Georges Clemenceau (28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was Prime Minister of France from 25 October 1906 to 24 July 1909, succeeding Ferdinand Sarrien and preceding Aristide Briand, and from 16 November 1917 to 20 January 1920, succeeding Paul Painleve and preceding Alexandre Millerand. He was a leader of the Radical Party of France.
Biography[]
Clemenceau in 1897
Georges Clemenceau was born in Mouilleron-en-Pareds, Vendee, France on 28 September 1841. He came from a region that was fiercely republican, having formerly been a hotbed for people with monarchist sympathies at the time of the French Revolution. He worked as a political activist and writer, and he was Mayor of Montmartre at the time of the Paris Commune from 1870 to 1871. Furthermore, he became a member of the Chamber of Deputies and leader of the Radicals in 1876. Although a brilliant speaker, his sharp, destructive, and negative temperament earned him few friends, and he lost his seat in 1893 owing to his links with the Panama scandal. His attacks against the right-wing during the Dreyfus affair launched his comeback, and he became a Senator in 1902. His first period in office as Prime Minister was best known for his savage repression of labor unrest, which earned him the hostility of the SFIO and left him little time for social reform. The generally-disliked "Tiger" was called back to lead a war-weary France in 1917, again crushing all opposition with the support of the French people. After World War I, his main objective was to ensure that Germany would never be able to start another war, but he was forced to resign after the Treaty of Versailles was heavily criticized in France for its supposed leniency towards Germany.