Hemingway, The Wild Years

Part Ten. MEN OF LAUSANNE

Kemal’s victory over the Greek army ended the rule of Sultan Muhammed and paved the way for a Turkish republic. But the crisis in the Orient was not yet over. Scimitar-rattling continued as the Turks threatened more wars unless the terms of the peace treaty of Sevres were changed. The Allies agreed. They had had enough of holy wars and oriental intrigue, and the European nations were ready to write a finish to a bad situation. The matter would be discussed on the shores of Lake Geneva in the Swiss resort of Lausanne.

An early meeting, convened in November 1922, fell apart quickly. Attempting to salvage something from their oriental venture, the Allies tried to barter their approval of modifications in the peace treaty in return for oil concessions. The Turks rejected the proposal and left. A second conference was arranged in the spring of 1923. This time the Allies met most of Kemal’s demands, formally recognizing the new republic and returning the Straits, Thrace and part of Syria. While Kemal got back only a fraction of Turkey’s prewar territory, Lausanne was his victory. Europe had been humiliated and its power over the Orient was no longer absolute. Clearly Lausanne had started the curtain ringing down on the West’s 200-year-old dominance in the Middle East.

The conference at Lausanne was held a year after the one in Genoa. Many of the statesmen who stole the lime light at Genoa were now gone. Responsibility for the fiasco at Constantinople had been fixed on Lloyd George, and he was replaced by Lord Curzon. Also missing was France’s Louis Barthou, succeeded by the new premier and foreign minister, Raymond Poincare. With his disastrous adventure in the Ruhr only beginning, Poincare wa…