ABSTRACT
The old triangular relationship between France, Britain and Germany was complicated by the addition of another centre of power and influence, with consequences which continue to the present day. Lloyd George, a chameleon among men, was both an underhand conspirator, who could have lasted a round or two with Machiavelli, and an old radical idealist. At the Peace Conference, Clemenceau was on his home ground in Paris. In 1919 Clemenceau, as President of the Conference, agreed that French and English together should be the official languages. The central issue of the conference was the German Peace Treaty, and the basic question for the French and British was what to do about Germany. The French and British, who had got through the serious part of their peace-making business with their relations intact, fell into a disastrous muddle and squabble over the marginal issues of Turkey and the Middle East.
