Abbreviations used in the footnotes. CAB: British cabinet papers, Public Record Office. CMP: Charles Mangin papers, Archives Nationales. CTP: Procès-verbaux de la Commission des Traités de paix, Archives Nationales. FO: Foreign Office papers, Public Record Office. FRPPC: U.S. Department of State, Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States, Paris Peace Conference, 1919 (Washington, 1942–1947).Google Scholar LGP: Lloyd George papers, House of Lords Record Office. RSBP: Ray Stannard Baker papers, Princeton University. US Army: Department of the Army, The United States army in the world war (Washington, 1948).Google Scholar

¹ Watson, D. R., Georges Clemenceau (London, 1974), p. 353Google Scholar; Nelson, H. I., Land and power: British and allied policy on Germany's frontiers, 1916–1919 (London, 1963), p. 207.Google Scholar

² King, J. C., Foch versus Clemenceau: France and German dismemberment, 1918–1919 (Cambridge, Mass., 1960), preface.Google Scholar

³ Lord Robert Cecil (reporting a conversation with Foch) to the marquis of Curzon, 8 Jan. 1919, LGP F/3/4/2.

⁴ Mermeix (Terrail, Gabriel), Fragments d'histoire 1914–1919 (Paris, 1922), VI, 205–10.Google Scholar

⁵ [1 Dec. 1918] CAB 28/5 IC-97; cf. Archives de la guerre, fonds Clemenceau, carton 42, procès-verbaux de la séance du ler Décembre 1918.

⁶ The Rhine was to be the western military frontier of Germany; the left bank was to be permanently occupied by an inter-allied army, and the occupied territory, not being economically self-sufficient, was to have guaranteed outlets through an association of western nations in a customs union. Mermeix, , Fragments, VI, 210–19.Google Scholar

⁷ ‘Notes of an interview between House, Clemenceau and Lloyd George’, 7 03 1919, LGP F/147/1/1.Google Scholar

⁸ ‘Développer cette thèse ce serait refaire toute l'histoire de la France, et de la France révolutionnaire comme de la France monarchique.’ Piou, M., CTP, 6e séance, 12 07 1919, pp. 4–7.Google Scholar

⁹ Nevins, A., Henry White, thirty years of American diplomacy (New York, 1930), p. 411.Google Scholar

¹⁰ The secrecy with which Clemenceau worked was demonstrated when at the height of the Ruhr crisis in 1923 the Quai d'Orsay was asked to prepare an account of the 1919 negotiations and found that it was unable to trace a single document on the question in its files.

¹¹ Martet, J., Le silence de M. Clemenceau (Paris, 1929), p. 248.Google Scholar

¹² Berger, M. and Allard, P., Les dessous du traité de Versailles (Paris, 1933), pp. 28–9.Google Scholar

¹³ Journal Officiel de la République Française, Annales de la Chambre des Députés, 2e séance du 29 Déc. 1918, pp. 3732–36.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Mordacq, J. J. H., Le ministère Clemenceau: journal d'un témoin (Paris, 1931), III, 117–18.Google Scholar Mordacq, Clemenceau's military chef de cabinet, found him ‘hypnotisé…par la question qui leur paraissait primordiale pour la France: la question du Rhin’.

¹⁵ Derby, Lord to Balfour, Arthur, 14 12 1918, LGP F/52/2/52.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Poincaré, Raymond, A la recherche de la paix 1919 (Paris, 1974), p. 122Google Scholar, 7 Feb. Poincaré's private journal is an important, frank and vivid new source for this subject. It runs from January to May 1919 and casts much valuable light on previously contentious questions.

¹⁷ Seymour, C., The intimate papers of Colonel House (Boston, 1928), IV, 344Google Scholar; Bonsal, S., Suitors and suppliants (New York, 1947), pp. 214–15.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Poincaré, , A la recherche, p. 160, 18 Feb.Google Scholar

¹⁹ CTP, 2Oe séance, 29 July 1919, p. 55. The importance of these secret transcripts is that they provide Clemenceau's own private explanation of his negotiating strategy.

