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Troubled Victory, 1918–1923

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Alexandre Ribot

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Abstract

In fall 1917, the formidable old Jacobin Georges Clemenceau became premier of France. Determined to lead France to victory, he put an end to the controversies of the summer. Secret sessions of the Chamber halted abruptly and pacifist newspapers were ruthlessly prosecuted. Quite suddenly the socialists found themselves reduced to impotence, forced to rely upon President Wilson as their spokesman for a just, non-annexationist peace. The Tiger’s energetic, autocratic performance presented a glaring contrast to the efforts of his immediate predecessors, Painlevé and Ribot.

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Notes

  1. Poincaré, IX, 368–69. A summary of the unrevealing testimony presented by Ribot and Briand before the senatorial committee is given by Lucien Hubert, “A la commission sénatoriale des affaires étrangères,” Revue d’histoire diplomatique, LXXXI (1967), 237–249.

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  2. The rumor was connected to renewed discussions between the French Count Armand and the Austrian Count Revertera in February 1918. The two low-ranking functionaries, tightly controlled by their governments, had first met in August 1917. Under influence of the military general staff, Ribot and the French government had authorized the talks to probe Austrian views on a separate peace (Pedroncini, pp. 73–78).

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  3. Ribot, Journal, p. 247.

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  4. Violette to Ribot, personal letter, 12 April 1918, Ribot MSS.

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  5. Poincaré to Ribot, personal letter, 19 April 1918, Ribot MSS.

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  6. Ribot, Journal, p. 246; Poincaré to Stephen Pichon, personal letter, 14 April 1918, Institut de France, Pichon MSS, #4398, fol. 24.

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  7. Ribot, Journal, pp. 248–250.

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  8. Ribot to Clemenceau, personal letter, 30 December 1919, copy, Ribot MSS; Ribot, Journal, pp. 279–284; Georges Wormser, La République de Clemenceau (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1961), pp. 492–93. Wormser also discusses the curious subsequent history of the Lancken dossier.

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  9. Ribot, Journal, p. 302.

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  10. Ribot to Mme Ribot, personal letter, 30 April 1918, Ribot MSS.

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  11. Ribot to Joseph Reinach, personal letter, 14 May 1918, BN Manuscripts, Correspondance Joseph Reinach, nouv. acq. fr. #13556, fol. 34.

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  12. Ribot to Mme Ribot, personal letter, 7 June 1918, Ribot MSS.

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  13. Raymond Poincaré, Au service de la France, Vol. X: Victoire et armistice, 1918 (Paris: Librairie Plon, 1933), pp. 6–9.

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  14. Malvy to Ribot, personal letter, 29 July 1918, Ribot MSS.

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  15. Ribot, Journal, pp. 259–260.

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  16. Ibid., p. 266.

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  17. Ibid., pp. 268–270.

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  18. Speech by Ribot, Senate, 21 November 1918, An. Sen. Débats, session ordinaire de 1918, LXXXIX, 848.

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  19. Ribot to Mme Ribot, personal letter, 30 April 1919, Ribot MSS.

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  20. Speech by Ribot, Senate, 14 February 1919, An. Sen. Débats, session ordinaire de 1919, XG, part I, 153.

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  21. Ibid., p. 151.

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  22. Speech by Ribot, Senate, 30 May 1919, An. Sen. Débats, session ordinaire de 1919, XG, part 1, 964.

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  23. Ibid., pp. 954–56 and p. 959.

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  24. Ibid., pp. 960–62.

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  25. Ibid., p. 965.

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  26. Speeches by Ribot, Senate, 24 and 31 March 1921, An. Sen. Débats, session ordinaire de 1921, XCIV, part 1, 321 and 468.

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  27. Ribot, Journal, pp. 288–289.

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  28. Edouard Bonnefous, Histoire politique de la Troisième République (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1959), III, 258–260.

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  29. Speech by Ribot, Senate, 29 December 1921, An. Sen. Débats, session extraordinaire de 1921, XGV, 749.

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  30. Ibid., p. 746 and pp. 749–50.

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  31. Ribot, Journal, p. 295.

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  32. Ribot to Mme Ribot, personal letter, 10 July 1922, Ribot MSS.

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  33. Ribot, Journal, p. 302.

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  34. Ribot to Jean-Bernard, personal letter, 7 May 1921, Ribot MSS.

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  35. Ribot, Journal, p. 298.

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  36. Speech by Ribot, Senate, 21 December 1922, An. Sen. Débats, session extraordinaire de 1922, XCVII, 346.

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  37. As a curious expression of this desired reconciliation, Ribot took part in the homage paid the martyred Jean Jaurès during the court trial of his assassin in 1919 (Bonnefous, III, 35).

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  38. Ribot, Journal, p. 306.

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  39. Henri Cambon (ed.), Paul Cambon: Correspondance, III, 432; New York Times, 15 January 1923, p. 15.

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Authors
  1. Martin E. Schmidt
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© 1974 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands

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Schmidt, M.E. (1974). Troubled Victory, 1918–1923. In: Alexandre Ribot. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2067-1_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2067-1_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-247-1639-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-010-2067-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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