January 1, 1970

In January 1919, just two short months after the end of the First World War, one of the deadliest conflicts in global history, delegates from 32 countries attended the Paris Peace Conference. The central figures of the conference were the leaders of Britain, France and America: David Lloyd George, Georges Clemençeau and Woodrow Wilson. Included in the British delegation, along with Lloyd George, was Churchill, who had just that month been appointed Secretary of State for War and of Air. As Minister of Munitions in Lloyd George’s wartime cabinet, Churchill was heavily invested in the outcome of the Paris conference.

In this passport of Churchill’s, dated from 1918-20, many diplomatic trips are documented, some under his former role as Minister of Munitions and others under his new position as Secretary of State for War and Air. Churchill’s arrival in Paris for the conferences is particularly worthy of note – stamped with the date ’22 Jan 1919’, with ‘Travelling to France’ written above. During the conference, Churchill voiced deep concerns about the harsh treatment of Germany in the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. His warnings would take on a weightier meaning in the years to come.

The fateful ties between the Paris Peace Conference and the root causes of the Second World War are highlighted in one unusual coincidence; the Hotel Majestic, which hosted the British delegation for the duration of the conference, would also come to serve as the headquarters of the German military command during the Nazi occupation of Paris.

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