²⁰ ‘Memorandum on currents of opinion in France’, 16 02 1919, FO 608/124, ref. 448/2/2.Google Scholar

²¹ Tardieu was ex-high commissioner to the United States, a member of the French delegation to the conference and Clemenceau's closest aide. Tardieu ‘a été un des hommes politiques plus marquants de son époque; il n'a pas été le grand homme d'Etat que ses débuts faisaient pressentir’. Laroche, J., Au quai d'Orsay avec Briand et Poincaré 1913–1926 (Paris, 1957), p. 62.Google Scholar The Tardieu memorandum, Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères, papiers Tardieu 45: cited in D. Stevenson, ‘French war aims against Germany, 1914–19’ (forthcoming thesis). I am very grateful to Mr Stevenson for allowing me to consult a first draft of his dissertation, now nearing completion at Cambridge University. See also Tardieu, A., La Paix (Paris, 1921), pp. 165–84.Google Scholar

²² Poincaré, to Pichon, , 25 02 1919Google Scholar: ‘le travail de Tardieu s'accorde très heureusement avec ceux de Foch’. Poincaré, , A la recherche, p. 182.Google Scholar Tardieu had been instructed by Clemenceau to clarify and reinforce Foch's arguments. His first paper, ‘Note sur le statut politique des pays de la rive gauche du Rhin’, was drafted as early as 15 Dec. 1918. A second set of notes was given to Balfour on 6 Feb., while a ‘note sommaire’ followed on 19 Feb. Tardieu was a tireless advocate. Papiers Tardieu 45, 47 and 49.

²³ 7 Mar., LGP F/147/1/1.

²⁴ 4 Mar., CAB 23/15/ 541A. Cf. Headlam-Morley, J. W., A memoir of the Paris peace conference (London, 1972), p. 44Google Scholar: ‘Nobody seems to know what the French proposals are for dealing with the left bank of the Rhine.’

²⁵ Poincaré, , A la recherche, p. 375, 26 Apr.Google Scholar; Cambon, P., Correspondance 1870–1924 (Paris, 1946), II, 320–1.Google Scholar

²⁶ FRPPC, IV, 300, 307–8.Google Scholar

²⁷ Seymour, , House, IV, 357–8.Google Scholar

²⁸ Renouvin, P., ‘Les buts de guerre du gouvernement français 1914–18’, Revue Historique, 1966, 1–38.Google Scholar

²⁹ Tirard, P., La France sur le Rhin (Paris, 1930), pp. 81–117Google Scholar; cf. Isambert, A., ‘Les provinces du Rhin pendant l'armistice’, Revue des Sciences Politiques, 1919, 426–45.Google Scholar

³⁰ Tirard, , La France, p. 227.Google Scholar

³¹ Mangin, C., La force noire (Paris, 1910).Google Scholar

³² Mangin, L.-E., La France et le Rhin (Geneva, 1945), p. 42.Google Scholar See Nelson, K. L., ‘The “Black horror on the Rhine”: race as a factor in post-World War I diplomacy’, Journal of Modern History, 1970, 606–27.Google Scholar See also Michel, M., ‘La genèse du recrutement de 1918 en Afrique noire française’, Revue Française d'Histoire d'Outre-Mer, LXVIII, 1971.Google Scholar

³³ Mangin, C., ‘Lettres de Rhénanie’, Revue de Paris, 1936, 483, 486–7.Google Scholar

³⁴ Mangin, L.-E., La France, pp. 37–8.Google Scholar

³⁵ Mangin, C., ‘Lettres’, p. 491.Google Scholar

³⁶ ‘Les décisions que je prends, en l'absence de toute instructions, sont généralement approuvées, et ma petite organisation va son train. Tout irait bien plus vite avec un peu de décision, mais d'où viendrait-elle?’ Ibid. pp. 489–90.

