French Cafe » First World War

Why was the French and Indian War considered the first world war?

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 17:48:50 +0000

Why was the French and Indian War considered the first world war?
I have ideas already. it included the three most major countries of the time (the french, english and spanish). The indians also fought in this war. But how did it affect the different countries in order to make it a World war. Please help!

International Arbitration, The Pacific Settlement of Disputes and the French Security-Disarmament Dilemma (1919-1931)

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:32:17 +0000

International arbitration played an ambiguous role in French planning over national security during the years following the First World War, as policymakers faced the challenge of dealing with the powerful post-war movement in favour of international disarmament. It was a French-driven initiative in 1924 that accorded arbitration a central role as a means to ensure the pacific settlement of international disputes, yet policymakers in Paris remained for the most part convinced that arbitration on its own could never be certain enough to safeguard France. Though they would continue to support the cause of arbitration into the early 1930s, as a means to expand the powers available to the League Council, they rejected the idea that disarmament could follow from a mere increase of confidence or an ethos of goodwill. Disarmament could only follow from concrete measures to underpin security, namely commitments of military assistance against unprovoked aggression. These could be organized through the League or bilaterally, but they could not be substituted for by arbitration.

A La Recherche D’Une Guerre Gagnee: The Ligue Des Droits De L’Homme and the War Guilt Question (1918-1922)

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:32:17 +0000

Initially conceived as an organization dedicated to the defence of human rights on an individual scale, during the Great War the Ligue des droits de l’homme took the avowedly political position of supporting the Union sacrée. The bona fides of France’s crusade against Germany was vigorously contested by a minority within the Ligue, however, which not only rejected the imputation of unique war guilt to Germany after the war but also questioned the purity of French motives, especially in the light of France’s 1894 alliance with Russia. The immediate post-First World War period set the parameters of a debate that would destroy the Ligue in the 1930s.

‘Generalissimo’ or ‘Skunk’? The Impact of Georges Clemenceau’s Leadership on the Western Alliance in 1918

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:32:16 +0000

The winter of 1917–18 marked a nadir in Allied morale during the First World War. To address this problem, British prime minister David Lloyd George issued a liberal war aims speech on 5 January 1918. Three days later American president Woodrow Wilson set forth his famous Fourteen Points. Historians, however, have not paid sufficient attention to the impact of French Président du Conseil Georges Clemenceau on Allied morale. Despite his historical image as a French nationalist, his personal knowledge of the Anglo-American world and strong leadership played a key role in bolstering the alliance during the darkest days of the German spring offensives. Yet his methods also exacerbated inter-Allied controversies over strategy and war aims. By integrating new material from French, British and American sources, this article assesses the paradoxical nature of Clemenceau’s leadership during the last twelve tumultuous months of the First World War.

Tradition and Adaptation: The Social Universe of the French Foreign Ministry in the Era of the First World War

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:32:16 +0000

Attempts to ‘republicanize’ and ‘democratize’ the Quai d’Orsay before 1900 had limited impact on the practices and predispositions of the foreign ministry personnel. More important was the ministry’s response to changes in the international sphere in the late nineteenth century and again after the First World War. The explosion of international trade and introduction of new communications technologies vastly expanded both the speed at which international politics took place and the amount of information required to manage foreign policy. The institutional reforms and restructuring of 1907, mostly the handiwork of Philippe Berthelot, were a response to these transformations. Among the most important consequences of these reforms was the emergence of a new generation of increasingly professional officials, better equipped to adapt to the challenges of the post-1918 era.

Formation and Foreign Policy: Biography and Ego-Histoire

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:32:16 +0000

‘International’ history has grown from a time when ‘diplomatic’ history focused mainly on diplomats into a sub-discipline that makes connections between foreign policy and every thread of a nation’s human and material fabric. Welcome as this development has been, the human face is sometimes lost in this struggle for greater breadth and depth. This article explores two ideas. The most important addresses the connection between the foreign policy views of Jules Jusserand and Louis Barthou, and their respective formations—the former an ambassador before, during and after the First World War, the latter a sometime foreign minister during and after that war. The lesser idea touches upon the ego-histoire of their biographer, whose reading of them might similarly have emerged from what, in his case, was a post-1945 Canada-based formation.