Paris Peace Conference and Beyond, 1919-1939

The Paris Peace Conference was a meeting of Allied diplomats that took place in the aftermath of the First World War. Its purpose was to impose peace terms on the vanquished Central Powers and establish a new international order.

This collection contains archival material relating to this tumultuous period in European and world history. The documents cover the treaties of Versailles, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Trianon, Sèvres, Lausanne, and Locarno, as well as the foundation of the League of Nations. Together, these treaties severely curtailed German power and influence, redrew national boundaries in Europe and the Middle East, and led to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

Most of the files, including FO 608 (Foreign Office: Peace Conference; British Delegation, Correspondence and Papers), are drawn from The National Archives (UK), while the British Library provided the personal papers of Lord Robert Cecil and Sir Arthur Balfour.

Paris Peace Conference and Beyond represents a major development in the availability of British papers relating to that seminal event in twentieth century international history. Its wide-ranging content, covering all of the treaties signed, will be of considerable value to anyone interested in the diplomatic consequences of the First World War.

Professor Gaynor Johnson, Professor of International History at the University of Kent

Insights

The First World War gave rise to a complex system of alliances and antagonisms. The various treaties imposed by the Allied powers in its aftermath settled conflicts with Germany, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire (later Turkey), Austria, and Hungary.

The intention of many of these treaties was to craft an international order based on the principles of multi-lateral arbitration and collective security. The files in this collection highlight the difficulties policymakers faced when trying to balance the logic of power politics with the ideals of internationalism.

The majority of the documents in the collection were produced by the British Government. Most come from the Foreign Office, but the Cabinet Office and War Office are both well-represented.

The files also include a series of high-resolution maps detailing the changing boundaries of Europe and the Middle East (particularly in relation to the former territories of the Ottoman Empire) during the early inter-war years.

Empire and imperialism feature heavily, as do the League Nations, the wavering influence of the United States on the world stage, and reparations. Some of the documents hint at the shifting ideology of the post-war period, including references to the Bolshevik government in Russia and the emergence of fascism in Italy.

The personal papers of Lord Robert Cecil and Sir Arthur Balfour offer a different, though no less important, insight into the peace making process. Both played prominent roles in the Paris Peace Conference and the negotiations that followed.

Highlights

Document

Foreign Office records on the disarmament of Germany, 1919-1922

Document

Maps relating to the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, 1916-1923 (i)

Document

Cabinet Office minutes, 7/10-22/12, 1925; Nos. 47 (25) – 61 (25); Vol. XX

Document

Notes on the Formation of the League of Nations, 1919

From the Archive: The Paris Peace Conference and Upper Silesia

Editorial Board

Dr. David Kaufman Lecturer in History & Programme Director, MSc in History https://www.ed.ac.uk/history-classics-archaeology/history/about/staff-profiles/profile_tab1_academic.php?uun=dkaufman Dr David Kaufman has been a Lecturer in History in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology the University of Edinburgh since 2012. His main area of research is British foreign policy towards Eastern Europe in the era of the Great War. He has written on the Paris Peace Conference and is presently researching the link between revisionism and reparations in the 1920s.

Professor Gaynor Johnson Professor of International History https://www.kent.ac.uk/history/people/399/johnson-gaynor Professor Gaynor Johnson studied History at the University College of North Wales, now Bangor University, where she received her BA and PhD. There, she developed an interest in international history, in particular the role of ambassadors in the conduct of British foreign policy in the first half of the 20th century.