³⁷ Fayolle, to Mangin, , 15 12 1918, CMP 149 AP 20.Google Scholar

³⁸ Pétain, to Foch, , 30 12 1918Google Scholar, papiers Tardieu 44, dossier: ‘Rive gauche du Rhin, organisation de l'occupation.’ Foch to Clemenceau, 3 Jan. 1919, and Pichon to Clemenceau, 9 Jan., ibid., cited in Stevenson, , ‘French war aims’.Google Scholar See also Bariéty, J., ‘De l'exécution à la négociation. L'évolution des relations franco-allemandes après la prémière guerre mondiale: Novembre 1918 à Janvier 1925’, unpublished thesis (Paris, 1975), pp. 47–50.Google Scholar

³⁹ Poincaré, , A la recherche, p. 58, 13 Jan.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Weygand (pp. Foch) to Mangin, , 16 01 1919, CMP 149 AP 20.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Mangin, L.-E., La France, p. 39.Google Scholar

⁴² Ireton, Robert E., ‘The Rhineland commission at work’, The American Journal of International Law, 1923, p. 464.Google Scholar

⁴³ Eltinge, Gen. LeRoy to Pershing, 17 01 1919Google Scholar, US Army, x, 508.Google Scholar See Mangin, C., Comment finit la guerre (Paris, 1920), p. 296.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Fayolle, to Mangin, , 23 01 1919, CMP 149 AP 20.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ ‘Inter-allied propaganda mission to the occupied districts of Germany’ (report by Capt. Kelly), 14 Feb. 1919. General Mangin told the mission that he ‘hoped that the Allies would be able to work together to wean the Rhine provinces from their absolute dependance on Prussia’. FO 608/135.

⁴⁶ Miller, D. H., My diary at the conference of Paris (privately printed, 1924), VII, 270.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Foch, to Clemenceau, , 8 02 1919Google Scholar, papiers Tardieu 47: cited by Stevenson, ‘French war aims’. Jeanneney (pp. Clemenceau) to Foch, , 15 03 1919Google Scholar, Bariéty, , ‘De l'exécution’, p. 58.Google Scholar See also Bariéty, J., ‘Les réparations allemandes après la première guerre mondiale; objet ou prétexte à une politique rhénane de la France 1919–24’, Bulletin de la Société d'Histoire Moderne, 5e série, no. 6.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Mangin, C., ‘Lettres’, p. 502.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Clemenceau shared this interest in ‘deprussification’. CTP, 20e séance, 29 July 1919, p. 56. Tirard's plan became the basis of French Rhineland policy July 1919 to 1924. See Tirard, , ‘Rapport sur l'occupation de la rive gauche du Rhin aux points de vue politique et économique’, 31 01 1919Google Scholar, papiers Tardieu 47; cf. Tirard, P., La France, pp. 325–6.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Dorten, J. A., La tragédie rhénane (Paris, 1945), p. 50.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Clemenceau, to George, Lloyd, 15 11 1918, Archives de la guerre, fonds Clemenceau, 6 N 72.Google Scholar

⁵² George, Lloyd to Kerr, P. H., 11 11 1919, LGP F/89/2/8.Google Scholar

⁵³ Dorten, , La Tragédie, pp. 35–8Google Scholar provides a full, though partisan, account of these events. See also King, , Foch versus Clemenceau, pp. 28–43.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ The industrialists wanted independant states on both sides of the Rhine, a heresy inimical to French strategic interests and denounced by Fayolle as ‘républiques à cheval’. Fayolle, to Manghi, , 10 03 1919, CMP 149 AP 21.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Poincaré, , A la recherche, p. 112, 2 Feb., and p. 177, 24 Feb.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Ibid. p. 283, 27 Mar.

