis
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