World History

To my sons Walter Eaton and Geoffrey Hardinge

Documents and Readings in the History of Europe Since 1918

Revised and Enlarged

Part I: 1918–1938 pages 3–845

Part II: Since 1939 pages 846–1173

CHAPTER 1

The Paris Peace Settlement

1.

THE CHOICE OF A CONFERENCE CITY

¹

The selection of Paris as the center of peace negotiations at the close of the World War had an important bearing on subsequent conference events. A number of cities had been under consideration by the Entente leaders for the honor of being host to the Peace Conference: London, Brussels, The Hague, Geneva and Lausanne as well as Versailles, or Paris. President Wilson at first favored Lausanne or Geneva, and Lloyd George agreed with Colonel House that the Conference should not be held on French soil, but rather in a neutral environment, preferably Geneva; while Orlando of Italy, promised to favor the American choice.

The French, however, were not to be casually brushed aside. Did not her sufferings entitle France to this honor? Was it not the Hall of Mirrors, in Versailles, in which the German Empire had been proclaimed in 1871? Where, unless in Berlin itself, could the collapse of the Bismarckian dream be more fittingly celebrated? When the matter was discussed between Clemenceau, Lloyd George and Colonel House, on October 29 [1918], the French Premier was determined that the peace should be consummated at Versailles. There was little public discussion of this subject, but the French point of view was shrewdly presented in the semi-official Temps (Nov. 3), in what was probably an inspired leader. "The city chosen as the seat of the Congress should be chosen because of its sacrifices, its heroism and martyrdom, or because of its history, and of past events which lend meaning and significance to those of today." Brussels might have been chosen for "noble and just reasons." Nevertheless, the choice should fall upon Versailles, said the Temps, not only because France had "borne the heaviest and bloodiest share of the war," but also for the reason that since Versailles had been "the cradle of the German Empire," it ought also to be "its grave." Mr. Wilson yielded, doubtless as a friendly gesture to France, and on November 8 cabled his acceptance of Versailles to Colonel House.

In actual fact, Paris, with its superior accommodations, became the center of deliberations between the Allied and Associated Powers, though the treaty was finally signed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

The choice of Paris meant that the French people, who had so vital a stake in the peace settlement, were to furnish "the atmosphere wherein the Peace Conference decisions" were to be taken. This was important because of the peculiar degree to which, in France, more than in any other great country, the driving force of opinion is concentrated in the nation’s chief city, from which a multiplicity of newspapers and other instrumentalities dominate the national scene. The Conference was thus peculiarly exposed to the winds of French opinion, the significance of which was heightened by the fact that President Wilson and Premier Clemenceau often found themselves in almost fatal disagreement over major peace policies.

The decision was subsequently the source of regrets in Anglo-American quarters. Colonel House later confessed that it would have been better to locate the Conference elsewhere, away from the "intrigues of Paris"; and Seymour wrote: "We were hampered by the atmosphere of Paris. . . . Everyone was afraid of being called a pro-German." Mr. Wilson’s threat in early February to have the Conference moved from Paris was indicative of his subsequent feelings, and Lloyd George, during the turbulent days of late March, bitterly remarked to the Council of Ten that the atmosphere of Paris was becoming intolerable.

¹ From G. B. Noble, Policies and Opinions at Paris, 1919. Wilsonian Diplomacy, the Versailles Peace, and French Public Opinion, New York, 1935, pp. 1–3. By permission of The Macmillan Company, publishers.