⁵⁷ Lloyd George to P. H. Kerr, 11 Feb., LGP F/89/2/8.

⁵⁸ George, D. Lloyd, The truth about the peace treaties (London, 1938), I, 396.Google Scholar The international dimension of this question is discussed at length in the excellent study by Nelson, , Land and power, pp. 192–218.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ 28 Feb., CAB 23/15/538A. ‘The idea of maintaining a permanent military force on the Rhine was intolerable’, Lord Curzon in cabinet, 4 Mar. 1919, CAB 23/15/541A.

⁶⁰ Seymour, , House, IV, 345–7.Google Scholar

⁶¹ ‘Notes of a discussion with M. Tardieu and Dr Mezes’ by P. H. Kerr, 11/12 Mar., LGP F/89/2/40. See also papiers Tardieu 45.

⁶² 4 Mar., CAB 23/15/541A.

⁶³ George, Lloyd, The truth, 1, 403.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Poincaré, , A la recherche, p. 245Google Scholar, 14 Mar. Loucheur, L., Carnets secrets 1908–1932 (Paris, 1962), pp. 71–2.Google Scholar ‘Note sur la conversation du 14 mars’, papiers Tardieu 51, cited in Stevenson, ‘French war aims’.

⁶⁵ ‘Note sur la suggestion presentée le 14 mars 1919’, Tardieu, , La paix, pp. 197–201.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ The Fontainebleau memorandum, 25 Mar., George, Lloyd, The truth, 1, 404–16.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Tardieu, , La paix, p. 193.Google Scholar The details of the dispute and the settlement are in Nelson, , Land and power, pp. 219–48.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Wilson told his advisers on 28 Mar., ‘I do not know whether the Peace Conference will continue’. Seymour, C. and House, E., What really happened at Paris (New York, 1921), p. 464–5.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Poincaré, , A la recherche, p. 337Google Scholar, 15 Apr. Clemenceau later described the fifteen year occupation as ‘la chose la plus difficile à obtenir’, CTP, 5e séance, 11 July 1919, p. 76.

⁷⁰ FRPPC v, 113–14 and 357.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Mantoux, P., Les délibérations du conseil des quatre (Paris, 1955), II, 410 and 271.Google Scholar

⁷² Clemenceau: ‘Nous ne pouvons pas vivre isolés; le temps du “splendide isolement” est passé’. CTP, 5e séance, 11 July 1919, p. 8. French dependance on the Anglo-American alliance was not merely strategic. Throughout the conference, British and American subsidies saved France from even higher inflation and from a subsistence crisis.

⁷³ FO 608/142, ref. 477/1/9.

⁷⁴ CTP, 5e séance, 11 July 1919, p. 55, and aoe séance, 29 July, p. 60.

⁷⁵ 28 Feb., CAB 23/15/538A; 4 Mar., CAB 23/15/54A.

⁷⁶ See page 664 below.

⁷⁷ This was the attitude taken by members of the Commission des traités de paix. See séances 5, 11 and 20.

⁷⁸ Foch ‘is kept in complete ignorance of all that is going on. Clemenceau tells him nothing.’ Callwell, C. E., Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson (London, 1927), II, 185.Google Scholar See Poincaré, , A la recherche, p. 414, 6 May.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ Marshal Joffre remarked that Clemenceau would not ‘brook anyone else's authority or admit of divided authority’. FRPPC, 1, 382.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ ‘There are considerable rumours of differences of opinion between Foch and Clemenceau, though not on fundamental points.’ British intelligence report, LGP F/389/2/p.

⁸¹ Clemenceau alerted Pétain to the possibility of replacing Foch. See Mordacq, , Clemenceau, II, 227–31 and 260.Google Scholar Cf. Callwell, , Wilson, II, 189Google Scholar, ‘The Tiger is watching for an opportunity to remove Foch and put in Pétain’.

