Although the military council sat about once a week (90 meetings took place between November 1917 and November 1919), formal Interallied Conferences with Prime Ministers in attendance took place ten times during the lifespan of the Supreme War Council (SWC). Those meetings are listed below.
Wartime meetings 5-7 November 1917 At the
Rapallo Conference in the town of
Rapallo, Italy (close to the French border), the formation of the Supreme War Council was approved by the Allied war leaders. The idea was thought up by the British, accepted by the French, and approved at a
British War Cabinet meeting on 2 November 1917. It was also decided that its headquarters would be in Versailles.
29 Nov to 3 Dec 1917 The first Interallied Conference in France took place in Paris at the ''Quai d'Orsay
and at The Trianon Palace Hotel'' conference room in Versailles. This was the first appearance of Prime Minister
Georges Clemenceau, who took office on 14 November 1917. The four heads of state represented were Clemenceau,
David Lloyd George,
Vittorio Orlando, and Colonel
Edward House (for President
Woodrow Wilson). Supporting the four were their permanent military representatives: General
Maxime Weygand (France), General Sir
Henry Wilson (UK), General
Luigi Cadorna (Italy) and General
Tasker Bliss (US). The conference ended with the drafting of eight resolutions, the most important of which was to find ways to defend the allied line.
29 Jan to 2 Feb 1918 The third SWC Interallied Conference was held at
Versailles, just outside Paris. The Council agreed to a defensive plan on the
Western Front for 1918 (because the Germans were being reinforced by troops from the now defunct
Eastern Front, whilst US troops would not be deployed in strength until later in the year), with an offensive operation against Turkey.
Maurice Hankey recorded of this meeting that the national Commanders-in-Chief, national Chiefs of Staff and PMRs "all gave different advice" creating "a worse state of chaos than I have ever known in all my wide experience". Lloyd George, whose main goal was to thwart Robertson and possibly prompted by the notes Henry Wilson (a rival of Robertson) was passing him across the table, blocked a suggestion by
Ferdinand Foch (French Chief of Staff) that the proposed Allied General Reserve be controlled by the national Chiefs of Staff. It was eventually agreed that Foch should command the Reserve, with Wilson as his deputy. The General Reserve was to consist of 13 French, 10 British, and 7 Italian divisions. To streamline decision making, an Executive War Board was established, headed by General Foch, to command the General Reserve. Between the third and fourth SWC meetings, resistance to the General Reserve by General Robertson caused him to be replaced by Wilson. In early March, it was found that B.E.F. Commander
Douglas Haig also refused to follow the SWC order. Allied with General
Philippe Pétain and Prime Minister Clemenceau, both of whom opposed the measure, the advocates of a General Reserve were thwarted. With a massive attack from Germany thought to be imminent, Lloyd George decided that it was too late to replace Haig and follow through with the plan. In addition to the establishment of a General Reserve, Prime Minister Clemenceau made an attempt at establishing unity of command. However, Prime Minister Lloyd George refused, citing "home politics" and problems with
Parliament and the public. Lloyd George repeated his stand when talking to Field Marshal Haig at GHQ.
13–15 March 1918 The fourth SWC Interallied Conference was held in London. Here, the General Reserve plan was cancelled. It was thought it would take three months to reposition divisions for the Reserve, when, in fact, the German attack was just 8 days away. This caused a great debate between General Ferdinand Foch and Prime Minister Clemenceau, and Prime Minister Lloyd George considered replacing Field Marshal Haig. In the absence of a General Reserve, the allies had to rely on a verbal mutual support agreement between Field Marshal Haig and General Pétain. The council also put out an official statement about the Brest-Litovsk "peace" treaty made between Germany and Russia. Prime Minister Clemenceau made another attempt at establishing unity of command but was rebuffed by Lloyd George, who said Foch's appointment to the Executive War Board had been a "great concession". General
Henri Mordacq, Clemenceau's aide, said Britain only turned for unity of command at the last minute when her armies were about to be thrown into the sea. The Allied Reserve eventually slipped from the agenda as the Commanders-in-Chief, Haig and Pétain, refused to hand over sufficient troops. In February 1918, Wilson had replaced Robertson as
CIGS and on 26 March
Ferdinand Foch became Allied
Generalissimo. After April 1918 all Allied troops on the Western Front were placed under the command of the , a multi-national general staff. The was on similar lines to the (French Army Headquarters). Without its two main personalities, Foch and Wilson, the military machinery at Versailles became less important.
1–2 May 1918 The fifth SWC Conference was held in Versailles and
Abbeville, France, in the aftermath of the German
Operation Michael (21 March) and
Operation Georgette (7 April) offensives. The urgent need to transfer American troops to the Western Front, faster than originally planned, was discussed. A separate agreement made in late January between the United States and Britain provided that America would supply six complete divisions to France, transported in British ships, and trained by the
British Army. Due to the need for battlefield replacements, the SWC military generals issued Joint Note #18, which asked that the United States only send infantry and machine gun units to France.
