When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

ON_THIS_DAY_IN_HISTORY - sort of - everyone was going to Paris!Destination Paris: Mission, end the war! As thousands of people from all across the world flocked to Paris for the looming conference, Parisians and civil servants of all shades had the unenviable task of preparing the way for them. Hotels would have to acquired for the different delegations, some of these would have to be scrubbed from top to bottom. Wine would have to be found, as would tons of foodstuffs. Along with the delegations, thousands of other people from printers, journalists and curious travellers to prostitutes, actors and entertainers crowded the city. The British warned that no space was left, but nobody took any notice. Paris was the capital of the world for eight long months, and the task of preparing Paris would have to be tackled before anyone could even think of any kind of itinerary...*********The Versailles Anniversary Project is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with t

"From the blind confusion of factional strife the Frenchman has emerged in this hour all of a piece throughout, stronger, more resolute, silent, smiling, his eyes bright with an invincible fire which affirms that the legend of France shall not fail…It is in that mysterious hour when something comes to birth in us which burns out the dross and clears the way for the casting of a metal which neither steel nor diamond can scratch. And when, some day, after superhuman efforts, all these souls, fatigued with heroism, meet again under the vast blue vault of a regenerated fatherland, it must be that of so many hearts which were sundered a soul of France will forge itself, and the discords which are a condition of life will dissolve, fast fused in a bond of solidarity so closely knit that nothing will have power to shatter it."These were the words which Georges Clemenceau used upon learning of the outbreak of the war. The war would cleanse France of its lethargy, provide it with an opportunity to redeem its past loss

France, that critically important cog in the machine of the Paris Peace Conference, had scores to settle and plenty to feel sorry about. The war had ripped through her people and country, bringing with it a plague of devastation unmatched in living memory. The flower of her youth lay dead, a demographic fact which she never truly recovered from. The final year of the war had been a trying and at times, gloomy one for France. Could Germany ever be defeated, was the question which seemed to surface at the beginning of every year, when some new general would propose a new offensive, only to be ground down again. All the while, the man on the ground would suffer. By late 1917, the country was nearing despair. It needed tough, resolute and defiant leaders if the anticipated harshness of the year to come were to be endured. In response, France sent forth two men, Marshal Ferdinand Foch to head up the Supreme Allied Command on the Western Front, and Georges Clemenceau, a veteran statesman of the radical persuas

Remember - check out the Delegation Game, and find out how you can participate in this exciting new way to make the very most out of this incredible centenary era... The famed armistice was signed followed several weeks' worth of diplomatic process, and several hours' worth of meetings between statesmen that didn't like each other very much. By the time it was finished, the document which they were left with went far short of what many had wanted, and was too harsh in the minds of others. Still, at its face value, it was a document which would bring the war to an end. After so many weeks of preparation, it finally came down to this, and the Germans arrived to sign on the dotted line.Actually, they had arrived to negotiate, only to be told that signing was all they would be permitted to do. There would be no negotiation. After several days' dallying in these circumstances, the ten man German delegation accepted that it had no choice. At 5.20AM on 11th November 1918, the armistice document was signed. With

Remember - check out the Delegation Game, and find out how you can participate in this exciting new way to make the very most out of this incredible centenary era...Sometimes, it isn't always the best idea to take vain people at their word. In the case of Edward House, the situation which he claimed to have created in Paris, in the run up to the signing of the armistice, and the situation he ACTUALLY created, proved to be two very different things.After several days meeting intimately with European leaders, House may have believed that he understood and could read these men, but in reality, they were the ones reading and manipulating him! In episode 4, 'Vision of Division', we examine this disconnect between what House believed he had achieved, and what had actually taken place during the preliminary peace negotiations.This episode is essential for establishing the foundations of what would take place later on at Versailles. House, indeed, had wrested from the allies a concession to make the Fourteen Points t

Now THIS is exciting - click here to learn more about the aforementioned Delegation Game which I talked about for a great deal in this episode, and remember to connect with me if you have any questions! To everyone else, I hope you weren't too bothered by my rambling about it for ten minutes - I'm just super excited, and I think it could really be something special!Onto this episode at hand though, and we come to Edward House, Woodrow Wilson's best friend; a man whom the president could truly talk to like no other man. Wilson and House had been friends for years, and this friendship had grown and blossomed ever since Wilson became President. Considering their relationship, it seems bizarre to me that Wilson would send his friend to a place like Paris in late October 1918, and task him with arranging the preliminary negotiations for an armistice. Not only that, House was also tasked with paving the way forward for a peace conference that upheld the Fourteen Points as its basis.This was quite the mission, even