⁸² Mantoux, , Déliberations, II, 215.Google Scholar

⁸³ Weygand, , Mémoires (Paris, 1957), II, 48.Google Scholar

⁸⁴ Poincaré, , A la recherche, passim.Google Scholar

⁸⁵ Ibid. pp. 270–1, 20 Mar. Henrietta was his wife.

⁸⁶ The following paragraph is based on P, Miquel's important study, La paix de Versailles et l'opinion publique française (Paris, 1972).Google Scholar

⁸⁷ Weygand, , Mémoires, II, 39–41.Google Scholar

⁸⁸ Foch also permitted the rumour of his intended resignation to fly around. ‘The question of the left bank of the Rhine now looms largest in the Paris negotiations and if not solved in a way which gives security to France, may lead to the resignation of Marshal Foch’, Morning Post, 19 04 1919.Google Scholar

⁸⁹ Miquel, P., ‘Le Journal des Débats et la paix de Versailles’, Revue Historique, 1964, p. 409.Google Scholar

⁹⁰ Poincaré, , A la recherche, p. 357, 19 Apr.Google Scholar

⁹¹ CTP, IIe séance, 17 07, pp. 118–19.Google Scholar

⁹² Poincaré, , A la recherche, p. 338Google Scholar, 16 Apr. This plan was being canvassed widely. Alexandre Ribot noted in his diary ‘Dubost m'a dit que si Clemenceau était renverser, Poincaré ferait un ministère présidé par Foch’. Journal d'Alexandre Ribot et correspondances inédites 1914–22 (Paris, 1936), p. 269.Google Scholar

⁹³ Poincaré, , A la recherche, p. 348, 18 Apr.Google Scholar

⁹⁴ Miquel, , La paix, p. 383.Google Scholar

⁹⁵ CTP, IIe séance, 17 07, p. 118.Google Scholar

⁹⁶ Poincaré, , A la recherche, pp. 315–16Google Scholar, 6 Apr. Poincaré refused Clemenceau's resignation.

⁹⁷ Ibid. p. 345, 17 Apr. Cf. Weygand, , Mémoires, II, 41.Google Scholar

⁹⁸ Mermeix, , Fragments, VI, 223–32Google Scholar; Mordacq, , Clemenceau, III, 243–6.Google Scholar

⁹⁹ Poincaré to Clemenceau, 28 Apr., quoted in George, Lloyd, The truth, I, 427–32. Cf.Google ScholarPoincaré, to Pichon, , A la recherche, pp. 391–6, 3 May.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁰ Poincaré, , A la recherche, p. 290, 2 May.Google Scholar The published transcript omits ‘Mais puis-je faire?’ but it is to be found in the original manuscript at the Bibliothèque Nationale.

¹⁰¹ Poincaré, , A la recherche, pp. 412–14, 6 May.Google Scholar

¹⁰² Hankey, M. P., The supreme control at the Paris peace conference 1919 (London, 1963), pp. 146–7.Google Scholar

¹⁰³ Clemenceau summarized Foch's views succinctly: ‘II déclare “J'aime mieux ne pas avoir l'Angleterre et l'Amérique et avoir le Rhin’”, which he described as ‘une vue de militaire non d'homme politique’. CTP, ne séance, 17 July, p. 161.

¹⁰⁴ Nicolson, H., Peacemaking 1919 (London, 1933), p. 268.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁵ Mangin, C., ‘Lettres’, p. 511.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁶ Mangin wanted two republics: one Rhineland, one Palatine. But though General Gérard did make a similar separatist attempt in the Palatinate, from mutual antagonism the two initiatives were not co-ordinated. Cf. American military government of occupied Germany 1918–1920 (Washington, 1943), I, 291–315.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁷ King, , Foch versus Clemenceau, pp. 73–106, for example.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁸ FRPPC, IV, 600, 21 Apr.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁹ The Commission met from 31 May to 9 June; its proposals were ratified on 16 June. Cf. FRPPC, VI, 389–93 and 522.Google Scholar

¹¹⁰ Recueil des actes de la conférence, pt IV, D6, Commission interallié de la rive gauche du Rhin, pp. 65–6.Google Scholar Cf. FO 608/142, ref. 477/1/9.

