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Behind the Scenes at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2014

Sally Marks
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Extract

In January 1919 thousands of delegates, diplomats, and academic experts poured into Paris to redraw the map of the world and to settle its problems, supposedly forevermore. While the confusion attendant upon the negotiations was evident to contemporary observers, who also complained of the delay before the conference began, few considered the magnitude of the job of organizing so vast an assembly and of providing the larger delegations with the facilities for the many tasks facing them. In retrospect, it is indeed remarkable that Paris, after four and a half years of war, so well absorbed so many people and that anonymous officials laboring unobserved behind the scenes were able to provide the essential services necessary to the reasonably efficient functioning of the luminaries in the limelight.

The burden of arrangements for the conference itself fell upon the French, but so far as their own delegation was concerned, they had the inestimable advantage of operating upon home ground and of requiring few special arrangements. For the Americans, who sent the largest delegation, the problem of distance was so great that while an entire boatload of delegates and documents was shipped across the Atlantic, the personnel of the delegation remained stable and facilities for them were obtained largely from the French and from the American army because the oceanic barrier eliminated other alternatives. The Japanese, faced with the difficulty of even greater distance and the added complication of a language barrier, rested upon the French for their facilities and sent a small delegation composed of a few dignitaries from Tokyo and a number of senior officials from their European embassies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of British Studies , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , May 1970 , pp. 154 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference of British Studies 1970

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References

1. Delegation and commission lists may be found in Miller, David Hunter, My Diary at the Conference of Paris with Documents (n.p., n.d.), I, IVGoogle Scholar.

2. Hardinge, Baron of Penshurst, , Old Diplomacy (London, 1947), p. 250Google Scholar; Nicolson, Harold, Peacemaking 1919 (London, 1964), pp. 26, 44–45Google Scholar.

3. Interview with Lady Phipps, 15 June 1968, Wilcot, Pewsey, Wiltshire; Nicolson, , Peacemaking, p. 45Google Scholar.

4. PRO, Lord Derby to A. J. Balfour, 9 Nov. 1918, tel. 1425, FO 371/3220.

5. PRO, FO to Derby, 9 Dec. 1918, tel. 2718, ibid.; BM, Derby to Balfour, 26 Dec. 1918, 6 Jan. 1919, Balfour Papers, 49744; Nicolson, , Peacemaking, p. 47Google Scholar.

6. BM, Derby to Balfour, 20 Nov. 1918, Balfour Papers, 49744.

7. PRO, Sir Ronald Graham to Treasury, 13 Nov., Balfour to Derby, 19 Nov. 1918, pers. tel., FO 371/3220.

8. BM, Derby to Balfour, 20 Nov. 1918, Balfour Papers, 49744.

9. PRO, Derby to Balfour, 9 Nov., tel. 1425, Balfour to Derby, 11 Nov., tel. 2435, Graham to Treasury, 13 Nov. 1918, FO 371/3220; BM, Derby to Balfour, 20 Nov. 1918, Balfour Papers, 49744.

10. PRO, Balfour to Derby, 19 Nov., pers. tel., FO to Derby, 21 Nov. 1918, tel. 2515, FO 371/3220.

11. PRO, FO to Derby, 23 Nov. 1918, tel., no nr., ibid.

12. PRO, FO to Derby, 25 Nov. 1918, tel. 2568, ibid.

13. PRO, FO to Derby, 26 Nov., tel. 2579, FO to Derby, 27 Nov. 1918, tel. 2587, ibid.

14. PRO, Hardinge to General Smuts, 11 Dec., Smuts to Hardinge, 12 Dec., Hardinge to Smuts, 13 Dec. 1918, ibid.

15. PRO, Hardinge to Derby, 16 Dec. 1918, tel., ibid.; FO to Alwyn Parker, 30 Dec., tel. 17, Parker to FO, 25 Dec. 1918, tel. 21, FO 371/3221.

16. PRO, Parker to Hardinge, 31 Dec. 1918, tel. 46, FO 371/3744; Parker to Hardinge, 29 Dec. 1918, tel. 37, FO 371/3221.

17. PRO, Parker to Hardinge, 1 Jan. 1919, tel. 50, FO 371/3744.

18. PRO, C. J. B. Hurst minute, 16 Dec. 1918, FO 371/3221.

19. PRO, Hardinge to Parker, 2 Jan. 1919, tel. 8, FO 371/3744; W. Peat to Treasury, 4 Mar., Arthur E. Towle to Hardinge, 27 Feb. 1919, FO 371/3746.

20. PRO, Parker to FO, 3 Jan. 1919, tel. 64, FO 371/3744; FO to Parker, 1 Jan. 1919, tel. 1, FO 371/3221.

21. PRO, Thomas A. Spring-Rice to General Wilson, 1 Jan., Parker to Hardinge, 2 Jan., tel. 57, Spring-Rice to Parker, 5 Jan. 1919, tel. 19, FO 371/3744.