General Pershing agreed to the arrangement, but wanted to take it one month at a time. Prime Minister Clemenceau drafted the final agreement, which extended the plan for two months. At the prefect's (police chief's ?) house in Abbeville, at 10 am on 2 May, a secret meeting took place to discuss the matter of a B.E.F. embarkment from the Channel Ports. In a time of crisis, if the Germans pushed the English toward the Channel Ports, should the B.E.F. retreat to England or move south and link up with the French? It was known that both Field Marshal Haig, and General Robertson's replacement, General Henry Wilson, both favored embarkation. This matter was discussed by the military generals before the official conference started. General Foch, who was present, would have none of it. When asked, he repeatedly answered, "Ne lachez pas pied" (Don't let go), and "Ni l'un ni l'autre. Cramponnez partout" (Neither. Cling Everywhere). At the start of the war, instructions from Field Marshal
Lord Kitchener to Field Marshal Sir
John French (B.E.F. Commander at the time) authorized him, in the event of "unusual circumstances", to retreat to the Channel Ports, but not to evacuate. "The view taken at Abbeville was that the British should retire behind the Somme and abandon the Channel ports rather than lose touch with the French." Henry Wilson says this was unanimously agreed to. Because of this, instructions were reinforced on 21 June 1918 to order Field Marshal Haig to retreat south and link up with the French. Remarkably, twenty two years later,
Lord Gort faced the same exact predicament when the Germans invaded France and the armored spearheads of the
Wehrmacht advanced rapidly toward the Channel Ports. In defiance of orders, Gort asked for an evacuation, and he ordered the B.E.F. to retreat to the Channel Ports, where a hastily arranged embarkation took place. Although the
Miracle of Dunkirk may have saved the British Army, Lord Gort was sidelined for the rest of his career.
1–3 June 1918 The sixth SWC Conference took place in Versailles against the background of the German
Bluecher Offensive which had begun on 27 May. Here, the United States was asked for more reinforcements. Other issues discussed were amalgamation (the integration of US troops with the B.E.F.), and the pooling of allied supplies. Allied pessimism prevailed at this meeting. French divisions were down to 50% strength, and the British were not faring much better. The British, French and Italian Prime Ministers signed a letter to President Wilson that said, "there is a great danger of the war being lost ... owing to the allied reserves being exhausted before those of the enemy", and that the United States would have to raise 100 divisions, requiring the call up of 300,000 conscripts a month, to raise an army of 4 million men. General Pershing also cabled Washington D.C., saying, "It should be most fully realized at home that the time has come for us to take up the brunt of the war and that France and England are not going to be able to keep their armies at present strength very much longer." Also, "If the Allies had seen this a year or even six months earlier and had given us assistance in shipping"..."they could have assisted in the formation of a powerful American Army". Instead, "the number of training infantrymen in America will be practically exhausted by the middle of July, they [the allies] still insisted on a program of infantry personnel", and, "The Prime Ministers and General Foch appeal most urgently for trained or even untrained men." In his memoirs, Pershing says about raising the army, "In its execution as a whole, the achievement stands out as a lasting monument to our
War Department, marred only by the lack of foresight that made it necessary to send over untrained men and units in precipitate haste."
Lord Milner had commented at a meeting of the
X Committee on 17 May that some of the troops "hardly knew how to handle a rifle". Originally planned for an army of 500,000 men, the US draft had to be expanded four times before a 4 million man army could be raised. At the meeting, amidst concerns that—following the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk three months earlier—the Germans were about to requisition the Russian
Black Sea Fleet, Lloyd George proposed the creation of a new post of Allied Supreme Naval Commander in the Mediterranean, suggesting Admiral Sir
John Jellicoe ('Silent Jack'), former commander of the British
Grand Fleet at the
Battle of Jutland, for the position. The French were in favour of a combined Allied naval command, but the Italians were not, so nothing came of the suggestion.
2–4 July 1918 The seventh SWC Conference, held at Versailles, was attended by British
Dominion Prime Ministers from
Canada,
Australia,
Newfoundland,
New Zealand, and
South Africa. This was the most difficult SWC yet, with Lloyd George angry with the French at completely directing the war and the French upset with Lloyd George's plan to reduce British forces on the front to reinforce
Palestine. General Foch wanted a commitment that the British would keep their strength at 59 divisions, and he wanted to create a sixtieth from category "B" troops (those unfit for combat, but suitable for home defence). Lloyd George said manpower resources made this impossible. Meanwhile, the
North Russia intervention moved forward.
5 October 1918 The British received news that
Germany,
Austria-Hungary and the
Ottoman Empire had informed the US Government that they were ready to negotiate peace on the basis of President Wilson's
Fourteen Points.
30 Oct to 10 Nov 1918 The eighth, and longest SWC Conference took place in Versailles. Here, the
Armistice terms were drafted for the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Germany.
Peacetime meetings During the Paris Peace Negotiations, which took place from 12 January to 26 June 1919, the Supreme War Council became the "Council of Ten" in mid January, and later the
"Council of Four" (Big Four) in mid March, as President Wilson and Prime Ministers Lloyd George, Clemenceau, and Orlando did most of the work constructing the
Treaty of Versailles. As the host nation, Prime Minister Clemenceau presided over the meetings.
14–16 January 1920 in Paris, France This meeting was held four days after the ratification of the
Treaty of Versailles.
Lloyd George proposed dropping the blockade of the
Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic by starting negotiations with the "Russian people" in the form of the
centrosoyuz, which at that time was not controlled by the
Bolsheviks. This was agreed, with a communique from the Council being published on 16 January. In the event, the negotiations soon became simply between the United Kingdom and a bolshevised centrosoyuz, leading to the
Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement.
6–16 July 1920 in Spa, Belgium This was attended by
German delegates to discuss
war reparations. Related documents: • "Agreement between the Allies for the settlement of certain questions as to the application of the Treaties of Peace and complementary agreements with Germany,
Austria,
Hungary and
Bulgaria" • "Protocol of the Conference at Spa on July 16, 1920" • "Inter-Allied Agreement in regard to advance to the German Government in accordance with Protocol of July 16 regarding coal deliveries" ==References==