Clemenceau - Georges Benjamin Clemenceau

French politician. Born in the Vendée department on September 28th. He first worked as a doctor, but just before the Paris Commune (1871), he was elected mayor of the 18th arrondissement of Paris (the working-class district of Montmartre), where he worked to prevent civil war, which marked his first step into politics. He was elected as a member of parliament in 1871. In a parliament without socialists after the suppression of the Communards, he voted for the far-left radical socialist faction (more precisely, the socialist radical faction). His political ideals were "the French state under a democratic republic" and "the strengthening and defense of the French state, the homeland of the democratic republic since the Revolution." His enemies externally were Germany, which had seized Alsace-Lorraine, but internally, his main enemies were the old radical faction (called the opportunist faction) that had forgotten their original Jacobin traditions and ideals and had become conservative and neglected democratic reforms, and in this sense he and Poincaré were lifelong political enemies. In the 1880s, he toppled one cabinet after another that belonged to this faction through the sheer force of his eloquence alone, and was feared by the nickname "Tiger." His second enemy in the country was the violent labor movement that disrupted order, and the "countryless" socialism that was allied with it. It can be said that he was both a fighter for the defense of the republic and human rights in the Boulanger Affair (1887-1889) and the Dreyfus Affair (1894-1899), and a stern oppressor of the labor movement.

Clemenceau's true talents were on full display at the end of World War I. At the time, the French people were tired of the long war, anti-war sentiment was spreading among the soldiers, and the front line was on the verge of collapse. President Poincaré appointed his political rival Clemenceau as Prime Minister in November 1917, expecting his iron fist. Clemenceau responded well to this, appointing his trusted Chief of Staff, Foch, to strengthen the relationship between state affairs and command, imprisoning peace advocates such as Cailleau, thoroughly suppressing the anti-war movement, and taking strong measures such as summarily shooting deserters and disobedient soldiers on the front lines, ultimately leading France to victory. However, due to opposition from the UK and the US, he failed to gain the left bank of the Rhine or thoroughly weaken Germany, and was forced to reluctantly sign the peace treaty. He lost the presidential election in 1920 and left politics. He died in Paris on November 24, 1929.

[Tsukasa Ishihara]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

フランスの政治家。9月28日バンデー県生まれ。初め医を業としたが、パリ・コミューン（1871）直前、パリ第18区（労働者街モンマルトル）長に選ばれて内戦回避に努力したのが、政治の世界に入る第一歩となった。1871年代議士に当選。コミューン派弾圧後の社会主義者を欠く議会内にあって最左翼の急進社会主義派（正確には社会主義的急進派）に投じた。彼の政治理念は「民主的共和制下のフランス国家」「大革命以来の民主的共和制の故郷であるフランス国家の強化、防衛」であった。彼の敵は、対外的にはアルザス・ロレーヌを奪取したドイツであったが、対内的には第一に、初心のジャコバン的伝統・理念を忘却して、民主的改革を怠る保守化した旧急進派（日和見(ひよりみ)主義派とよばれた）であり、この意味でポアンカレとは終生の政敵関係に立った。1880年代、この派の諸内閣を雄弁の力一つで次々に倒していき、「虎(とら)」の異名をもって恐れられた。国内第二の敵は、秩序を乱す暴力的労働運動と、それと結んだ「祖国をもたぬ」社会主義であった。ブーランジェ事件（1887～1889）、ドレフュス事件（1894～1899）における共和制防衛、人権擁護の闘士と、峻烈(しゅんれつ)な労働運動弾圧者が、彼の内に同居していたといえる。

　第一次世界大戦末期、クレマンソーのこの本領が発揮された。当時フランス国民は長い戦いに倦(う)み、兵士の間に厭戦(えんせん)・反戦思想が広がり、前線は崩壊に瀕(ひん)していた。大統領ポアンカレは、1917年11月あえて政敵クレマンソーを、その鉄腕に期待して首相に任命した。クレマンソーもよくこれにこたえ、参謀総長に信頼するフォッシュを据えて国務と統帥を緊密化し、カイヨーに代表される和平論者を投獄して反戦運動を徹底的に弾圧し、前線では逃亡・抗命兵士を即決裁判で銃殺に処するなど、強硬方策をとり、ついにフランスを勝利に導いた。しかし平和条約では、英米の反対にあってライン川左岸の獲得にも、ドイツの徹底的弱体化にも失敗し、不本意な調印を余儀なくされた。1920年大統領選に敗れて政界を去った。1929年11月24日パリにて死去。

［石原　司］

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