22. PRO, FO minute, n.d., Sir William Tyrrell minute, 13 Jan., Spring-Rice minute, 14 Jan. 1919, ibid.; Hardinge, , Old Diplomacy, p. 230Google Scholar; Nicolson, , Peacemaking, pp. 45–46Google Scholar.

23. PRO, Sir Eyre Crowe to Hardinge, 6 Jan., tel. 77, Hardinge to FO, 11 Jan. 1919, tel. 91, FO 371/3744.

24. PRO, Hardinge to FO, 11 Jan., tel. 93, FO to Hardinge, 11 Jan., tel. 42, Hardinge to FO, 9 Jan., tel. 86, Admiralty List, 13 Jan. 1919, ibid.

25. 126 H.C. Deb. 328-30 (2 Mar. 1920); Nicolson, , Peacemaking, pp. 45–46Google Scholar; PRO, FO circular to all depts., 1 Feb. 1919, FO 371/3746; Hardinge, , Old Diplomacy, p. 230Google Scholar.

26. PRO, FO to Derby, 15 Nov., tel. 2449, FO to Derby, 21 Nov. 1918, tel. 2515, FO 371/3220; Sir Lionel Earle to FO, 2 Jan. 1919, no nr., Parker to Hardinge, 31 Dec. 1918, tel. 48, FO 371/3744.

27. PRO, FO to Derby, 25 Nov., tel. 2561, Derby to FO, 27 Nov., tel. 1635, FO to Derby, 30 Nov. 1918, tel. 2635, FO 371/3220.

28. PRO, British Embassy, Paris, to Parker, 6 Dec., no nr., FO to Derby, 11 Dec. 1918, tel. 2744, ibid.

29. PRO, FO to Derby, 16 Dec, tel. 2795, FO to Derby, 16 Dec. 1918, tel. 2803, ibid.; Derby to Hardinge, 18 Dec. 1918, tel., no nr., FO 371/3221; Arthur E. Chalmers to FO, 14 Mar. 1919, nr. 9962, FO 371/3746.

30. PRO, Derby to Hardinge, 18 Dec. 1918, tel., no nr., FO 371/3221; Derby to FO, n.d., tel., no nr., FO 371/3220.

31. PRO, Parker to Hardinge, 23 Dec., tel. 13, Parker to Hardinge, 25 Dec., tel. 20, Parker to FO, 25 Dec., tel. 24, Spring-Rice to Earle, 26 Dec., Hardinge to Parker, 27 Dec. 1918, tel., no nr., FO 371/3221; Spring-Rice to Earle, 2 Jan. 1919, no nr., FO 371/3744; 126 H.C. Deb. 330 (2 Mar. 1920).

32. PRO, Parker to Hardinge, 21 Dec., tel. 5, FO to Astoria, 23 Dec. 1918, tel. 4, FO 371/3221; Parker to Hardinge, 31 Dec. 1918, tel. 49, FO to Parker, 4 Jan., tel. 16, Hardinge to FO, 10 Jan., tel. 87, Balfour to FO, 13 Jan., tel. 4, Balfour to FO, 20 Jan. 1919, tel. 85, FO 371/3744.

33. PRO, FO to Derby, 12 Dec., tel. 2751, Cook's to FO, 29 Nov., Graham to Cook's, 4 Dec. 1918, FO 371/3220.

34. PRO, Hurst minute, 16 Dec. 1918, FO 371/3221; Treasury to FO, 31 Jan. 1919, nr. 49934, FO 371/3745.

35. PRO, GPO to W. H. Robinson, 1 Jan., Parker to Hardinge, 1 Jan., tel. 53, Balfour to FO, 13 Jan. 1919, tel. 1, FO 371/3744.

36. PRO, Balfour to FO, 23 Jan. 1919, tel. 114, FO 371/3745.

37. PRO, Crowe to Sir George Grahame, 18 July, Crowe to FO, 6 Aug. 1919, FO 371/3747.

38. Nicolson, , Peacemaking, p. 46Google Scholar; PRO, Sir Ronald Graham to Treasury, 13 Nov., Balfour to Derby, 19 Nov., pers. tel., FO to Derby, 4 Dec. 1918, tel. 2658, FO 371/3220.

39. PRO, FO to WO, 6 Dec. 1918, ibid.; Parker to Hardinge, 26 Dec., tel. 25, Parker to Hardinge, 28 Dec. 1918, tel. 32, FO 371/3221; Parker to Hardinge, 2 Jan. 1919, tel. 56, FO 371/3744; Br. Deleg. to FO, 2 Apr. 1919, no nr., FO 371/3746.

40. PRO, Parker to FO, 22 Dec., tel. 9, Sir Basil Thomson to Parker, 21 Nov., no nr., Thomson to Parker and encl., 20 Nov. 1918, no nr., FO 371/3221.