It is impossible to tell the story of the Treaty of Versailles without Germany, and in episode 2 of the VAP, 'Germany Falling, Germany Falling', we examine the state of Germany in military, economic and societal terms by mid-1918. A campaign which had started out so strong and filled everyone with false hope ended in failure. The gamble to move all men from east to the western front had failed, and the chasm in capability was growing by the hour.Stark pronouncements on the true state of affairs may have caught many Germans by surprise, but for those that had endured horrific deprivations, been starved, wounded, abandoned or simply vanished into the despair of total war, the reality cannot have been too much of a surprise. In this episode we place in context the gradual collapse of Germany in 1918, even while some in the country attempted, for their own reasons, to mount some form of final stand. Grim though the prospects of Germany seemed, there were some in the upper echelons of the military and civilian gov

Another introduction episode - this one giving us a brief(ish) rundown on the origins of the Great War, for the benefit of those that have not listened to the July Crisis Anniversary Project of old. The world went to war in 1914, and the circumstances which surround that event are often held against Germany in the subsequent peace negotiations. Germany, it is said, started the whole wretched thing, so she should be punished once her gamble failed, and she clearly lost. In my view though, it isn't that simple.Historians tend to take one side or the other when it comes to examining the July Crisis and Treaty of Versailles. By that I mean, either Germany started the war and deserved the Treaty, or she didn't start it or deserve it. I won't be this clear cut, because the situation and the debate aren't this clear cut. In my mind, Germany alone did not start the war - even though technically she did declare war on Russia first and begin the countdown - but she did deserve some kind of punishment for LOSING it.&nbs

We must set the structure and sources of this project in front of you before we jump right into it, and we should also clarify our aims before we go any further too. We have got a LOT of ground to get into over the next eight months, but I hope that you are ready to join me for this fascinating and illuminating journey, as we examine this era of our past like you've never seen it before.Of course it is worth setting forth our aims: 1) create the most comprehensive, but also the most accessible, account of the Treaty of Versailles in audio form. 2) investigate whether the Treaty really was so bad, or whether some redeeming features exist within it. 3) ascertain how responsible, if at all, the Treaty was for all the vile catastrophes that followed it in the 20th century.*****The Versailles Anniversary Project is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!Visit the homeland for this new pro

To make it through the tons of research material available on the Treaty of Versailles, it is essential we take a certain angle as our guide. Find out what kind of angle I am interested in, and how I plan to divide the different sections of this project up, so that you and I can get through it with our sanity maintained!It's going to be a wild ride to 28th June, but before we reach those sumptuous halls (below), we first have to paint a picture, or series of pictures, that help us set the scene. As ever, context is our King, and it's time we got right down to it... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time. It's time at long last to unleash this project, to reveal the hidden complexities, the terrible truths, the dire dangers, the fascinating characters and the inspiring anecdotes of the period in history so often maligned and misunderstood, but so critically important to our world. It's time to go to 11th November 1918, where the guns fell silent at long last, and the birds could finally be heard to sing.******The Versailles Anniversary Project is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!Visit the homeland for this new project: http://www.wdfpodcast.com/vap/Support the podcast financially: https://www.patreon.com/WhenDiplomacyFailsFollow WDF on Twitter! https://twitter.com/wdfpodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WDF is about to be positively lit up by the most ambitious project we've ever taken on, but before we jump into that, I felt it only right that I bring you guys up to speed with my new job, how I got on in the Sound Education Podcast Conference in Harvard, some notes about the podcasting schedule, a bit on Dan Carlin, some more info about my future and even more ramblings - sounds like a state of the podcast address to me! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time to say goodbye to this incredible era, and to end this whopper journey we've been on for the past 11+ months. I really can't believe we're here, but we are, and I figured there was never a better time to end this series, than on my birthday, so happy birthday to me!Our conclusion examines a suitably poignant moment in recent history - the location of a reunion of Korean families, trapped and separated for more than six decades by a war which they never wanted, but which they have been paying for for their entire lives. It is here, I believe, that we should end our story - with a reminder that the greatest losers in the conflict of no winners, was the Korean people themselves.Thankssss as always for joining me history friends, and make sure you prepare yourselves for the Versailles Anniversary Project, coming on 11 November 2018... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time to say good bye!Episode 48: Something Of An Ending gathers together everything we’ve learned over the last 47 episodes and returns to those key questions, theories and goals which opened our series all those months ago. It is a typically intensive episode, since we have a good deal of stuff to talk about, several things to reiterate and not a small amount of final goodbyes to wave at our key figures. By now you have seen our narrative underline and hopefully vindicate my conclusions, which I presented to you guys all the way back in the introduction episodes. It’s been quite a journey, to put it mildly, and I have sincerely enjoyed taking it with you, as we learned, laughed and were shocked together. I hope you’ll continue to seek out new information on the Korean War, and that you now have seen for yourself that this conflict is so much more than just a few sentences in a textbook. Instead, it was the vital ingredient in the Cold War, the terrible tragedy which cost millions of lives, and the

