From left to right : David Lloyd George, Vittorio Orlando, Georges Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson. IMPRESSION OF A BRIT “The Greeks are getting too much” History does not repeat itself. It stutters. Here is a record, faithfully transcribed by Harold Nicolson (HN), of high-level negotiations in the aftermath of the First World War (1914-1918). The other protagonists in this remarkably laid-back discussion are David Lloyd George, British Prime Minister (LlG), A J Balfour, British Foreign Minister (AJB), Georges Clemenceau, French Prime Minister (GC), Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States (PW), Vittorio Orlando, Italian Prime Minister (VO) and Giorgio Sonnino, Italian Foreign Minister (GS). Richard Hill "M ay 13, Tuesday [1919] - Go round to the Rue Nitot. We first go up to AJB's flat and then down to Lloyd George's flat. Barnes, the Labour minister attached to our delegation, is there. He is interested in the Adriatic for some odd reason. We then move into the dining room. I spread out my big map on the dinner table and they all gather round. “We are still discussing when the flabby Orlando and the sturdy Sonnino are shown into the dining room. They all sit round the map. The appearance of a pie about to be distributed is thus enhanced. LlG shows them what he suggests. They ask for Scala Nova as well. 'Oh, no!' says LlG, 'You can't have that – it's full of Greeks!' He goes on to point out that there are further Greeks at Makri, and a whole wedge of them along the coast toward Alexandretta. 'Oh, no,' I whisper to him, 'there are not many Greeks there'. 'But yes,' he answers, 'don't you see it's coloured green?' I then realise that he mistakes my map for an ethnological map, and thinks the green means Greeks instead of valleys, and the brown means Turks instead of 72 BECI - Bruxelles métropole - septembre 2015 mountains. LlG takes this correction with great good humour. He is as quick as a kingfisher. Meanwhile Orlando and Sonnino chatter to themselves in it is not clear whether in return they will abandon Fiume and Rhodes. We get out the League Covenant regarding Mandates. We observe that this article provides for ‘the consent and wishes of the people concerned’. They find that phrase very amusing. Orlando's white cheeks wobble with laughter and his puffy eyes fill with tears of mirth. We agree to put it all down on paper. I leave with Balfour... ... The door opens. A heavily furnished study with my huge map on the carpet. Bending over it (bubble, bubble, toil and trouble) are Clemenceau, LlG and PW. They have pulled up armchairs and crouch low over the map. LlG says – genial always – 'Now, Nicolson, listen with all your ears.' He then proceeds to expound the agreement which they have reached. I make certain minor suggestions. I also point out that they are cutting the Baghdad Railway. This is brushed aside. PW says, ‘And what about the islands?’ ‘They are,’ I answer firmly, ‘Greek islands, Mr. President.’ ‘Then they should go to Greece?’ HN: ‘Rather!’ PW: ‘Rather!’ Anyhow I am told to go off and draft resolutions at once. Clemenceau says nothing during all of this. He sits at the edge of his chair and leans his two blue-gloved hands down upon the map. More than ever does he look like a gorilla of yellow ivory. I dash back to the Astoria and dictate resolutions. They work out as follows: (1) Turkey to be driven out of Europe and Armenia. (2) Greece to have the Smyrna-Aivali Zone and a mandate over most of the Vilayet of Aidin. (3) Italy to get a mandate over South Asia Minor from Marmarice to Mersina, plus Konia. (4) France to get the rest. It is immoral and impracticable. But I obey my orders. The Greeks are getting too much." Just a month earlier, at the Paris Peace Conference, David Lloyd George had called for “the restoration of Belgium, Serbia and Montenegro”, the three countries occupied by the Central Powers in WWI ● Pagina 73
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