Versailles #4: Vision of Division
When Diplomacy Fails Podcast
Zack Twamley
4.8 • 773 Ratings
🗓️ 18 November 2018
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Remember - check out the Delegation Game, and find out how you can participate in this exciting new way to make the very most out of this incredible centenary era...
Sometimes, it isn't always the best idea to take vain people at their word. In the case of Edward House, the situation which he claimed to have created in Paris, in the run up to the signing of the armistice, and the situation he ACTUALLY created, proved to be two very different things.
After several days meeting intimately with European leaders, House may have believed that he understood and could read these men, but in reality, they were the ones reading and manipulating him! In episode 4, 'Vision of Division', we examine this disconnect between what House believed he had achieved, and what had actually taken place during the preliminary peace negotiations.
This episode is essential for establishing the foundations of what would take place later on at Versailles. House, indeed, had wrested from the allies a concession to make the Fourteen Points the basis for all peace settlements. However, this was qualified with several reservations, and House gave so much in return, particularly to the harsh armistice document, which was being drawn up at the same time, that his gains appear inconsequential in contrast to what he had been forced to sacrifice.
The story, as ever, is one of intrigue, personal diplomacy, lobbying, disappointment, lies and frustration, and represents a prelude to the Paris Peace Conference which was to come. By the end, the allies had their armistice in hand, and the Germans were expected to agree to make peace within a few days, but at what cost?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode of the Versailles Anniversary Project is brought to you by the Delegation Game. |
| 0:04.8 | The Delegation Game, we are launching a very exciting thing called the Delegation Game in... |
| 0:10.4 | Well, it's technically launched right now because you can apply for it, |
| 0:13.6 | but it doesn't really take off until the 18th of January 2019. |
| 0:18.0 | What is the Delegation Game? Well, if you missed it in the last episode, then here we go. |
| 0:23.0 | The Delegation Game involves you sending me details of an avatar or a invented historical |
| 0:28.7 | personality or anyone really you can think of. It could be yourself, it could be your friend, |
| 0:34.5 | it could be your dad, anyone. And you send the details of that character to me, |
| 0:39.6 | and we then inject that person as your avatar into a virtual version of the Paris Peace Conference. |
| 0:46.0 | With your avatar taking part in the Paris Peace Conference, |
| 0:49.7 | combined with the participation of so many other people's avatars, |
| 0:53.5 | we are bound to have something that is |
| 0:55.5 | like a mix between Dungeons and Dragons, that board game diplomacy, which I freaking love, |
| 1:01.3 | maybe a little bit like the game Risk as well, and also, of course, like fantasy football. |
| 1:06.2 | It's a mishmash of several different things, it's something that's never ever been done before, |
| 1:10.4 | but I'm really, really excited about it. I think it has great potential to help us all |
| 1:15.0 | engage with the source material, engage with one another, and just nerd out about this |
| 1:20.3 | fascinating era of history. It only comes around once every now and then, a centenary like this, |
| 1:25.9 | and I felt like if we weren't engaging like |
| 1:28.0 | this in such a nerd-tastic way, then, well, we're missing an opportunity. Also, I'm aware |
| 1:33.4 | that many of you guys are fans of this kind of thing, this kind of fantasy-style booking. All I ever heard |
| 1:37.9 | about when I was in America was fantasy football, fantasy baseball, etc. So I figured, why not |
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