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Born in at Bar-le-duc, Lorraine, France, the son of Nicolas Antoinin Hélène Poincaré , a distinguished civil servant and meteorologist. Educated at the university of Paris, Raymond was called to the Paris bar, and was for some time law editor of the Voltaire. He had served for over a year in the department of agriculture when in 1887 he was elected deputy for the Meuse. He made a great reputation in the Chamber as an economist, and sat on the budget commissions of 1890– 1891 and 1892. He was minister of education, fine arts and religion in the first cabinet (April – November 1893) of Charles DupuyCharles Alexandre Dupuy ( November 5, 1851 1923) was a French statesman, three times prime minister. He was born at Le Puy, where his father was a minor official. After a period as a professor of philosophy in the provinces, he was appointed a school insp, and minister of finance in the second and third (May 1894Events January 8 A fire at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago causes a good deal of damage. January 9 New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard ( Lexington, Massachusetts). February 15 04:51 GMT – January 1895Events January events January 5 Dreyfus Affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. February events February 14 First showing of Oscar Wilde's last play The Importance of Being Earnes).

In Alexandre RibotAlexandre-Felix-Joseph Ribot ( February 7, 1842 January 13, 1923) was a French statesman, four times Prime Minister. He was born at St Omer. After a brilliant academic career at the University of Paris, where he was laureat of the faculty of law, he rapid's cabinet Poincaré became minister of public instruction. Although he was excluded from the Radical cabinet which followed, the revised scheme of death duties proposed by the new ministry was based upon his proposals of the previous year. He became vice-president of the chamber in the autumn of 1895Events January events January 5 Dreyfus Affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. February events February 14 First showing of Oscar Wilde's last play The Importance of Being Earnes, and in spite of the bitter hostility of the Radicals retained his position in 1896Events January 4 Utah is admitted as the 45th U. January 5 An Austrian newspaper reports that Wilhelm Rontgen discovered a type of radiation later known as X-rays. January 12 H. Smith takes the first X-ray photograph. January 18 The X-ray machine is exhib and 1897Events January 1 Brooklyn, New York merges with New York City. January 4 A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosheri, son-in-law of the Oba of Benin. This leads to a Punitive Expedition against Benin. February 2 The Pennsylvania state capitol is dest. In 1906Events January 8 Landslide in Haverstraw, New York kills 20 January 31 Earthquake in Ecuador (8. 6 in Richter scale) February 11 Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer nos''. February 15 Representatives of the Labour Representation Committee in t he returned to the ministry of finance in the short-lived Sarrien ministry. Poincaré had retained his practice at the bar during his political career, and he published several volumes of essays on literary and political subjects.

Poincaré became Prime Minister in January of 1912, and began to pursue a hard-line anti-German policy, noted for restoring close ties with France's Russian ally. He was elected President of the Republic in 1913, in succession to Armand Fallières and attempted to make that office into a site of power for the first time since MacMahon in the 1870s. He generally managed to continue to dominate foreign policy, in particular, and his anti-German sentiments were blamed by some for the outbreak of the First World War. He became increasingly sidelined after the accession to power of Georges Clemenceau as Prime Minister in 1917.

In 1920, Poincaré's term as President came to an end, and two years later he returned to office as Prime Minister. Once again, his tenure was noted for its strong anti-German policies, especially the Ruhr Occupation of 1923–1924, which was carried out in response to the Cuno government's failure to pay reparations. Eventually, the increasing cost of the occupation led to a defeat for Poincaré's conservative coalition in the 1924 parliamentary elections, and his government fell. Financial crisis, however, brought him back to power in 1926, and he once again became Prime Minister and Finance Minister until his retirement in 1929. He died in Paris in 1934.

His brother, Lucien Poincaré (b. 1862), famous as a physicist, became inspector-general of public instruction in 1902. He is the author of La Physique moderne ( 1906) and L'Electricité ( 1907). Jules Henri Poincaré (b. 1854), also a distinguished physicist, belonged to another branch of the same family.