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.
Current Series: The July Crisis
Patreon Series: The Age of Bismarck
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ON_THIS_DAY_IN_HISTORY - sort of - everyone was going to Paris!
Destination Paris: Mission, end the war! As thousands of people from all across the world flocked to Paris for the looming conference, Parisians and civil servants of all shades had the unenviable task of preparing the way for them. Hotels would have to acquired for the different delegations, some of these would have to be scrubbed from top to bottom.
Wine would have to be found, as would tons of foodstuffs. Along with the delegations, thousands of other people from printers, journalists and curious travellers to prostitutes, actors and entertainers crowded the city. The British warned that no space was left, but nobody took any notice. Paris was the capital of the world for eight long months, and the task of preparing Paris would have to be tackled before anyone could even think of any kind of itinerary...
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"From the blind confusion of factional strife the Frenchman has emerged in this hour all of a piece throughout, stronger, more resolute, silent, smiling, his eyes bright with an invincible fire which affirms that the legend of France shall not fail…It is in that mysterious hour when something comes to birth in us which burns out the dross and clears the way for the casting of a metal which neither steel nor diamond can scratch. And when, some day, after superhuman efforts, all these souls, fatigued with heroism, meet again under the vast blue vault of a regenerated fatherland, it must be that of so many hearts which were sundered a soul of France will forge itself, and the discords which are a condition of life will dissolve, fast fused in a bond of solidarity so closely knit that nothing will have power to shatter it."
These were the words which Georges Clemenceau used upon learning of the outbreak of the war. The war would cleanse France of its lethargy, provide it with an opportunity to redeem its past loss, and of course, provide an even more important opportunity to inflict a defeat upon Germany, and restore the rightful order of things. Nobody that marched to war in 1914 could have imagined the kind of losses which awaited their nation, and France was no exception. Her people quickly learned their lessons the hard way. In the month of August 1914 alone, 75,000 Frenchmen died. On the bloodiest day of the war for France, the 23rd August 1914, 27,000 men lay dead by the end of it.
With losses like these, George Clemenceau quickly turned his attention to that critical question - why was the war so costly, and who was sabotaging France's successful realisation of its aims? It was above his imagination to think that actually, such casualties were the result not of sabotage or anyone's fault necessarily, and were instead the predicable consequences of a French high command which preferred old tactics like charging straight at the enemy - the cult of the offensive - while the soldiery were decked out in the finest clothing and fanciest accessories. France's old world was shattered after successive years in this meat grinder, but Clemenceau remained somewhat aloof from it all.
A heavy critic of the government's method of fighting the war, Clemenceau found his paper banned and his friends no longer talking to him. Clemenceau became more shrill and less able to find some solution to the carnage, but in its hour of need, France relied on this formidable 76 year old once more. Against so many odds, this veteran statesman was at the helm of France again, and he had a strong message for those that would listen - not one more step back. Even if it took another August 1914 of casualties, Clemenceau was resolute in his determination not to give in to the German war effort. 1918 would test him to his limits, but at no point did the elder statesman ever imagine that making peace, would be just as difficult as winning the war
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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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France, that critically important cog in the machine of the Paris Peace Conference, had scores to settle and plenty to feel sorry about. The war had ripped through her people and country, bringing with it a plague of devastation unmatched in living memory. The flower of her youth lay dead, a demographic fact which she never truly recovered from. The final year of the war had been a trying and at times, gloomy one for France. Could Germany ever be defeated, was the question which seemed to surface at the beginning of every year, when some new general would propose a new offensive, only to be ground down again. All the while, the man on the ground would suffer.
By late 1917, the country was nearing despair. It needed tough, resolute and defiant leaders if the anticipated harshness of the year to come were to be endured. In response, France sent forth two men, Marshal Ferdinand Foch to head up the Supreme Allied Command on the Western Front, and Georges Clemenceau, a veteran statesman of the radical persuasion who held one goal above all - defeating Germany and inflicting a peace upon her which would save France from another trauma like the Great War.
Here, we meet Clemenceau, as we place him in his proper context, and examine the haunting aftermath of so many years of war, and the impact it had on a wounded French Republic. As we move through the relevant powers, we build a picture of the different cast of the Treaty of Versailles which is vital for us to appreciate if we are to have any hope understanding what happened next. Make sure you join me!
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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!
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Remember - check out the Delegation Game, and find out how you can participate in this exciting new way to make the very most out of this incredible centenary era...
