Versailles #40: On Tour With Harold Nicolson

Spare a thought for poor old Harold Nicolson...

Mr Nicolson was a senior clerk in the British Foreign Office, and by mid-February 1919, he had already had his patience strained and his grand ambitions challenged. What lay ahead of this man once the American President departed for the US is a story not often told - the human tale. Here we hear it all and lay it bare. Between the period of 19th February and 9th March 1919, this clerk was busier than he had ever been in his life, sitting in primarily on the Greek and Czech Committees, but he was not just a busy man, he was also a disillusioned man.

From consulting Nicolson's diary we can see clear as day the sheer exhaustion and frustration with the whole process begin to take root and then take over. Nicolson would lash out at Czech delegates, he would work until the sun came up, and then he would return to his desk only to find that the Foreign Office had delivered the latest boxes of papers for him to sift through. It was a job which no man could do for long, but thanks to the record which Nicolson provides, the Paris Peace Conference looms into view and we can see it for what it really was - a great idea on paper, but one which was disastrously executed. Though he was only one clerk among many, one could imagine that if an expert like Nicolson was feeling the strain, his colleagues would be feeling it too...

To access the Foreign Relations of the US papers which I allude to in this episode, which provides the minutes for the Council of Ten from 15 Feb-14th March and beyond, follow this link: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1919Parisv04

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