Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (/ˈklɛmənsoʊ/,[1] also US: /ˌklɛmənˈsoʊ, ˌkleɪmɒ̃ˈsoʊ/,[2][3] French: [ʒɔʁʒ bɛ̃ʒamɛ̃ klemɑ̃so];[a] 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a strong advocate of separation of church and state, and the amnesty of the Communards exiled to New Caledonia. Clemenceau, a physician turned journalist, played a central role in the politics of the Third Republic.
Georges Clemenceau
Himself
Paul Painlevé
- Ferdinand Sarrien
- Himself
Aristide Briand
Pierre Marmottan
Barthélemy Forest
24 November 1929 (aged 88)
Paris, France
Mouchamps, Vendée
- Radical Republicans (1871–1901)
- Radical Party (1901–1914)
- Independent Radicals (1914–1929)
Physician, journalist, statesman
- Father Victory
- The Tiger
After about 1,400,000 French soldiers were killed between the German invasion and Armistice, he demanded a total victory over the German Empire. Clemenceau stood for reparations, a transfer of colonies, strict rules to prevent a rearming process, as well as the restitution of Alsace–Lorraine, which had been annexed to Germany in 1871. He achieved these goals through the Treaty of Versailles signed at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920). Nicknamed Père la Victoire ("Father Victory") or Le Tigre ("The Tiger"), he continued his harsh position against Germany in the 1920s, although not quite so much as President Raymond Poincaré or former Supreme Allied Commander Ferdinand Foch, who thought the treaty was too lenient on Germany, prophetically stating: "This is not peace. It is an armistice for twenty years." Clemenceau obtained mutual defence treaties with the United Kingdom and the United States, to unite against possible future German aggression, but these never took effect due to the US Senate's failure to ratify the Treaty, which thus also nullified British obligation.
Early years[edit]
Clemenceau was a native of Vendée, born in Mouilleron-en-Pareds. During the period of the French Revolution, Vendée had been a hotbed of monarchist sympathies. The department 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 lived off his lands and investments and did not practice medicine. Benjamin was 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.[5] The lawyer Albert Clemenceau (1861–1955) was his brother. His mother was a devout Protestant; his father was an atheist and insisted that his children should have no religious education. Clemenceau was interested in religious issues. He was a lifelong atheist with a sound knowledge of the Bible. He became a leader of anti-clerical or "Radical" forces that battled against the Catholic Church in France and the Catholics in politics. He stopped short of the more extreme attacks. His position was that if church and state were kept rigidly separated, he would not support oppressive measures designed to further weaken the Catholic Church.[6][7]
After his studies in the Lycée in Nantes, Clemenceau received his French baccalaureate of letters in 1858. He went to Paris to study medicine and eventually graduated with the completion of his thesis "De la génération des éléments anatomiques" in 1865.[8]
Domestic policies[edit]
Clemenceau's final tenure as prime minister witnessed the implementation of various reforms aimed at regulating the hours of labour. A general eight-hour day law passed in April 1919 amending the French Labour Code, and in June that year, existing legislation concerning the duration of the working day in the mining industry was amended by extending the eight-hour day to all classes of workers, "whether employed underground or on the surface". Under a previous law of December 1913, the eight-hour limit had only applied to workers employed underground. In August 1919, a similar limit was introduced for all those employed in French vessels. Another law passed in 1919 (which came into operation in October 1920) prohibited employment in bakeries between the hours of 10 P.M. and 4 A.M. A decree of May 1919 introduced the eight-hour day for workers on trams, railways, and in inland waterways, and a second of June 1919 extended this provision to the state railways. In April 1919, an enabling act was approved for an eight-hour day and a six-day work week, although farm workers were excluded from the act.[49]
Changes
Changes
Personal life[edit]
Clemenceau was a long-time friend and supporter of the impressionist painter Claude Monet. He was instrumental in persuading Monet to have a cataract operation in 1923. For more than a decade, Clemenceau encouraged Monet to complete his donation to the French state of the large Les Nymphéas (Water Lilies) paintings that now are on display in the Paris Musée de l'Orangerie. They are housed in specially constructed oval galleries that opened to the public in 1927.[57][58]
Having fought a dozen duels against political opponents, Clemenceau knew the importance of exercise and practised fencing every morning even when he was an old man.[59]
Clemenceau was an atheist.[60][61][62]
He took an interest in Japanese art, especially Japanese ceramics. He collected approximately 3,000 small incense containers (kōgō 香合), which are now in museums.[63] The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts held a special exhibition of his collection in 1978.[64]
Clemenceau was played by: