When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

The situation in our alternative universe continues to heat up, but some might say, for the better. The President Marshall of France, Ferdinand Foch, having survived the recent vote, now has his regime confirmed, but not all delegates have to like it. Foch's regime was buoyed by several successes over the last week, including one development in particular which will leave some delegates happy, and some furious - that, I'm afraid, is the nature of the Game! Remember, get scheming if you want to resolve this situation; change your character if you feel like your situation is hopeless, or change your perceptions altogether and work for a better peace for this world (yeah, right!). Either way, remember that if you want to play the delegation game and shape this world, you need only sign up for $6 a month! We cannot guarantee you a warm reception, but since the delegates involved only have three months left to make this final treaty, we can guarantee that you will be very busy indeed!***********The Delegation Game 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!->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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Japanese were utterly determined to pass the racial equality proposal, which actually consisted of a few sentences that would be inserted into the preamble of the League of Nations. This had been their for weeks, and it was publicly known, and feared, by much of the allies, with the exception perhaps of France. Neither the Americans nor the British could afford to accept this proposal, which was akin to political dynamite in 1919. However, the stories behind precisely why neither side could accept the Japanese approach were very different indeed. Either way, Edward House was determined that his President should not have to take the fall...********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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's high time we turned our attention to a neglected theatre of this story. No, not Africa...No, not the Middle East...Yes, that's right - Asian! Well, more specifically, just Japan! The story of the Japanese rise to power in the late 19th and early 20th century is one which has always fascinated us here at WDF, but in the context of the Paris Peace Conference, the story becomes more interesting still! The Japanese, clearly maligned due to their lack of European-ness, were nonetheless keen to play a prominent role in the proceedings, and yet the demands which they presented represented nothing short of dynamite for a conference already rocked by a succession of scandals...**********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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a traumatic event which rocked France, the world and the Peace Conference to its core, how can the delegates involved possibly refocus their attentions to the task at hand - that of making peace? Fear not, the President-Marshall of France is on the case, and with his ambitious, but by no means impossible 16 Points, the hero of France's war effort attempts to become the hero of the peace conference, and to rebuild the peacemaking efforts of all those now knuckling down in the Anna-Bay Hotel, London...***********The Delegation Game 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!->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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first week of April, 1919, American President Woodrow Wilson had reached the end of his tether. He was eternally sick of Georges Clemenceau lording the agonies of France over his head - what he needed was compromise, not to be accused of being pro-German by the French premier in one particularly explosive meeting. The rift between American and French leaders had arrived at long last, but it was hardly likely to be a fight either man would benefit from. Amidst a terrible illness, Wilson declared his intention to return to the United States, and requested his boat prepare itself at Brest. This was too much for Clemenceau, who backtracked, and was even somewhat nice to Wilson in the French press. Yet this was a Pyrrhic victory if there ever was one - Wilson was worn out and ill from the bust up, and further afield, it was becoming clear that France and America were by no means the only issue of concern which the creaking Council of Four would have to deal...************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whoa, Nelly, have we got a story for you! In the aftermath of failed efforts to achieve satisfaction with reparations and with the intervention into Russia, one could be left feeling sorry themselves if you happened to be a delegate in this fictional version of Paris in late March 1919. However, the real movements were coming not from the halls of peace, but out on the streets and in the devious minds of disaffected leaders and citizens, determined to right by France...no matter who stood in the way!***********The Delegation Game 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!->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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We return to the question of reparations with some startling revelations. If you thought the French were the greedy, grasping and bitter sponsors of a massive reparations bill, then prepare to question everything you know! It was not the French, but the politically trapped British PM David Lloyd George, who was in fact the loudest and most inconsistent advocate of a high bill. Why? That question has puzzled those historians who have attempted to answer it, but in this episode we're going to our best. Why was Lloyd George so eager for a large payment? Why was he giving his peers moderate advice one moment, only to come down harshly the next? Was he constrained by political promises, or did he genuinely intend to punish the Germans out of a deep seated belief in the rightness of his cause? Tune in here to find out the truth...**********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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At long last, we turn our attention to the controversial issue of reparations. Perhaps no issue at the Paris Peace Conference, and no single tenet of the Treaty of Versailles has been the source of as much controversy as the question of how much Germany should pay to answer for its crimes of launching the Great War, yet in this first of an unofficial two-parter, we will learn that the conventional narrative of reparations is very far removed indeed from the reality. The eternal wisdom of John Maynard Keynes, we will discover, was far from so universal as historians have come to believe, and our impression of where the peacemakers went wrong and who was to blame over the reparations question is, I will explain, unfairly and unjustly skewed. It's time to set the record straight, or as straight as we can make it, so if you're eager for a revisionist take on 1919's most controversial question, look no further than our 50th episode!**********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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a week of conspiracy and controversy, the fallout must be confronted. An exhausted and demoralised cast of delegates are challenged with creating some kind of policy approach to Russia, to listening to one another without going crazy, and with remaining wary at all times of former enemies, or should that be former friends? Regardless of what they planned to do in the future, there could be no denying that what they had done in the past had left Paris a haunted shell of its former self. The question remained to be answered - would it all be worth it in the end?************The Delegation Game 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!->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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A century ago today, Budapest was circling the drain of revolution, after several months of Bolshevik infiltration and grand promises, combined with mounting frustrations over President Mihaly Karolyi's consistent failings. What was to be done about the situation in Hungary? Where a population was so desperate to realise their dream of independence after four centuries under Habsburg rule? The allies had no idea, and paid Hungary barely any attention. While the peacemakers in Paris dallied, the Hungarians refused to sit still. If no one would listen then they would shock the world, and bring in only the second Bolshevik country in the world. By doing so, some Hungarians imagined that they would be able to take what was rightfully theirs. In fact, they doomed their country to suffer. Not only was Hungary now a defeated member of the Central Powers, it was now *shudder* a dangerous, Bolshevik, communist state, and had to be contained at all costs. It was a journey which began with Bela Kun, and ended with the terrible Treaty of Trianon a year later, but the story is set up here, so why not have a listen to how the forgotten vanquished power of Hungary fared in spring 1919?**********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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Check out the collaboration I did with Thom Daly, where we talked about Ireland and Brexit! As the Paris Peace Conference welcomed back the American President and the Big Three began to entrench themselves once more into the familiar grind, it became clear that much had changed. Rather than move further away from each other, it was fortunate indeed that the allied leaders determined to double down on their efforts to foster cooperation by gathering together for a new kind of meeting – the first assembly of the Council of Four. For the next few months, the meeting synonymous with personable allied meetings, great progress and large egos would dominate the halls of Paris. Yet, in this episode, as we’ll see, the meeting had humble beginnings, and its results hardly suggested that the allies were onto a winning formula. Within this show, we will also draw on the observations provided by House, to build a picture of an allied front which contained no end of problems, but a reassuring determination nonetheless to push through these difficulties, and create a new world order on the other side which all could be proud of. It was the end of an old phase of the conference, and the beginning of something brand new… *************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 7 of the game analyses the events surrounding the shocking murder of Georges Clemenceau, and the return of the American President to the scene. How will the President cope with the new atmosphere of cooperation, facilitated by Roosevelt's help and support, when he couldn't stand the man? How will France cope with its shattering loss of the father of victory? What other schemes were ongoing? How did a Pole sneakily dodging between several delegations fit into proceedings? All this and much more going on in the latest episode - thankssss for listening, and thanksss especially for playing!*************The Delegation Game 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!->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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a month back home in the States, it was high time Woodrow Wilson returned to face the music in Paris. Exactly what tune this music would contain varied depending on whom you asked. Would Wilson find support in the leaders of the free world, or would he find only opportunists instead? What kind of impact upon the negotiations would be had by the Republican Party openly condemning his League Covenant, and insisting upon particular changes? Now that they knew he needed these four key changes to the League in order to proceed, could Georges Clemenceau, Lloyd George or Orlando be expected to be generous, or would they use their knowledge of Wilson's new weakness against him? Regarding Wilson, he was looking a wee bit tired after that adventure back home - had it all been a waste of time? And what was up between the President and his friend the Colonel, who had truly held the fort for him while he had been gone? All these questions and so many more were in need of attention, as Wilson returned to Paris on 13th March 1919. This time, the adoring crowds would be somewhat smaller, and far less adoring...**************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our largest episode yet, with an absolute legion of things to get through... it must be the first two weeks of March, 1919! Herein we see several things go down in the Council of Ten, which was still shorn of its major leaders, but which did not sit still nonetheless. The Italians get antsy over some bad Serbian behaviour, everyone gets antsy about the Germans and their army, Lloyd George returns and makes people antsy! Everyone is getting antsy, but some important work was also being done in the background, as the clock ticked down to the time when Woodrow Wilson would return, and the next phase of the Paris Peace Conference would begin...Big detailed episodes like these come to you all courtesy of the lovely patrons this podcast has, so make sure to thank them out loud right this second! And if you feel like joining the greatest group of history friends this side of audio, you know where to go and where we'll be! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode 45 of the Versailles Anniversary Project, we examine the lesser known mission of William C. Bullitt, Philadelphia aristocrat and Ivy League prodigy – at least according to his mother – who was selected to lead a top secret American delegation to Soviet Russia. Bullitt’s aims were multi-layered, and he didn’t quite understand the limits of this mission or of his own capabilities, but that won’t stop us analysing the fortunes of this very interesting statesman. Bullitt would find a Russia starving and demoralised, yet he couldn’t help but be impressed by Lenin or by the potential of this regime. Return the food and withdraw the soldiers, Bullitt believed, and the Russian people would eject the more extreme Bolsheviks, and the West wouldn’t have to lift a finger. When Bullitt returned to Paris with these incredibly optimistic ideas, he found that everything had changed in the two and a half weeks since he had been gone. Compromise and Bolshevism were now impossible partners, and Bullitt himself had become persona non-grata in the allied consciousness. Bullitt, predictably enough, did not take this change in circumstances well…**********************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our latest episode, we introduce you to the revolutionary wasteland that was Russia in 1919. Russia was a very confusing place at this time, because it was the subject of a lot of debate regarding that key question – should the allies launch some kind of military expedition against the Bolsheviks? That apparently simple question was complicated by the fact that the allies already had forces in different corners of Russia – 180,000 soldiers in total. How had they gotten here, why were they here, and if allied disunity over Russia’s future was the order of the day, then why hadn't they simply been allowed to return home?These questions were all difficult to answer, but as we will learn in this episode, understanding Russia is impossible unless we first get to grips with the context of 1919 Russia, and the impact which the closing months of the Great War had had on the psyche of all sides. Different factions in Russia were a dime a dozen, with Siberia, Crimean, Ukrainian, Caucasian and Far Northern fronts, among others, but the Bolsheviks had one key advantage over all of these separated foes – they were not separated, they were more united in vision and purpose than these White factions could ever claim to be. Worldwide revolution, though it had lost some of its shine, had lost none of its edge, and Lenin still very much intended to unleash this nightmare on the Western world.************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before we delve into the Russian situation, I felt it would be beneficial, and darkly interesting, to examine what was happening in between the lands caught in the middle of the Russian and German crises. The Freikorps - disgruntled, right wing, extremist former soldiers and civilians, was exactly the wrong ingredient to help heal a fractured portion of the continent. Yet, unable to accept that their war was over, and determined to leave a mark upon the region and expand their fatherland, these men launched a campaign of utter ruthlessness for much of 1919. In this episode we examine it, as best as we can, before we set our sights firmly on Bolshevik Russia... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The unofficial second parter to our examination of Woodrow Wilson's campaign to get the League of Nations approved of back home, in episode 42 we further our analysis of the different parties and their interests in the US. Who was in favour of the League, who wanted the League with some adjustments, and who was resolutely opposed to it no matter what? Where did Henry Cabot Lodge fit into this sliding scale, and when he released his Reservations document to Congress on 28th February - wherein he underline 14 problems he had with the League as it stood - what was his end goal? Did he genuinely want the League to be improved, or, for political reasons, as well as some surprising other ones, did he want it to fail completely, and never see the light of day?As an Irish historian examining such a contentious period of American history, I must say I really had a ball in this episode, and I hope you enjoy this very important detour from our Versailles narrative. The tale of Wilson's failure forms a large part of what made the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations and the Paris Peace Conference generally such a tragic but also such a fascinating story. It is one which requires detours like these to fully grasp, so I hope you'll join me as we jump headlong into American politics once again...********************* 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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the aftermath of Woodrow Wilson's exit from Paris, along with the British and Italian premiers, Clemenceau was alone to hold the fort against a resurgent and empowered German delegation. It was at that moment that an anarchist's bullet felled the Tiger, which provided an unprecedented opportunity for the Germans to fill this newly emerged power vacuum. This development, as we will discover, will have profound consequences for all the delegates going forward... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The last two weeks of February 1919 were awash with legions of issues, hurt feelings, long winded speeches and too many other details to possibly count. We've already seen the period from the point of view of Harold Nicolson, but was it any better of an experience for those that were actually empowered to act? Hint - not really, but to truly unpack all that this whopper episode has to offer, you must delve into it yourself! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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***************** 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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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...*************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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...*************The Delegation Game 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!->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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.*************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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…******************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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!*********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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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…***********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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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...***************The Delegation Game 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!->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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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…***********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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Weimar Assembly convened on this day 100 years ago, beginning a process which contained so much high hopes and ambitions for Germany's first flirtation with democracy. Between February 1919 and June 1920, Germany would be in flux as a new constitution was developed, governments came and went, and Friedrich Ebert stood above them all...***************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when the Czechs, Romanians and Yugoslavs all try to make their voices heard, as the Big Five attempt to do their best to seem interested? What you get is this episode! A deliciously detailed examination of each of the cases made by the individual national leaders, in addition to a curious detour where we look at maps could be fudged to suit an argument! All this and more in your latest episode of the Versailles Anniversary Project!***********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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Poland's experience at the Paris Peace Conference contained its fair share of ups and downs, and nowhere was this more apparent in the early phases of the conference when its case was first presented. Poland was facing into a power vacuum and with that came great opportunities, but also grave challenges. How could Poland balance the rivalry of its major figures, Paderewski, Pilsudski and Dmowski? How could Poles balance the rivalry of its neighbours? Could Poland push back Bolshevism? Could Europe be persuaded to see things Poland's way, or was there little chance of Poland ever getting what it wanted, so long as people like David Lloyd George remained so utterly opposed to the realisation of her national ambition? Have a listen here to find out all these answers, and be introduced to the Polish case like never before...***************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the Hotel Twamley fills with guests, nobody could have imagined what happened next. A combination of factors, certainly not aided by the strong drink on tap, led to an explosion the likes of which Paris had never seen before, or imagined possible. The consequences would be fatal, but also had the effect of changing the narrative, and making compromise more palatable to some of the more stubborn delegates. From the most tragic of events did the greatest triumphs seem to emerge...*********The Delegation Game 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!->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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

VERSAILLES_EPISODE_29_OUT_NOW!On this day 100 years ago, the world was getting to grips with the concept of mandates, also known as Empire 2.0. Several different opinions existed regarding the concept, but something which was becoming increasingly obvious was that Woodrow Wilson wanted to wait before defining it, until the League of Nations was good and ready, David Lloyd George wanted to get on with things and at least make provisional decisions, and Georges Clemenceau sat awkwardly in the middle.Everyone wanted on the one hand to give their loud approval of the concept, while at the same time demonstrating why mandates couldn’t possibly apply to them. New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, France – everyone had ideas about what a mandate would look like and why direct annexation was better. Lloyd George for his part believed that everyone had best get on with things, but it wasn’t long before the Big Three were in loggerheads, while everyone pretty much ignored poor old Vittorio Orlando. Another day meant another set of meetings, but while the 30th January 1919 was a day where mandates were clarified to their greatest extent yet, it was another classic case of kicking the can down the road. This left everyone free to take what they wanted from this new concept; a mandate, indeed could be anything you wanted it to be – it could be an empire in all but name…**************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our 28th installment, we attempt to explain mandates - that surprisingly elusive concept which it was the task of those assembled in Paris to understand. Once they understood it and got to grips with how mandates would fit into the international system, it was hoped that then, this new mandates system would usher in a new era of freedom and prosperity for the formerly colonial peoples...but not all formerly colonial peoples...just those of the vanquished powers.In a prime example of 'one rule for me and one rule for everyone else', the victorious allies insisted that they had ruled their territories as benevolent actors more interested in the well-being and fortunes of their subjects than in imperial prestige, markets or resources. All assembled would trip over themselves on the 27 and 28 January in a bid to portray their rule as that which had benefited the colonies. Furthermore, on the basis of this idea that their record spoke for itself, the allies argued that mandates were not really necessary in many cases, because the world could trust them to directly rule the former colonies of Germany and the Ottoman Empire.Convinced or not, what these powers neglected to do with much effect or conviction was actually DEFINE what a mandate was, and what role or future it would have in the new international system. The grab for spoils, it seemed, dominated the imaginations of the allies and their dominions. Was this a new era, or was it simply more of the same? The jury might have been absent, but the ambition to rule certainly was not...*******************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maybe following the REAL story of Versailles makes you feel glum. If so, why not follow a different tale - that of 37 delegates doing their part to have their own way and achieve their goals...by making a really big historical mess! As the League of Nations stood ready for presenting to the Plenary Conference in Paris, there was much going on in the Hotel Twamley...In the second episode the DG, we follow the fate of Lloyd George, as he attempted to confront the man responsible for imagining a proposal for devolved government in Ireland. What awaited the British Prime Minister when he met with Joseph Doherty face to face was a scene which was nothing like what Lloyd George had expected. He was out of his element, and he was at a loss, but perhaps there was silver lining?As the PM worked through this difficult experience, the Intermarium Free Trade Agreement was causing a great deal of controversy among those nations who felt overlooked or disadvantaged because of it. The Polish, Italian, Greek, Hungarian and Russian delegates had found success in this proposal, but the mission for defending it had the potential to unite all their enemies against them. The test was just about to begin...**********The Delegation Game 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!->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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ON_THIS_DAY_IN_HISTORY - 25TH JANUARY 1919The first steps of the League of Nations were taken on this day a century ago, as the world learned exactly what Woodrow Wilson's idea meant for them and the future relations of so many states. What kind of principles would be adhered to, and which ones would be abandoned? How could Wilson traverse the objections, cynicism and scepticism of his friends and rivals? What did other people who were present at the time have to say about this second plenary conference?Considering the fact that the world had been welcomed to Paris, it was strange indeed that this was only the second time that all of its inhabitants had been welcomed together at once, but they were not here to debate or change Wilson's mind, only to listen and hopefully approve. This was the president's dream, and as far as was concerned only HE was qualified to make this dream a reality...***************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before the League of Nations could be presented to the world, it was necessary to build up to that great and seismic event by examining...Russia? That didn't sound quite right, and yet the Council of Ten or Supreme Council worked through the 20-24 January as though the League of Extraordinary Nations which they were about to chair was weeks, rather than days away. In these circumstances, how could a coherent proposal for reimagining international relations be prepared on time? Mercifully, the committees were on the case, but this didn't mean that matters would proceed at all smoothly...************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Irish problem had not solved itself. Ever since the aftermath of the 1916 Rising, the neighbouring island had provided troubling signs of a future catastrophe, and with the proclamation of the Dáil or Irish assembly coinciding with an attack launched on Royal Irish Constabulary policemen, the catastrophe seemed to have arrived. The conflict which followed did not erupt evenly across the island. Instead it took the form of several ripples; a murder here, a robbery there, a high profile assassination somewhere in between.It was however, an unmistakable fact that Ireland was becoming more volatile. With the political mandate vested in Sinn Fein, violent Irish nationalism had reached a level of popularity and acceptance previously unknown, and this in turn meant that Britain faced an island mobilised more completely against her occupation and domination than ever before. Such facts were painfully awkward at a time when David Lloyd George was attempting to cast British rule as benevolent and civilising, as a force for good and as a facilitator of self-determination movements across the globe. Why, critics could ask, was London then ignoring its closest neighbours, in their quest to attain independent self-rule?These questions and so many more were etched into what became, by the summer of 1919, the Irish War of Independence, but the opening shots, in politics and on the battlefield, were fired on this day 100 years ago, when Ireland launched its bid for independence on a scale and with a passion never before seen or imagined possible...*****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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome delegates, to the first proper episode of the Delegation Game! Here we see everyone in the few hours before the plenary conference opened, and the Paris Peace Conference as we know it began. There was much to do, there was scheming aplenty and a great deal of opportunistic handshaking going on, as the delegations and the lonely delegates alike scoped out Hotel Twamley which would host them for the next six months. I am so incredibly excited and proud to present this to you guys - an idea which began around the time of the Armistice in November has ballooned in size and scope, to the point that I can now count 33 delegates, a number which is only set to increase as we go on. For those that have signed up and are playing the game, thanks so much for making this idea of mine a reality. For those that have yet to sign up, I hope this episode will indicate what's in store for you - absolutely every person that is mention here is played by a real person, and the negotiations continue in the Facebook group and the innumerable chat groups which await your presence!There is far too much going on here to list in detail, but if you want to learn more about what's going on, who is who and where their goals might lead, make sure and access the section of our website where we deal exclusively with the Delegation Game. For more information please don't hesitate to contact me through the usual channels!******************The Delegation Game 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!->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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

OTD IN HISTORY - 18TH JANUARY 1919 - THE PEACE CONFERENCE OPENS!We finally made it, to the point of a new beginning for the world, in the war torn locations where so many foreign faces were travelling, and upon which so much hope had been places. There was a lot riding on the Paris Peace Conference, and those present on its very first plenary session, attended by all delegates then available in Paris, and a gigantic press corps, could not hide their excitement or positivity.It seemed as though anything was possible, with the world assembled here, to make a better peace for a better world. How could any power present deny the importance of peace? How could any power deny the importance of new institutions to safeguard the peace of the world like the League of Nations? Surely, only the wicked, the cynical, the deceitful, would dare ruin this goal of all civilised nations? Surely cooperation would be easily gained for the grandest of Woodrow Wilson's plans? Surely the world would not be let down by selfishness or fail to realise its potential?But the pragmatists knew better. They knew better because they had seen the true extent of the problems, some impossibly complex, others straightforward but no less intractable. Even those that had attended the previous week's meetings knew that arriving at consensus was not going to be as easy as they may have initially expected. But they were here, and they were eager to forge a lasting peace. The will and the intelligence was present, and the moment of truth had arrived, to put these qualities to their ultimate test...***************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I am SO EXCITED to bring you all this episode. This is exactly what this project is all about - a comprehensive examination of primary sources, left to us by those that were in place and charged with TAKING charge a century ago. Here we cover the period of 13-17 January 1919, using the minutes of the Paris Peace Conference, provided by the US Foreign Relations papers series as our guide. I am super keen to hear what you all thought, but read on if you want to know more about this very chunky episode before you get started...By 15th January 1919, everyone of importance had arrived, but there was much work to be done before this world summit could open. In #23, we examine this body of work which preceded the official opening of the Paris Peace Conference. Join us as we drift between the major characters, assessing the major concerns of each, and the ways in which their aims created controversy and friction with their counterparts. It was not an easy task to make everyone feel on the same page, and the list of issues which each day threw up are too numerous to go into sufficient detail here. Suffice to say, in this episode, a whole range of problems come under our microscope, at the centre of them was Germany.Germany was the defeated power, yet she was not conquered. She was beaten, yet she could not be aggressively punished. She had been the enemy, yet the allies knew they would have to provide food for her people, otherwise a more sinister force would overthrow the fledgling German democracy before it had even left the cradle. This force was Bolshevism, moving like a torrent from the east, and the conflict reigned between those that feared pushing Germans too hard would occasion their succumbing to Bolshevism, and those that reasoned, whatever happened, the Germans had to be made to pay. The tension between these two viewpoints grew only larger as the difference in opinion became greater, and this all before the Conference had officially opened.But, then again, what was this Conference? Was it a preliminary, inter-allied gathering, designed to formulate the main terms of the peace treaty, which would then be left in the hands of minor diplomats to hammer out? Other questions abounded - what form of censorship should be used, did they need another committee? What would the official language of the Conference be? French, or English, or French and English? Why not Italian and Japanese then as well? How large should each of the smaller power's delegations be, and did the dominions have to have delegates since Britain could speak for them? Could Britain actually speak for them, or was the Empire, now the Commonwealth, past that point of deference to the mother country?The week preceding the official opening of the Conference, in short, threw up just as many questions, if not more, than answers. But one thing which was certain was that this Conference would remain in place in Paris, near the Palace of Versailles where the Supreme War Council had met in months past. Furthermore, a Supreme Council or Council of Ten would sit, composed of the premier and Foreign Minister of each of the five major powers (USA, UK, France, Italy and Japan) and this group would make executive decisions, guided by the appointed President of the Council, Georges Clemenceau. Administration and organisation were surely the intended goals of the week before the 18th January, but instead, this was for many the week when the scales began to fall from their eyes, and they began to come to terms with the sheer size of the challenge which loomed before them...******************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... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ON_THIS_DAY_IN_HISTORY - 12th January 1919 - David Lloyd George arrives in Paris for the preliminary peace talks.Before the Paris Peace Conference opened, it was important for all sides to meet and talk together. As all three men spoke English well, Wilson, Clemenceau and Lloyd George could be expected to do the bulk of the negotiating personally. However, the initial set up of the Conference did not allow this personal arrangement, so the three men took advantage of that precious week before the conference officially opened, during the preliminaries, to build relationships, wrest concessions and have a ramble around the French capital.The arrival of the British PM on 12 January kicked the preliminaries into high gear, and from the beginning, it became clear that everyone had travelled to Paris with a degree of optimism, but also with their own aims and ambitions. The Italians, as well, could not be ignored, and their support and assent for certain agreements was clearly going to be necessary if the wheels were to be greased and everything moved along. Give and take would have to be the motto of the day, if any progress was to be made...