The famed armistice was signed followed several weeks' worth of diplomatic process, and several hours' worth of meetings between statesmen that didn't like each other very much. By the time it was finished, the document which they were left with went far short of what many had wanted, and was too harsh in the minds of others. Still, at its face value, it was a document which would bring the war to an end. After so many weeks of preparation, it finally came down to this, and the Germans arrived to sign on the dotted line.
Actually, they had arrived to negotiate, only to be told that signing was all they would be permitted to do. There would be no negotiation. After several days' dallying in these circumstances, the ten man German delegation accepted that it had no choice. At 5.20AM on 11th November 1918, the armistice document was signed. Within the document, 35 articles stipulated what would happen next.
We have, of course, touched on this event before, but in this episode we delve into this seismic event in history with the detail that you've come to love and expect from WDF, so tune in here! The Germans held out hope that many of these more difficult terms would be modified at a peace conference which was due to follow. For all intents and purposes though, even though the peacemaking was not over, the Great War finally was.
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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!
->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.
Remember - check out the Delegation Game, and find out how you can participate in this exciting new way to make the very most out of this incredible centenary era...
Sometimes, it isn't always the best idea to take vain people at their word. In the case of Edward House, the situation which he claimed to have created in Paris, in the run up to the signing of the armistice, and the situation he ACTUALLY created, proved to be two very different things.
After several days meeting intimately with European leaders, House may have believed that he understood and could read these men, but in reality, they were the ones reading and manipulating him! In episode 4, 'Vision of Division', we examine this disconnect between what House believed he had achieved, and what had actually taken place during the preliminary peace negotiations.
This episode is essential for establishing the foundations of what would take place later on at Versailles. House, indeed, had wrested from the allies a concession to make the Fourteen Points the basis for all peace settlements. However, this was qualified with several reservations, and House gave so much in return, particularly to the harsh armistice document, which was being drawn up at the same time, that his gains appear inconsequential in contrast to what he had been forced to sacrifice.
The story, as ever, is one of intrigue, personal diplomacy, lobbying, disappointment, lies and frustration, and represents a prelude to the Paris Peace Conference which was to come. By the end, the allies had their armistice in hand, and the Germans were expected to agree to make peace within a few days, but at what cost?
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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!
->Support the podcast financially and access ad free episodes with transcripts from just $2 a month!
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Now THIS is exciting - click here to learn more about the aforementioned Delegation Game which I talked about for a great deal in this episode, and remember to connect with me if you have any questions! To everyone else, I hope you weren't too bothered by my rambling about it for ten minutes - I'm just super excited, and I think it could really be something special!
Onto this episode at hand though, and we come to Edward House, Woodrow Wilson's best friend; a man whom the president could truly talk to like no other man. Wilson and House had been friends for years, and this friendship had grown and blossomed ever since Wilson became President. Considering their relationship, it seems bizarre to me that Wilson would send his friend to a place like Paris in late October 1918, and task him with arranging the preliminary negotiations for an armistice. Not only that, House was also tasked with paving the way forward for a peace conference that upheld the Fourteen Points as its basis.
This was quite the mission, even for a formidable man like House, yet according to one source in particular (namely, House's diary), he was more than up to the task. From 26 October to 3 November, House represented his President to the British and French premiers, as the terms of an armistice, and an agreement about the foundations for a peace settlement were hammered out. House proclaimed a diplomatic triumph, but on closer inspection, the American diplomatic position was not as strong as the President may have liked to believe.
Listening to this episode, 'The House That House Built' is a must for those interested in the American diplomatic approach, and in characters like Edward House, who were to dominate the peace negotiations for the next six months. House is the first of many vibrant characters which the era threw up, and while he was far from perfect, his actions would create an indelible mark upon the proceedings which were to follow, for better and for worse...
Interested in reading Edward House's diary online for free? Click here, and thanksss again to Yale for making it all possible!
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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!
->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.
It is impossible to tell the story of the Treaty of Versailles without Germany, and in episode 2 of the VAP, 'Germany Falling, Germany Falling', we examine the state of Germany in military, economic and societal terms by mid-1918. A campaign which had started out so strong and filled everyone with false hope ended in failure. The gamble to move all men from east to the western front had failed, and the chasm in capability was growing by the hour.
Stark pronouncements on the true state of affairs may have caught many Germans by surprise, but for those that had endured horrific deprivations, been starved, wounded, abandoned or simply vanished into the despair of total war, the reality cannot have been too much of a surprise. In this episode we place in context the gradual collapse of Germany in 1918, even while some in the country attempted, for their own reasons, to mount some form of final stand. Grim though the prospects of Germany seemed, there were some in the upper echelons of the military and civilian government who believed, for one reason or another, that Germany still had some potent cards to play. Episode 7, 'Ignoring Defeat' examines these last ditch efforts to save face and achieve peace with honour for Germany.
What could Germans realistically do to avoid the worst peace terms? What did America's associates think of these back channel negotiations? How, indeed, did the Germans interpret all that went down in autumn 1918 as anything other than a catastrophe to be exited from at once? The truth is that, although she was defeated, the German army was not destroyed, and for as long as they could, certain figures within the country were willing to use the threat of resistance to the end as a last resort, even while at home, emaciated bodies lined the streets, mutinies piled up and soldiers deserted in droves. The collapse was imminent, seen most infamously in the Spartacist Revolution, but while she teetered on the edge, Germany made one last attempt to have things her way...
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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!
->Support the podcast financially and access ad free episodes with transcripts from just $2 a month!
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Another introduction episode - this one giving us a brief(ish) rundown on the origins of the Great War, for the benefit of those that have not listened to the July Crisis Anniversary Project of old. The world went to war in 1914, and the circumstances which surround that event are often held against Germany in the subsequent peace negotiations. Germany, it is said, started the whole wretched thing, so she should be punished once her gamble failed, and she clearly lost. In my view though, it isn't that simple.
Historians tend to take one side or the other when it comes to examining the July Crisis and Treaty of Versailles. By that I mean, either Germany started the war and deserved the Treaty, or she didn't start it or deserve it. I won't be this clear cut, because the situation and the debate aren't this clear cut. In my mind, Germany alone did not start the war - even though technically she did declare war on Russia first and begin the countdown - but she did deserve some kind of punishment for LOSING it.
Germany, as my thesis for this project will argue, was punished for losing the Great War, not for starting it.
Any statesman worth their salt in 1918-19 knew full well that there was more to the story than the straightforward tale of the belligerent Hun. Germany had to be punished and kept low so that she could not threaten the peace again, and because of her military loss, this meant that she was liable to be punished - just as Berlin had punished her enemies in Russia and Romania, and developed grand plans for punishing Britain and France before her war plans collapsed. The issue with Versailles wasn't so much the injustice of it, as we will learn, but the problem of making Germany accept its terms, when Germans came to believe that they hadn't been truly beaten, hadn't truly started the war, and had been unfairly blamed.
Yet, an important point to remember is that war guilt - another issue we will deal with in time - did not have to exist in Germany in order for the judgement of Germany's contemporaries to follow. It did not matter, in other words, who started the war, as much as it mattered who lost it, and what was to be done next. This episode will help us refocus our gaze on that critical issue, and also ensure that we're all on the same page when it comes to my thesis and ideas about the origins of the First World War. As always, I'd ask you guys keep an open mind - we'll be sticking together for the next eight months, so you better get used to my outside the box way of thinking!
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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:
http://www.wdfpodcast.com/vap/
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https://www.patreon.com/WhenDiplomacyFails
Follow WDF on Twitter!
https://twitter.com/wdfpodcast
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We must set the structure and sources of this project in front of you before we jump right into it, and we should also clarify our aims before we go any further too. We have got a LOT of ground to get into over the next eight months, but I hope that you are ready to join me for this fascinating and illuminating journey, as we examine this era of our past like you've never seen it before.
Of course it is worth setting forth our aims: 1) create the most comprehensive, but also the most accessible, account of the Treaty of Versailles in audio form. 2) investigate whether the Treaty really was so bad, or whether some redeeming features exist within it. 3) ascertain how responsible, if at all, the Treaty was for all the vile catastrophes that followed it in the 20th century.
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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:
http://www.wdfpodcast.com/vap/
Support the podcast financially:
https://www.patreon.com/WhenDiplomacyFails
Follow WDF on Twitter!
https://twitter.com/wdfpodcast
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
To make it through the tons of research material available on the Treaty of Versailles, it is essential we take a certain angle as our guide. Find out what kind of angle I am interested in, and how I plan to divide the different sections of this project up, so that you and I can get through it with our sanity maintained!
It's going to be a wild ride to 28th June, but before we reach those sumptuous halls (below), we first have to paint a picture, or series of pictures, that help us set the scene. As ever, context is our King, and it's time we got right down to it...
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