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Paris Peace Conference and Beyond, 1919–1939

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A black and white image of French, British and Italian ministers at the Paris Peace Conference.

Peace making and the aftermath of the First World War

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

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Discover how the Allied powers devised the Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations

Germany's representative at Versailles, Johannes Bell, signing the Treaty of Versailles. A painting by Sir William Orpen called The Signing of the Peace Treaty in the Hall of Mirrors.
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.

Contents

Paris Peace Conference and Beyond, 1919–1939...

Peace making and the aftermath of the First World War

Discover 
Peace rumor, New York. Crowd at Times Square holding up Extras telling about the signing of the Armistice.

Highlights

Black and white photograph of German POWs captured at the Battle of Messines Ridge during World War I, taken in 1918.

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

The Treaty of Versailles imposed restrictions on the post-war German armed forces, limiting the Reichswehr to 100,000 men, disbanding the General Staff, and demilitarising the Rhineland. These items detail the reasoning behind such harsh terms.
Map showing the Sykes-Picot Agreement to divide the land that had belonged to the Ottoman Empire in half, with a section marked A to go to France and a section marked B to go to Britain.

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

The Treaty of Sèvres marked the beginning of the end for the Ottoman Empire. These maps show how the triumphant Allied powers attempted to limit Turkey’s regional ambitions while expanding their own territory and influence in the process.
Black and white photograph of the Cabinet Office sign in London.

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

The Locarno Treaties were supposed to represent the culmination of post-war peace-making. These minutes cover meetings of the British Cabinet during the negotiation period, revealing the hopes and anxieties of the Baldwin government.
Black and white photograph of a meeting of the League of Nations.

Licensed to access Notes on the Formation of the League of Nations, 1919

Lord Robert Cecil (1864-1958) was one of the main architects of the League of Nations. These notes from Cecil’s personal papers shed light on the League’s inception and hint at the reasons for its eventual failure.

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.
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From the Archive: The Paris Peace Conference and Upper Silesia Articles

Our popular primary source collection, 'Paris Peace Conference and Beyond, 1919-1939', provides a wealth of archival material relating to the tumultuous period in the aftermath of the First World War. The Paris Peace Conference was the formal meeting of the victorious Allied diplomats to agree peace terms to be imposed... Read more →
Katherine Waite
Published 7th August, 2020

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