United States
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Lloyd George gave the coup de grace to the Russian Whites in his infamous Guildhall speech of 8 November 1919. He made the speech without consulting his Cabinet colleagues and it had the effect of a bombshell. As Harold Nicolson wrote the diplomacy of Lloyd George was most of all characterised by its privacy –…
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As early as the end of January 1919 Lloyd George indicated to the Allied Supreme Council that, despite the influx of troops over the previous mouths, he saw the British occupation of the Caucasus as a temporary phenomenon. On 6 March the Inter-Departmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs under Lord Curzon, to which the Cabinet…
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British policy with regard to Russia and the Caucasus was formed in the Imperial War Cabinet. This was founded in 1916 after Lloyd George replaced Asquith as Prime Minister. Its function was to concentrate power in the hands of the few (rather than the 22 of the normal Cabinet) so that the War could be…
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In January 1919 General George Milne, who led the British military in the Caucasus, wrote the following letter to his superior, Sir Henry Wilson, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, telling him just what the British military thought of the various peoples of the Caucasus: “I am fully aware that the withdrawal of the British…
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The Year of 1918 was a very significant one for the Azeribaijani people, one that is being marked in a series of centenary commemorations presently being held in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the state that came out of the events of that year. In March of 1918 the Azerbaijanis in Baku and Quba were the…
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Britain, through the Balfour Declaration of 1917, was entirely responsible for the success of the Zionist movement in establishing itself to the great detriment of the native inhabitants of Palestine. A generation ago this was freely admitted in England. For instance a popular book by James Williamson, that went to 6 editions, A Short History…
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Britain did not have a domestic Jewish problem to the extent of other European countries but in the course of its Great War it began to see itself as having an international Jewish problem that obstructed the winning of its War over Germany and the Ottoman Turks. That is the fundamental reason for the Balfour…
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In March 1915 Britain reversed its Foreign Policy of nearly a century and consented to Russia’s possession of Constantinople/Istanbul after the War. This was done to secure the continued services of the Russian Steamroller in the field and dissuade the Tsar of any thoughts he might have of making peace with the Kaiser. To secure…
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This month marks the centenary of Pope Benedict XV’s attempt to stop the Great War in 1917. It was the Pope’s final great effort to halt the catastrophe that was destroying Christian Europe, as well as destabilising its Moslem hinterland. He failed against Britain’s determination to see the Great War it had launched through to…
