Editing Treaty of Versailles (section)

===French aims===
France had lost 1.3&nbsp;million soldiers, including {{nowrap|25% of}} French men aged {{nowrap|18–30, as well as}} {{nowrap|400,000 civilians.}} France had also been more physically damaged than any other nation; the so-called [[zone rouge]] (Red Zone), the most industrialized region and the source of most coal and iron ore in the north-east, had been devastated, and in the final days of the war, mines had been flooded and railways, bridges and factories destroyed.{{sfn|Slavicek|2010|p=43}}
Clemenceau intended to ensure the security of France, by weakening Germany economically, militarily, territorially and by supplanting Germany as the leading producer of steel in Europe.{{sfn|Slavicek|2010|p=43}}{{sfn|Lentin|2012|p=21}}{{sfn|Layne|1996|p=187}}
British economist and Versailles negotiator [[John Maynard Keynes]] summarized this position as attempting to "set the clock back and undo what, since 1870, the progress of Germany had accomplished."{{sfn|Keynes|1920|p=34}}

Clemenceau told Wilson: "America is far away, protected by the ocean. Not even [[Napoleon]] himself could touch England. You are both sheltered; we are not".{{sfn|Keylor|1998|p=43}}
The French wanted a frontier on the [[Rhine River|Rhine]], to protect France from a German invasion and compensate for French demographic and economic inferiority.{{sfn|Keylor|1998|p=34}}{{sfn|Lentin|1992|p=28}}
American and British representatives refused the French claim and after two months of negotiations, the French accepted a British pledge to provide an immediate alliance with France if Germany attacked again, and Wilson agreed to put a similar proposal to the [[United States Senate|Senate]]. Clemenceau had told the [[Chamber of Deputies (France)|Chamber of Deputies]], in December 1918, that his goal was to maintain an alliance with both countries. Clemenceau accepted the offer, in return for an occupation of the Rhineland for fifteen years and that Germany would also [[demilitarized zone|demilitarise]] the Rhineland.{{sfn|Lentin|1992|pp=28–32}}

French negotiators required reparations, to make Germany pay for the destruction induced throughout the war and to decrease German strength.{{sfn|Slavicek|2010|p=43}} The French also wanted the iron ore and coal of the [[Saar (river)|Saar Valley]], by annexation to France.{{sfn|Slavicek|2010|pp=43–44}}
The French were willing to accept a smaller amount of [[World War&nbsp;I reparations]] than the Americans would concede and Clemenceau was willing to discuss German capacity to pay with the German delegation, before the final settlement was drafted. In April and May 1919, the French and Germans held separate talks, on mutually acceptable arrangements on issues like reparation, reconstruction and industrial collaboration. France, along with the British Dominions and Belgium, opposed [[League of Nations mandate]]s and favored annexation of former [[German colonial empire|German colonies]].{{sfn|Trachtenberg|1982|p=499}}

The French, who had suffered significantly in the areas occupied by Germany during the war, were in favour of trying German war criminals, including the Kaiser. In the face of American objections that there was no applicable existing law under which the Kaiser could be tried, Clemenceau took the view that the "law of responsibility" overruled all other laws and that putting the Kaiser on trial offered the opportunity to establish this as an international precedent.{{sfn|Bassiouni|2002|p=269}}