ABSTRACT
On 16 June 1894, seventy-eight assorted noblemen, businessmen, journalists and educationalists gathered in Paris. Together, they represented the majority of the major imperial powers of the world: Britain, France, Belgium, Russia and the USA. Conspicuous by their absence were representatives of Germany, who had not been invited.2 The meeting was typical of the diplomatic gatherings of the period. In November 1884 the major European powers had met in conference in Berlin to divide Africa among themselves. In 1899 they would meet again in the Hague to agree on ‘civilised’ behaviour in war and set up an international court of arbitration. In Algeciras in 1906 the imperial nations were to assemble to settle France and Germany’s claims to control Morocco. The Paris delegates assembled in the same spirit but with a different goal: to
establish an international sporting body, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), that would organise a revived Olympic Games tournament in 1896. Led by French nobleman Pierre de Coubertin, it sought to promote international harmony through sport. Coubertin’s vision of peace was not merely fashionable. It was also an echo of his nation’s geopolitical position between ‘Albion perfide’ across the Channel and an ambitious Germany on its eastern flank. The call for peace was a call to uphold the status quo and ensure France’s position in world politics.3
