Donald Hankey - The Supreme Control at the Paris Peace Conference 1919 (Routledge Revivals)

The Supreme Control at the Paris Peace Conference 1919 (Routledge Revivals) — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "The Supreme Control at the Paris Peace Conference 1919 (Routledge Revivals)" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...56

Routledge Revivals

---

The Supreme Control at the
Paris Peace Conference 1919

This book, first published in 1963, discusses the events of the Paris Peace Conference- the meeting of Allied victors following the end of World War I to set peace terms. Lord Hankey discusses the political and military terms and issues, as well as those of individual countries. This book is ideal for students of modern history.

The Supreme Control at the
Paris Peace Conference 1919

A Commentary

Lord Hankey

First published in 1963
by George Allen and Unwin Ltd

This edition first published in 2015 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1963 George Allen and Unwin Ltd

The right of Lord Hankey to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer

The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 64002860

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-83132-2 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-315-73662-4 (ebk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-138-83134-6 (pbk)

LORD HANKEY

THE SUPREME
CONTROL

AT THE PARIS PEACE
CONFERENCE 1919

A Commentary

London

GEORGE ALLEN AND UNWIN LIMITED

FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1963

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, 1956, no portion may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be addressed to the publisher.

George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1963

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

in 12 on 13 point Fournier type

BY UNWIN BROTHERS LIMITED

WOKING AND LONDON

CONTENTS

Daddy, what is it like in time of peace? A question in 1918 from a child born in 1914.

AT the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year 1918, when the German Armistice was signed, I was bedridden in my home at Limpsfield, Surrey, stricken down by that deadly type of influenza that was sweeping over the world, and which is said to have caused more deaths than the war itself. I had contracted the disease on arrival from the Armistice discussions in Paris. Adeline, my wife, also became desperately ill, and every member of my household caught the infection, but all recovered eventually, except a daily woman who, to our great distress, died.

Before I was out of the convalescent stage, I had to take a difficult decision, for on November 17th Lloyd George sent his famous Rolls-Royce car, which had once belonged to Kitchener, with a peremptory demand that I should return in it to his home at Walton Heath. Defying the doctor and my wife, I obeyed, and lunched alone with Mr and Mrs Lloyd George and their two daughters. After thanking me again and again for my help in the war, Lloyd George asked if I would like to go into political life, and offered me a ministerial appointment in the Reconstruction Cabinet he was hoping to form if he won the General Election. I declined at once, as I had no liking for party politics. I did not conceal my hope that, in the interests of efficiency, he would project the system of a War Cabinet Secretary into his peace Cabinet, and that I should be appointed to the post. I thought that Lloyd George looked relieved. I never regretted my decision, and believe that my instinct was right, and that I was able to serve my country better in the pivotal official posts that I was destined to hold than in politics.

About this time I received enough congratulations to turn anyones head. They began with the following resolution taken on November 5th by the War Cabinet, which reached me during my illness:

The War Cabinet decided:

To record upon their minutes their warm appreciation of the remarkable work done by their Secretary, Sir M. Hankey, KCB, in producing for their information, within so short a time and in the midst of such heavy labours, the notes which he had circulated of the Versailles deliberations and conversations.

On November 12th I received, in absentia, as I was not fit to travel, an honorary LLD from Birmingham University, of which Lord Robert Cecil was Chancellor. I learned also that I had been accorded the order of Commendatore of the Crown of Italy.

A day or two later, out of the blue, came the following letter from Asquith in his own hand:

My dear Hankey,

I was lunching en famille at the Palace today, and the question was propounded as to whom we owed the most for the success of the war. I replied without any hesitation; to yourself and Cowans.1 And I am glad to say that the King heartily assented to my opinion.

No one knows as well as I how much we owe to you for our (ignorantly derided) pre-war preparations; nor the extent and value of your daily, and almost hourly contribution, during the first two and a half years, to every measure, in all spheres, that was thought out and done. I know that you have continued to the end, under a constant strain which cannot be measured, to render the same invaluable service.

I should like you to know that, in my judgment, you have been in a true sense (what Carnot was called) the organizer of victory.2

Yours always sincerely,

(Sgd.) H. H. ASQUITH.

A week later, still rather feeble after my influenza, I was in my office grumbling at having to come to Town on a fine and sunny Saturday morning to clear up some War Cabinet Minutes, when, about noon, I received a command for an audience with King George V at such short notice that I had to go to Buckingham Palace in my rubbly old office uniform. In the most gracious manner imaginable, His Majesty thanked me for my war work.

I also had wonderful letters from Milner, Curzon, Esher, F. S. Oliver of the Round Table (a strong critic of Asquith), and many other distinguished peoplebut self-glorification has already gone too far, and I refrain from quoting them.

Very soon it became clear that Lloyd George intended that I should fill some important rle at the Peace Conference, but he had not yet cleared his mind on the subject in detail. I was very anxious not to tread on the toes of my old friend Viscount Hardinge of Penshurst, who, as Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, and responsible for the elaborate plans and preparations for the Conference, was entitled to a first-rate post. As early as November 22nd I had a long talk with him at the Foreign Office, and we agreed that the best plan would be that I should look after the collective secretarial needs of the British and Dominion delegates, while he should be in charge of all Conference arrangements. Although I worked hard for that, it was not to be. It was a very delicate matter, because Lloyd George insisted on reversing the arrangement,1 with the result that I became the British Secretary of the Paris Peace Conference, and Hardinge became the head of the British Official Delegation.

Next page

1234567...56

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «The Supreme Control at the Paris Peace Conference 1919 (Routledge Revivals)»

Look at similar books to The Supreme Control at the Paris Peace Conference 1919 (Routledge Revivals). We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

William R. Polk

The Elusive Peace (Routledge Revivals): The Middle East in the Twentieth Century

John Storey

Managerial Prerogative and the Question of Control (Routledge Revivals)

Stirling Professions and Management Conference 1993

Professions at Bay: Control and encouragement of ingenuity in British Management (Routledge Revivals)

Andrew Dalby

Prince Charoon et al: South East Asia

Sally Marks

Innocent Abroad: Belgium at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919

Marc Bloch

The Ile-de-France (Routledge Revivals): The Country around Paris

Nick Shepley

The Paris Peace Conference 1919: A students guide to the Treaty of Versailles.

Alan Sharp

Versailles 1919: A Centennial Perspective

Alan Sharp

The Consequences of the Peace: The Versailles Settlement: Aftermath and Legacy 1919-2015

Pam J. Crabtree

Routledge Revivals: Medieval Archaeology (2001)

Harold Nicolson

Peacemaking, 1919

Charles L. Mee

1919 Versailles. The End of the War to End All Wars

Discussion, reviews of the book The Supreme Control at the Paris Peace Conference 1919 (Routledge Revivals) and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.