Stay ConnectedWDF examines how wars broke out, how they were concluded, and their consequences. Expect juicy diplomacy, sneaky intrigue, fascinating characters, and incredible drama. By Dr Zack Twamley, qualified history nerd.
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Spare a thought for poor old Harold Nicolson...
Mr Nicolson was a senior clerk in the British Foreign Office, and by mid-February 1919, he had already had his patience strained and his grand ambitions challenged. What lay ahead of this man once the American President departed for the US is a story not often told - the human tale. Here we hear it all and lay it bare. Between the period of 19th February and 9th March 1919, this clerk was busier than he had ever been in his life, sitting in primarily on the Greek and Czech Committees, but he was not just a busy man, he was also a disillusioned man.
From consulting Nicolson's diary we can see clear as day the sheer exhaustion and frustration with the whole process begin to take root and then take over. Nicolson would lash out at Czech delegates, he would work until the sun came up, and then he would return to his desk only to find that the Foreign Office had delivered the latest boxes of papers for him to sift through. It was a job which no man could do for long, but thanks to the record which Nicolson provides, the Paris Peace Conference looms into view and we can see it for what it really was - a great idea on paper, but one which was disastrously executed. Though he was only one clerk among many, one could imagine that if an expert like Nicolson was feeling the strain, his colleagues would be feeling it too...
To access the Foreign Relations of the US papers which I allude to in this episode, which provides the minutes for the Council of Ten from 15 Feb-14th March and beyond, follow this link: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1919Parisv04
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Today in history, a deranged assailant attacked the father of victory, plunging France and all of Europe into a panic, and setting off the next phase of the Paris Peace Conference...
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Today we bravely venture to where this podcast normally steers clear - American politics. This is an essential trip though, because we must examine what happened in the US once the President returned there to present his League between 20 February and 8 March 1919. This period was spent campaigning for the new world order which Wilson so desperately wanted, and which he had fought for in person in Paris for a month. Yet, underneath the surface, and even underneath the open opposition which Republicans and Democrats alike mounted against his vision, there were other issues which Wilson had brought upon himself, and others which have since been laid at his feet regardless of fault. It was an immensely challenging time, and would ultimately come to be known the unsuccessful sequel to the Paris Peace Conference - the Treaty Fight...
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Oh boy, this is gonna be a good one! Episode 5 of the Delegation Game examines the aftermath of some pretty important deals which were passed, by hook or by crook, and which now challenge those present in Paris to adapt. The League of Nations Charter is the most significant of these, and in this very eventful, chunky episode, we examine the perspective of the King of the Belgians, Albert I, who was selected to chair this meeting according to the League's Charter. What's that? Woodrow Wilson wasn't selected? Well now, the President won't be happy about that will he? Within are additional alternative history developments, as the Germans shock the world by becoming accredited delegates in the Council of Ten, the French have a fit, and Dinglebrush Dinglebrushes...
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OTD in history 100 years ago – the League of Nations was given a covenant, stamped and signed with seals of approval from all the attending allied powers that had taken so long to reach this decision. The first two weeks of February 1919 had indeed been eventful and exhausting for many, but this here was the first piece of true, genuine progress that had been reached. It was Woodrow Wilson’s greatest achievement, and it was also the culmination of several days of very intense meetings, not to mention a mountain of paperwork.
The dreamers, schemers and idealogues that had crafted the covenant all deserved mention, but on this day in history a century ago, before a packed audience in Quai d’Orsay, it was the American President and he alone that became its figurehead. Perhaps, when one looked deeper though, they could detect an element of anxiety on the part of Wilson. It had been created, but now it would have to be defended, before a suspicious and frustrated series of audiences back home in the United States. The real question then remained not how had it been done, per se, but could it be preserved after Wilson presented his baby to Congress. Spoiler – Wilson had another series of intensive weeks ahead of him.
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The Versailles Anniversary Project is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!
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Gathering together on 12th February, time was of the essence, a fact which had certainly been relevant before, but which the allies had still somehow managed to essentially ignore. On this day though, the allies could not ignore the fact that Germany was a sticky situation, one which was so sticky in fact, that they would still be dealing with the core question several months later. How could the allies simultaneously do everything which the conference demanded of them while also disarming Germany, or even determining the extent to which she should be disarmed? It was an immensely difficult balancing act, yet it was very important to get it right, because if the allies didn’t disarm Germany soon, they would be swamped with expenses relating to maintaining so many soldiers at once, most of whom remained idle.
A solution was supposed to be at hand, because the allies had actually worked to create a committee whose task was to devise these military terms. Yet, this committee was not able to bring anything revolutionary to the table, as the allies learned for themselves this afternoon 100 years ago. Thus, in the absence of time, and with the severe pressures weighing down on them, the allies decided that in order to give Germany the attention to detail it required, yet another committee would be required. Seriously though, this time, their committee would actually do stuff – it would be empowered to act independently of the Council of Ten and its terms for Germany could be imagined without the constant intervention of the American President, who was about to go on a considerable vacation himself. Facing into this administrative abyss, it was only sensible that some delegating be done, but it remained to be seen how, when under the pressures of detail and time, the allies would actually reach a settlement that pleased everyone and achieved their goals. They better hurry, because the next day would be all about another issue altogether – the League of Nations…
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The Versailles Anniversary Project is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!
