Georges Clemenceau | |
---|---|
54th Prime Minister of France | |
In office 16 November 1917 – 20 January 1920 |
|
President | Raymond Poincaré |
Preceded by | Paul Painlevé |
Succeeded by | Alexandre Millerand |
In office 25 October 1906 – 24 July 1909 |
|
President | Armand Fallières |
Preceded by | Ferdinand Sarrien |
Succeeded by | Aristide Briand |
Minister of War | |
In office 16 November 1917 – 20 January 1920 |
|
President | Raymond Poincaré |
Preceded by | Paul Painlevé |
Succeeded by | André Joseph Lefèvre |
Minister of the Interior | |
In office 14 March 1906 – 24 July 1909 |
|
President | Armand Fallières |
Prime Minister | Ferdinand Sarrien |
Preceded by | Fernand Dubief |
Succeeded by | Aristide Briand |
Member of the Senate | |
In office 10 June 1902 – 10 January 1910 |
|
Preceded by | Ernest Denormandie |
Succeeded by | Gustave Fourment |
Constituency | Var |
Member of the National Assembly | |
In office 4 October 1885 – 10 October 1893 |
|
Preceded by | Auguste Maurel |
Succeeded by | Joseph Jourdan |
Constituency | Var |
In office 20 February 1876 – 9 November 1885 |
|
Constituency | Seine |
In office 8 February 1871 – 27 March 1871 |
|
Constituency | Seine |
President of the Council of Paris | |
In office 28 November 1875 – 24 April 1876 |
|
Preceded by | Pierre Marmottan |
Succeeded by | Barthélemy Forest |
Personal details | |
Born |
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau 28 September 1841 Mouilleron-en-Pareds, Vendée |
Died | 24 November 1929 16th arrondissement of Paris |
(aged 88)
Political party | Independent Radical |
Spouse(s) |
Mary Eliza Plummer (1869–1891; divorced) |
Children | Michel |
Alma mater | University of Nantes |
Profession | Physician, journalist, politician |
Nickname(s) | Father of Victory The Tiger |
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (French pronunciation: [ʒɔʁʒ bɛ̃ʒamɛ̃ klemɑ̃so]; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French politician, physician, and journalist who served as Prime Minister of France during the First World War. A leader of the Radical Party, he played a central role in the politics of the French Third Republic.
Clemenceau first served as Prime Minister from 1906 to 1909, and then again from 1917 to 1920. In favour of a total victory over the German Empire, he militated for the restitution of Alsace-Lorraine to France. He was one of the principal architects of the Treaty of Versailles at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Nicknamed "Père la Victoire" (Father Victory) or "Le Tigre" (The Tiger), he took a harsh position against defeated Germany, though not quite as much as the President Raymond Poincaré, and won agreement on Germany's payment of large sums for reparations.
Clemenceau was a native of the Vendée, born at Mouilleron-en-Pareds. During the period of the French Revolution, the Vendée had been a hotbed of monarchist sympathies, but by the time of his birth, its people were fiercely republican. The region was remote from Paris, rural and poor. His mother, Sophie Eucharie Gautreau (1817–1903), was of Huguenot descent. His father, Benjamin Clemenceau (1810–1897), came from a long line of physicians, but he lived off his lands and investments and did not practice medicine. Benjamin had a reputation as an atheist and a political activist; he was arrested and briefly held in 1851 and again in 1858. He instilled in his son a love of learning, devotion to radical politics, and a hatred of Catholicism. The lawyer Albert Clemenceau (1861–1955) was his brother.