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Clemenceau began his career when France was occupied in 1870, having lost Alsace and Lorraine to Germany. Many would say his greatest accomplishment was the product of the hours, days, months he spent in the trenches between 1914 and 1918. Some would say the "Tiger" himself inspired the years and years of effort that it took to win World War I. As an American, I'd say our own effort also was significant (we did only fight for a few months, but we fought hard with our allies and maybe made the difference...). That's all a very long story though. What we do know is that France had millions of casualties in that war -- they just call it The War. Every village in this country has a monument like the one here. Most every family with a male child lost one or two, even places like this with only a few hundred inhabitants.