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You know the story of 'plucky little Belgium', but what about the Belgium after the war? After all they had been through, facing the might of the German Army in its initial unrelenting phase, Belgium had unquestionably been through the ringer. The question was though, what would the Belgian Foreign Minister Paul Hymans now ask for in return? The answer to that question was more incredible - read, ridiculous - than any of the allies could have imagined. As Hymans put forward his laundry list of demands, with no thought for how Belgium's neighbours would be compensated, visions of disaster were pouring forth from French strategists.
Linking the Low Countries and France together was essential, it was said, if this war was to be avoided in the future. The guilty Germans would certainly try again if they sniffed any hints of weakness in the west, but what of the innocents, innocents like Belgium, who had been caught up in the midst of this Franco-German enmity, and been utterly destroyed? In return for this ordeal, Paul Hymans would demand a high price, but neither his aims nor the eerily prophetic French fears could ever be humoured to the extent that either party felt was deserved.
This, of course, was the nature of the Peace Conference. Using detailed secondary sources and the actual minutes of the meetings where the Belgian Foreign Minister poured out his heart, I am privileged to be able to bring this story to you now. The allies had to listen to the naive Belgian ramble, but whether they would actually heed his warnings or accede to his demands was another story altogether, and it's a story which is well worth your time!
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The Versailles Anniversary Project is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!
->Visit the homeland for this new project!
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The latest episode of the project hones in on three specific days – the 8, 9 and 10 of February 1919, as we build up to the moment when David Lloyd George and Woodrow Wilson returned home for various reasons. Both figures had a lot on their mind even before they had left, but before the American President could return home, he would at least have to face the full brunt of the paranoid French in action. At least, they seemed paranoid enough to him. The French demands, and the insistence that the Germans intended at any moment to avenge themselves upon allied divisions or weaknesses, struck Wilson as extremely far-fetched. Not for the first or for the last time, the American President was rubbed the wrong way by French severity towards Germany. Wilson didn’t understand this extreme angle of Clemenceau, but then, how could he, since America had not been invaded by its neighbour two times in as many generations.
If this episode’s purpose could be summarised in four words, then it would read ‘Clemenceau’s battle with Germany.’ It was impossible, Clemenceau insisted, to leave Germany to her own devices. He was not interested in anything – not the League of Nations, not mandates, not Russia – so long as Germany remained unresolved as a problem. Clemenceau imagined that as soon as the final peace treaty was concluded, the British and Americans would leave the French to face their adversary alone. To guard against this, Clemenceau planned to drive a hard bargain in four key areas with respect to Germany – in the case of the Rhineland, the industrial Saarland, Germany’s eastern border and on the question of reparations. To Clemenceau it was vital that these matters were worked out in France’s favour, but he came up constantly against the resistance of the American President. The honeymoon period between Premier and President certainly appeared to be over, yet there was much work still to be done…
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The Versailles Anniversary Project is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!
->Visit the homeland for this new project!
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The latest instalment of the game sees everyone feeling somewhat traumatised from the massacre at the Hotel Twamley, but the show must go on! Schemes were afoot even as the Canadian Premier delivered a eulogy for his late great friend, and as the Russian delegate, Alexander Kerensky, worked to find his footing in such hostile circumstances, he found that potential allies and rivals were all around him in equal measure. Amidst the chaos and hopelessness, Kerensky would happen upon some unlikely allies, who had plans even more ambitious and grand than one could have possibly imagined...
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In episode 33, we assess the day of 7th February, where the allies attempted to respond to what the Germans had done the previous day of 6th Feb, when the Constituent Assembly gathered in Weimar. The only problem with this allied approach was that no single man knew what exactly was happening in Germany. They were armed only with vague ideas and preconceived notions, and certainly no practical solutions. The French offered venom and wrath, the British caution, the Americans sympathy. It was impossible to decide upon the future either of Germany or the peace conference as a whole when everything seemed to be in flux, but this would not stop the allies from trying their best.
As talk of Germany continued, so did plans for creating the ideal version of the League of Nations. After being presented only the previous week, a commission had gotten to work sorting through the difficulties and disagreements, which were unfortunately legion. The French, much like in the case of the German question, posed the most problems in the League discussion. But was this fair to blame the French? Could we instead be more justified in blaming the American President? Was Woodrow Wilson to blame for failing to delegate, and for viewing the creation of the League as his one truly important purpose? As we will learn here, the consensus is not present on any of these questions, because the truth is far from so simple…
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The Versailles Anniversary Project is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!
->Visit the homeland for this new project!
->Become a delegate and play the Delegation Game for just $6 a month!
->Support the podcast financially and access ad free episodes with transcripts from just $2 a month!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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