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Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [194r] (387/544)
The record is made up of 1 file (272 folios). It was created in 13 Mar 1918-7 Jan 1919. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
5
[365—38]
c
LORD CURZON : Is there not a further point : that these occupations and the
exercise of these mandatory powers will be—as I, at any rate, hope they will be—
provisional in character ? The period of tutelage may be short or long according to the
circumstances of the case, but I certainly hope we shall not go into any of these
countries with the settled principle of remaining there for all time. It would break
us down.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : Of course the control of the Trans-Caucasian countries
is going to be perfectly awful. Nobody will want to do more of it than they can
possibly avoid.
THE CAUCASUS AND ARMENIA.
LORD CURZON: At our two last meetings we discussed the Caucasus and
Armenia at the first, Syria and Palestine at the second, and although we discovered a
good deal of common ground I do not think that we were quite in unison as to the
results, nor did we arrive at any definite decisions. We refrained from doing so partly
because we had not had time fully to make up our minds, and partly because 1
understood the Chief of the Imperial General Staff was going to address us on the
strategical aspect of both cases. He has done so, and we have this very powerful and
valuable paper* about Trans-Caucasia which we received on Saturday, and we have a
shorter paper upon Syria which reached me this morning. Perhaps we may follow our
former order of procedure, and take the Caucasus first.
The main points about General Wilson’s paper are these. He argues, and, I think,
demonstrates with great force, that the military and, ultimately, the political danger to
our position in the Far East of setting up France as a great Power occupying a huge
block of territory and exercising political influence from the eastern corner of the
Levant
A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
right up to the Caucasus might be very considerable and one which w'e should be slow
to encourage or accept. Secondly, General Wilson argues—and this point is new; I do
not think we raised it in our discussion the other day, but again I think the point is
almost unanswerable—that we should, in our dealings with these various Trans-Caucasian
States, as far as possible provide for the separation of Russian Armenia from Turkish
Armenia, both because of the difference between the aims and aspirations of the two
sets of people, and also because, if Turkish Armenia be given to the French, the
addition of Russian Armenia to that block would add considerably to the strategical
danger which he has pointed out.
GENERAL SMUTS: Which is Russian Armenia?
LORD CLTRZON : The capital is Erivan, south of the Caucasian Railway, and it
includes Kars and other places. It is a block of territory contiguous to, but not
identical with, Turkish Armenia.
LORD ROBERT CECIL: Is there a distinction between Turkish Armenia and
Russian Armenia ? I know of no distinction between them.
LORD CURZON : It turns largely on the populations by which they are
surrounded.
LORD ROBERT CECIL: That is a different proposition. 1 mean as far as they
are themselves concerned. The Sykes-Picot Agreement shows the position best. This
is Turkish Armenia, and this is Russian Armenia.
LORD CURZON : I am using the words in a different sense. By * { Russian
Armenia” vou refer to the three vilayets which it was proposed to hand over to Russia.
I do not mean that in the least. Russian Armenia is a quite separate area more
to the east.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : Oh, no, not as indicated in General Wilson’s paper.
LORD CURZON : Yes, I think that is so. Am I right, General Wilson?
GENERAL WILSON : Yes.
LORD CURZON : You allude to the small area round Kars and Erivan.
GENERAL WILSON : Yes. Map 2 shows it better.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : I should like to ask, do you contemplate a separate
State of this little bit, the Kars and the Erivan bit?
LORD OURZON : It has been set up already. What the geographical limits are
I do not know, but there is in existence a Russian Armenian State.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : Is it a thing which has been set up by one of the
treaties ?
* E.C. 2632.
About this item
- Content
This file is composed of papers produced by the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee, which was chaired by George Curzon for most of its existence. The file contains a complete set of printed minutes, beginning with the committee's first meeting on 28 March 1918, and concluding with its final meeting on 7 January 1919 (ff 6-214 and ff 227-272).
The file begins with two copies of a memorandum by Curzon, dated 13 March 1918, proposing the formation of the Eastern Committee. This is followed by a memorandum by Arthur James Balfour, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, approving Curzon's proposal, and a copy of a procedure for the newly created committee, outlining arrangements for committee meetings and the dissemination of information to committee members.
Also included is a set of resolutions, passed by the committee in December 1918, in order to guide British representatives at the Paris Peace conference (ff 216-225). The resolutions cover the following: the Caucasus and Armenia; Syria; Palestine; Hejaz and Arabia; Mesopotamia, Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. They are preceded by a handwritten note written by Curzon 'some years later', which remarks on how they are a 'rather remarkable forecast of the bulk of the results since obtained.'
- Extent and format
- 1 file (272 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 272; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F112/274
- Title
- Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee
- Pages
- 1r:214v, 216r:272v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence