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 r...
Apr 14, 2019•58 min
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 ...
Apr 11, 2019•21 min
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 p...
Apr 08, 2019•35 min
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...
Apr 06, 2019•50 min
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 de...
Apr 05, 2019•41 min
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...
Apr 03, 2019•58 min
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 ...
Mar 31, 2019•47 min
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 Ma...
Mar 27, 2019•42 min
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...
Mar 23, 2019•52 min
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 ...
Mar 21, 2019•46 min
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 ...
Mar 21, 2019•38 min
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 muc...
Mar 16, 2019•47 min
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 ...
Mar 14, 2019•30 min
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 th...
Mar 13, 2019•1 hr 35 min
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 Russ...
Mar 09, 2019•32 min
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 her...
Mar 07, 2019•48 min
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 ...
Mar 06, 2019•20 min
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 ...
Mar 02, 2019•1 hr
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/p...
Mar 02, 2019•51 min
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....
Feb 28, 2019•1 hr 19 min
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 primari...
Feb 23, 2019•42 min
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.
Feb 19, 2019•17 min
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 Repub...
Feb 17, 2019•43 min
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...
Feb 16, 2019•1 hr 1 min
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 me...
Feb 14, 2019•36 min
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 Germa...
Feb 12, 2019•32 min
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 d...
Feb 11, 2019•35 min
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 ...
Feb 10, 2019•37 min
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 a...
Feb 09, 2019•51 min
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 impo...
Feb 08, 2019•42 min