¹¹¹ Tirard, ‘Rapport’, transmitted by Foch, 6 May; Pichon to Foch, 13 May, transmitted to Foch by Jeanneney. Cited in Bariéty, , ‘De l'exécution’, pp. 62–3.Google Scholar

¹¹² CTP IIe séance, 17 07, pp. 113–14.Google Scholar

¹¹³ Report of the Jeanneney mission, 24/25 May 1919, pp. 4–7. Documents of the American commission to negotiate peace, RSBP.

¹¹⁴ CTP, 5e séance, 11 July, pp. 78–9.

¹¹⁵ Mangin, to Fayolle, , undated (05 1919), CMP 149 AP 21.Google Scholar

¹¹⁶ Clemenceau, G., Grandeur and misery of victory (New York, 1930), pp. 201–5.Google Scholar

¹¹⁷ Dorten, , La tragédie, p. 70.Google Scholar

¹¹⁸ Clemenceau, to Mangin, , 1 06 1919, CMP 149 AP 21.Google Scholar

¹¹⁹ Dorten, , La tragédie, p. 76.Google Scholar

¹²⁰ Berger, and Allard, , Les dessous, pp. 189–90.Google Scholar

¹²¹ Report of the Jeanneney mission, pp. 8–9, RSBP.

¹²² US Army, x, 1129.Google Scholar Mangin's move seemed particularly outrageous because Liggett and Wilson were under the impression that the fifty deputies were French. This misunderstanding, resolved on 27 May, was an added source of embarrassment to Clemenceau, for it appeared that French parliamentarians were actively engaged in trying to sabotage one of the most controversial provisions of the treaty.

¹²³ Mantoux, , Delibérations, II, 410Google Scholar

¹²⁴ Poincaré, , A la recherche, p. 449, 23 May.Google Scholar

¹²⁵ CTP IIe séance, 17 07, pp. 113–14.Google Scholar

¹²⁶ Wormser, G., La république de Clemenceau (Paris, 1961), pp. 504–7.Google Scholar

¹²⁷ Foch telegrams, 30 and 31 May, CMP 149 AP 20.

¹²⁸ The Mangin papers contain numerous drafts of proclamations to the Rhinelanders, and a secret document entitled ‘Organisation de la fédération populaire rhénane’. CMP 149 AP 21 and 22. Cf. Mangin, L.-E., La France, p. 53.Google Scholar

¹²⁹ Unsigned memorandum for Maj.-Gen. McAndrew, 2 June, US Army, x, 1149.Google Scholar

¹³⁰ Gen. von Hammerstein to Gen. Nudant, 3 June, ibid., p. 1154. If the new republic had been successful, there is some evidence that it would not have been suppressed by the allies. Lord Robert Cecil, while he agreed that ‘we should take no action to encourage its formation’, considered that ‘If and when it has established an independent existance we can consider its recognition’. Winston Churchill supported this view. LGP F/6/6/5O and CAB 23/15/541A.

¹³¹ ‘Si les Rhénans veulent se donner à la France, je ne m'y refuserai pas’, Clemenceau. CTP, 5e séance, 11 July, p. 79 and p. 12.

¹³² Mantoux, , Délibérations, II, 270–2.Google Scholar

¹³³ Clemenceau also reiterated his rigid view of civil-military relations, refusing to discuss ‘les questions politiques rhénans’ on the grounds that they were ‘d'ordre gouvernemental et échappent par conséquent à l'autorité militaire’. Clemenceau to Mangin, 1 June 1919, CMP 149 AP 21.

¹³⁴ Mangin, C., ‘Lettres’, p. 524.Google Scholar