***********************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the launch of the Delegation Game only a week away (on 18th Jan 2019) I thought it'd be beneficial to set out some detail about this fantastic explosion of nerdiness, and what you need to do in order to take part. We look at some tools which the game will avail of, investigate what kind of impact your scheming can have on the proceedings, outline the structure of each episode going forward, and close the episode with some FAQ's, so that we're all on the same page.The Delegation Game is a seriously exciting effort by yours truly to engage more completely with the source material and era which the Versailles situation provides. I've already been blown away by the interest and enthusiasm shown, but if you'd like to know more, then this episode is for you! We launch in a week, so make sure you take your seat in Paris! Thankssss, and I'll see you all there soon!**********The Delegation Game 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!->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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ON_THIS_DAY_IN_HISTORY - 10th January 1919 - the Spartacist Uprising reaches its apex - before it is brutally crushed in Berlin.Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were the most prolific casualties, but much more was going on beneath the surface than simply the execution of Germany's communist extremists. The establishment of organisations like the Freikorps, and the struggle for order and law in this defeated, depressed country, contain more than enough stories all by themselves. In this episode, we will conclude our examination of this ill-fated uprising, assessing why it failed, what its aims were, whether it could have succeeded and how its impact was felt across the country and among the allies. Did it make the allies more or less eager to bring Germany to peace, before she succumbed to Bolshevism altogether? Let's find out, as we go back in time...****************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Germany was in dire straits by the time revolutionaries began taking over the streets in early 1919. Bolshevism was spreading westwards, but perhaps the most potent ingredient in this spread was the lack of available food, and the endless opportunities this gave rabble rousers to cause anarchy and chaos on an unimaginable scale. Hunger was a more powerful weapon than any political message, and the combination of this desperation for a solution and the despair at the lack of aid - not to mention the continuing blockade - would soon spell disaster.Initially Germans held it together, but they could only keep the lid on the boil for so long before it all erupted. Here, we examine the background to the infamous Spartacist Uprising which seemed to threaten the end of Germany as the world knew it!**************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

OVER_THIS_PERIOD_IN_HISTORY - the first week of January 1919 - Woodrow Wilson begins his tour of Italy!In Italy, as in France, the citizens of that exhausted country were excited indeed to received the American President, and for six days until his departure on 6th January, Wilson travelled across Italy meeting everyone from the Pope to the King to the Premier. His mission was one of networking and publicity, and it went well, even if the Italians, deep down, did not gel particularly well with Wilson's vision of a new world. The world Wilson imagined, that of cooperation, and end to imperialism and peace, was in contrast to an Italian leadership and people who expected to be rewarded for their entry into the war. In time, the tension would explode, and Italy would get nothing at Wilson's insistence, a bitterness which helped facilitate Mussolini's acsendency. Initially at least, however, the Italian people were Wilson's friends.**********************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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ON_THIS_DAY_IN_HISTORY - 26th December 1918 - Woodrow Wilson meets David Lloyd George in London!Hope you're all not TOO full of foodstuffs, because we have an important little bulletin to bring to you! The US President's visit to London in late 1918 was significant for a myriad of reasons - not least of which was the sight of an American President getting a horse and carriage ride through the city's streets! Who would ever have imagined that such displays were possible between former colony and former master?Now these powers were firm friends, and the relationship between President and PM would only improve as time went on, and the two men realised they had more and more in common, to the detriment of the French premier of course, who quickly became something of an outsider. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you history friends! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here we conclude this incredible and early podcast Christmas present, which is 2/3 alternative history and 1/3 a breakdown of whether I believe this makes sense and why I went with what I did. How plausible was it all? You decide. This could be a very fun topic to have a number of debates on, but here we look at the opening phases of the war and what went right/wrong for each side. Irish troubles? Of course they are ever present! I hope you've enjoyed a different path instead of the dire one we got in 1914. Would the world be a better place had Princip missed? That's probably a story for another day, but for now we examine how the Entente came to collapse, and what this meant for the thoroughly victorious allies...Support and get in touch->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! ->Follow WDF on Twitter! ->Join the Facebook group!->Subscribe on iTunes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.