Episode 47: Ike Will Bring Them Home! This is our penultimate episode, and as such plays a critical role in bringing several threads of our narrative together. How fluent in the use of atomic diplomacy was Eisenhower’s administration? Armed with the knowledge we have from the last episode, we can state that Eisenhower was far from the first President to bring atomic weapons into the diplomatic discourse. Indeed, it makes sense that the first and last president of the US to make use of the atomic bomb should make the most active use of it in diplomacy. In addition, contrary to the conventional view, Eisenhower’s administration failed in the last phase of the Korean War to actually formulate a coherent policy regarding nuclear weapons and diplomatic pressure. For a number of reasons, the former General was content to drag his feet.Dispensing with the myths of atomic diplomacy enables us to look more closely at the very real role which the Indians played in putting forward the policy ideas in the UN General Asse

Episode 46: Atomic Diplomacy looks at the fascinating tactic supposedly made use of by the Eisenhower administration in the first half of 1953. This policy of threatening nuclear war if the communists did not see sense worked, so the conventional account suggests, and it worked because NSC68 had so empowered American defensive capabilities. However, as we’ll see in this episode, Eisenhower’s tactic was neither completely successful nor was it unprecedented. In fact, to set the background by what we mean when we talk about atomic diplomacy, in this episode we’ll examine not Eisenhower’s, but Truman’s consistent approach to that weapon in diplomatic negotiations, while we also assess the general perspective of the political and military staffs of the early 1950s.The result is a surprising but also critically important set of take aways – not only was Truman unsuccessful in his efforts to bluster with the atomic bomb, he also learned from these failures, and refrained from threatening the communists from spring

Our endless flurry of Korean War content continues as we pave the way towards the Versailles Anniversary Project! Stay tuned!Episode 45: The Culminating Factors brings several threads of our story together, as we count down towards the establishment of peace amidst the political climb of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who would be elected President of the US and wave goodbye to the Truman administration. The story of how Eisenhower got there, and why he decided that “I will go to Korea” is a fascinating one which we examine here. At the same time, we look at what the departing Truman administration meant for American foreign policy. Was Truman sad to leave, or did he believe that he had done his duty for American security, and left a lasting legacy on that office?In addition to examining these aspects of the story, we look as well at the coercive diplomacy used by Eisenhower. Was Eisenhower’s diplomatic approach, as the historical consensus suggests, sprinkled with several sticks and threats, in a bid to force the com

Episode 44: Talking & Fighting picks up from last time with the Korean peace process, as the allies managed to sit down at last and talk face to face with the communists, at a place called Kaesong. As we’ll discover, getting the communists to sit and talk with them was only half the battle. The Chinese and North Koreans were well equipped to turn even the most genuine peace initiative into a great propaganda victory. When they weren’t applying their own brand of spin to the latest talks, they were talking in public and preparing for more war in private. Indeed, the first year of peace talks was to be one of immense frustration to the allies, who were made to look like supplicant puppets in the communist propaganda, and then like fools when those same communists took advantage of the lull in hostilities to prepare a defensive line which would, with some small changes, remain unchanged for the next two thirds of the war. Peace initiatives thus had their price, but as the allies and the communists well

Episode 43: Peace Talks, Almost presents the situation on the frontlines as it stood in spring 1951, following some promising offensives by General Ridgeway which effectively crushed the Chinese capacity to launch another great offensive again. This incapacitation of the Chinese by no means meant that the communists were ready to roll over; indeed, the Chinese were still determined to hold on. As the allies crossed the 38th parallel for the second time, indeed, there was no genuine desire to push the envelope either, and to advance once more to the Yalu River. To have done so may well have escalated the situation, and caused the Chinese to declare an open war against the allies. Neither Washington nor its allies wanted this, but what the allies wanted above all was an end to the war after so many difficult months, and Washington was forced to listen to this request.As certain initiatives were approached, the real star of the peace-making game loomed into view. The Indian delegation in the United Nations held

Episode 42: So Long Old Soldier bids farewell to General MacArthur in a podcast experience which has to be heard to be believed! Before we get to the point that MacArthur stood before Congress and gave that rousing farewell speech on 19th April 1951 though, we have to detail how it was that the relationship between President and General deteriorated to such a point that both parted ways. It was not, predictably enough, MacArthur’s choice. Yet, for a myriad of reasons, including MacArthur’s inability to stop flapping his gums, Truman decided in early April to pull the plug on the grizzled General’s career.Truman’s decision is still debated to this day. It seems at its core was the problems that MacArthur presented to American foreign policy. It seemed, in spring 1951, that there were two American foreign policies – one presented by the Truman administration in Washington, the other communicated by MacArthur’s staff in Tokyo. In a world where America’s allies were anxious that the war not be escalated, it was o