Cle·men·ceau  (klěm'ən-sō', klě-mäɴ-)  French politician who served as premier (1906-1909 and 1917-1920) and played a key role in negotiating the Treaty of Versailles (1919). |
A French political leader of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; the premier of France at the end of World War I and afterward. He presided at the peace conference after the war, which produced the Treaty of Versailles. Less forgiving than the American president, Woodrow Wilson, Clemenceau wanted a peace treaty that would punish Germany for having started the war and would compensate France for its losses.