WAR OF WORDS

In the immediate aftermath politicians and generals rushed to burnish their own legacies “At eleven o’clock this morning came to an end the cruellest and most terrible war that has ever scourged mankind. I hope we may say that thus, this fateful morning, came to an end all wars.”

British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, speech in the House of Commons, (11 November 1918)

“This is not a peace. It is an armistice for 20 years.” Marshal Ferdinand Foch, French General, said after the Treaty of Versailles (1919)

“The war has ended – quite differently, indeed, from how we expected. Our politicians have failed us miserably.” Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany. Reaction to Hindenburg and Ludendorff’s advice that an armistice must be requested (29 September 1918)

“After expending the greatest effort, and suffering the greatest sacrifices in blood in all history, we must not compromise the results of our victory. America is far away and protected by the ocean, England could not be reached by Napoleon himself. You are sheltered, both of you; we are not.” Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France, speech at the Paris Peace Conference (27 March 1919)

“I can predict with absolute certainty that within another generation there will be another world war if the nations of the world do not concert the method by which to prevent it.” US President Woodrow Wilson, speech in Omaha, Nebraska (8 September 1919)

“The real reason that the war that we have just finished took place was that Germany was afraid her commercial rivals were going to get the better of her, and the reason why some nations went into the war against Germany was that they thought Germany would get the commercial advantage of them. The seed of the jealousy, the seed of the deep-seated hatred was hot, successful commercial and industrial rivalry.” US President Woodrow Wilson, speech at the Coliseum in St Louis, Missouri, on the Peace Treaty and the League of Nations (5 September 1919)

“The truth is that we have got our way. We have got most of the things we set out to get… The German Navy has been handed over; the German mercantile shipping has been handed over, and the German colonies have been given up. One of our chief trade competitors has been most seriously crippled.”

British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, quoted in Lord Riddell’s diary entry (30 March 1919)