The allied powers and the Eastern Question 1921-1923

Abstract

These two Volumes of British diplomatic documents complete the documentation of Volume VIII, Chapter XIV, and Volume XIII, Chapter I, and deal with the attempt of the Allies to establish peace in the Near East over a period beginning April 18, 1920, and ending July 24, 1923 (The Lausanne Treaty). The contents of the Volume XVII are the details of the diplomatic transactions which were concerned with Lord Curzon’s endeavours to save as much as possible of the Treaty of Sèvres and to promote allied unity, by inducing the Greeks to accept a compromise on the status of Smyrna and by forcing the Turks to renounce
the extravagances of their nationalist programme—endeavours which did not lead to any agreement. Volume XVIII, which is the continuation of Volume XVII, contains the documentation dealing with the Chanack crisis (September-October 1922), with the events leading to the Armistice of Mudania (October 11,1922), and with the negotiations of the convening of a Peace Conference at Lausanne. The greater part of the documents published in this Volume cover the proceedings of the first phase of that Conference (November 20, 1922 to February 5, 1923), the negotiations from the break-down of the Conference until its resumption on April 23, 1923, and the second phase of the Conference
which led to the signature on July 24, 1923), of the Treaty of Peace with Turkey, the Treaty of Lausanne, which replaced the abortive Treaty of
Sèvres of August 10, 1920.