ABSTRACT

Esme Howard, the British diplomat posted to the Paris Peace Conference to handle policy towards North and Northeastern Europe, saw his proposals except for the Polish Corridor largely ignored by David Lloyd George, the prime minister, and his advisors at Downing Street. The two men had decidedly different conceptions of post-war Poland: Howard plumped for a large Poland with adequate territory and economic resources to counter the certain revival of Britain’s adversaries Germany and Russia; Lloyd George looked for a smaller one to appease republican Germany and Russia whether the latter became ‘Red’ or ‘White’. It has been suggested that as Howard was Roman Catholic, he looked to support reborn Roman Catholic Poland as much as he could. Such assertions are incorrect. Before and after 1919 in his various postings, he always put British interests above all else, even in Catholic countries in which he served. His advice at Paris was to ensure smaller Powers like Poland and the Baltic States could with British support maintain a regional balance of power against Britain’s Berlin and Moscow. Lloyd George lacked any strategic vision in seeking to ameliorate differences with the Germans and Russians.

摘要

英国外交大臣埃斯梅·霍华德（Esme Howard）在巴黎和会上处理对北欧和东北欧的政策，除了波兰走廊受到总理戴维·劳埃德·乔治（David Lloyd George）以及唐宁街（Downing Street）顾问的忽视外，他看到了他的提议。这两个人对战后波兰的看法截然不同：霍华德（Howard）寻求拥有足够领土和经济资源的大波兰，以抗击英国对手德国和俄罗斯的某些复兴；劳埃德·乔治（Lloyd George）寻找一个较小的国家来安抚共和党德国和俄罗斯，无论后者是“红色”还是“白色”。有人提出，由于霍华德是罗马天主教徒，他希望尽可能多地支持重生的罗马天主教波兰。这样的断言是不正确的。在1919年之前和之后的各种文章中，他始终把英国的利益放在首位，即使在他服务的天主教国家中也是如此。他在巴黎的建议是确保像波兰和波罗的海国家这样的小国在英国的支持下，可以维持反对英国的柏林和莫斯科的区域力量平衡。劳埃德·乔治（Lloyd George）在寻求改善与德国人和俄罗斯人之间的分歧方面缺乏任何战略眼光。