41. PRO, Earle to FO, 8 Dec., no nr., and minutes by Spring-Rice and Robinson, Parker to FO, 22 Dec. 1918, tel. 8, ibid.

42. PRO, Treasury to FO, 4 Jan., nr. 49624, WO to FO, 7 Jan., Min. Labour to Spring-Rice, 6 Jan., FO to Astoria, 8 Jan., no nr., Hardinge to FO, 19 Jan. 1919, tel. 88, FO 371/3744.

43. PRO, FO 371/3220, FO 371/3221, FO 371/3744, FO 371/3745, FO 371/3746, passim.

44. PRO, Gwendoline Bingham memo., 4 Dec., Robinson minute, 11 Dec. 1918, FO 371/3220.

45. PRO, Parker to Hardinge, 3 Jan., tel. 63, Spring-Rice to Astoria, 8 Jan. 1919, tel. 28, FO 371/3744.

46. PRO, FO to Sir George Grahame, 5 Dec. 1918, tel. 2672, FO 371/3220; Earle to Treasury, 30 Dec. 1918, FO 371/3744.

47. PRO, office keepers to Parker, n.d., H. L. M. Bebb to Parker, n.d., Balfour to FO, 13 Jan., tel. 13, Bebb to Robinson, 20 Jan. 1919, ibid.

48. BM, Derby to Balfour, 14 Dec. 1918, Balfour Papers, 49744.

49. PRO, Spring-Rice memo., n.d., Lord Curzon to Prime Minister Hughes, 8 Jan., Hughes to Curzon, 8 Jan., Curzon to Hughes, 10 Jan. 1919, FO 371/3744.

50. PRO, Robert Vansittart to Balfour, 12 Jan., Crowe to Sir Ronald Graham, 18 Jan. 1919, Graham to Crowe, n.d., PO 371/3747.

51. PRO, War Trade Intelligence Dept. to FO, 4 Dec., WTID to FO, 4 Dec. 1918, FO 371/3220.

52. PRO, FO to Derby, 7 Dec., tel. 2698, FO memo, 12 Dec., FO to Derby, 16 Dec. 1918, tel. 2783, ibid.; Derby to FO, 17 Dec., tel. 1796, Parker to FO, 27 Dec. 1918, tel. 31, FO 371/3221.

53. PRO, FO to Derby, 6 Dec., tel. 2686, Air Min. to FO, 11 Dec. 1918, B. 7073, FO 371/3220.

54. Nicolson, , Peacemaking, p. 46Google Scholar; PRO, WO to FO, 5 Dec. 1918, FO 371/3220, 121/9558; Parker to Hardinge, 23 Dec. 1918, tel. 17, FO 371/3221; WO to FO, 2 Jan. 1919, FO 371/3744, 121/9558.

55. PRO, FO to Sir Woodman Burbidge, 27 Nov., FO to Treasury, 18 Dec. 1918, FO 371/3221.

56. PRO, Earle to Parker, 10 Dec. 1918, FO 371/3220; Parker to Hardinge, 29 Dec., tel. 35, Spring-Rice to Lord Drogheda, 30 Dec. 1918, FO 371/3221; Crowe to Curzon, 14 Feb., nr. 69, Balfour to FO, 27 Feb. 1919, tel. 391, FO 371/3745.

57. PRO, E. Chayne to Robinson, 13 Mar. 1919, ibid.; Harrods bill, 6 Mar. 1919, FO 371/3746.

58. PRO, Bebb to Robinson, 26 Mar., nr. 130, Chayne to Balfour, 17 Apr., Chayne to Robinson, 19 May, Robinson to Harrods, 26 May, FO to Harrods, 17 June 1919, ibid.

59. PRO, Min. Food to FO, 2 July, Crowe to Curzon, 17 July 1919, Towle to Crowe, n.d., FO 371/3747; GPO to FO, 22 Nov., Crowe to FO, 26 Dec. 1919, tel. 1698, FO 371/3748.

60. PRO, Treasury to Sir Eric Drummond, 7 Nov. 1918, FO 371/3221; FO to Treasury, 19 Feb. 1919, FO 371/3745.

61. PRO, Min. Food to FO, 23 Oct., F. O. Baron memo, and encl., 27 Oct., Robinson to Office of Works, 13 Nov. 1919, FO 371/3747; 126 H.C. Deb. 1527-28 (11 Mar. 1920).

62. PRO, Min. Food to FO, 23 Oct., Balfour to Curzon, 3 July 1919, nr. 465, FO 371/3747; Southeastern and Chatham Railway to FO, 1 Mar. 1920, FO 371/3748; WO to FO, 20 Mar. 1920, FO 371/3749.

63. PRO, Earle to H. Montgomery, 26 Nov., Crowe to Curzon, 20 Nov. 1919, nr. 2178, FO 371/3748.

64. Nicolson, , Peacemaking, pp. 370–71Google Scholar.