I had spoken of the [illegible] of things and added that at last we could release the cry, until now smothered in our breasts: Vive l'Alsace Lorraine. Thomson and Angagneur rightly pointed out to me that that it would be better, vis-à-vis foreign countries and even vis-à-vis part of French public opinion, to say nothing which could detract from the strictly defensive nature of the war. I bowed to their observations.
French statesman and lawyer (1860–1934)
Raymond Poincaré (20 August 1860 – 15 October 1934) was a French statesman who served three times as Prime Minister (1912-13, 1922-24, 1926-29), and as President from 1913 to 1920. He led France during World War I and the Paris Peace Conference. He encouraged Russia's military mobilization at the beginning of the war and favored tough peace terms for Germany in the Treaty of Versailles, although his proposal to establish an independent state in the Rhineland was rejected. In his second term as Prime Minister, he ordered the occupation of the Ruhr when the Weimar Republic defaulted on its reparations, leading to hyperinflation. Between 1913 and 1934 he published ten volumes of memoirs, titled Au service de la France.
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