Editing History of France (section)

=== Postwar settlement ===
[[File:Council of Four Versailles.jpg|thumb|The Council of Four (from left to right): [[David Lloyd George]], [[Vittorio Emanuele Orlando]], [[Georges Clemenceau]], and [[Woodrow Wilson]] in Versailles.]]
Peace terms were imposed by the [[The Big Four (World War I)|Big Four]], meeting in Paris in 1919: [[David Lloyd George]] of Britain, [[Vittorio Orlando]] of Italy, [[Georges Clemenceau]] of France, and [[Woodrow Wilson]] of the United States. Clemenceau demanded the harshest terms and won most of them in the [[Treaty of Versailles]] in 1919. Germany was forced to admit its guilt for starting the war, and was permanently weakened militarily. Germany had to pay huge sums in [[war reparations]] to the Allies (who in turn had large loans from the U.S. to pay off).<ref name="Patrick O. Cohrs 2006 50">{{Cite book |last=Cohrs |first=Patrick O. |title=The Unfinished Peace After World War I: America, Britain And the Stabilisation of Europe, 1919–1932 |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-1394-5256-4 |page=50}}</ref>

France regained Alsace-Lorraine and occupied the German industrial [[Saar (League of Nations)|Saar Basin]], a coal and steel region. The [[German colonial empire|German African colonies]] were put under [[League of Nations]] mandates, and were administered by France and other victors. From the remains of the [[Ottoman Empire]], France acquired the [[French Mandate of Syria|Mandate of Syria]] and the [[French Mandate of Lebanon|Mandate of Lebanon]].<ref name="Patrick O. Cohrs 2006 50"/> French Marshal [[Ferdinand Foch]] wanted a peace that would never allow Germany to be a threat to France again, but after the [[Treaty of Versailles]] was signed he said, "This is not a peace. It is an armistice for 20 years."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Henig |first=Ruth Beatrice |title=Versailles and After, 1919–1933 |date=1995 |isbn=978-0-2031-3430-6 |page=52}}</ref>