ABSTRACT
Pursuit of the diplomatic objectives not only coincided with Britain’s traditional foreign policy interests but also would make possible the achievement of the Coalition’s domestic aims of speedy demobilisation, the abolition of conscription, reduction of armaments expenditures and concentration on reconstruction. At the Paris Peace Conference British policy during the preparation of the military clauses of the treaty with Germany reflected the interplay of these complex external and internal factors. In early January there was a series of mutinies and demonstrations by thousands of soldiers protesting against the government’s demobilisation policy. David Lloyd George refused to allow the Cabinet formally to consider the War Office proposal. He resented Winston S. Churchill’s having initiated discussion of a policy matter without consulting him and believed that the numbers requested by the War Office were unnecessary. The government’s announced policy gave added impetus to the observance of No-Conscription Sunday’, sponsored by the National Council for Civil Liberties on 2 March.
