Saturday, June 27, 1914 — Colonel Edward House, close adviser to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, meets with Foreign Secretary Edward Grey of Britain, over lunch in London. The meeting, part of a diplomatic tour of Europe that House made during the early summer of 1914, took place several weeks after Houses arrival in London, the previous June 9, after visiting Berlin, Germany, and Paris, France. The meeting with Grey on June 27 was arranged by Walter Hines Page, the U.S. ambassador to Britain. House and Grey discussed at length the tense political situation in Europe: Frances desire to take revenge on Germany for taking their territories of Alsace and Lorraine in 1871; Britains need to maintain good relations with Russia; and Germanys aggressive naval program. House in turn warned Grey of the militant war spirit in Germany and of the high tension of the people that he had witnessed during his recent visit, and expressed his opinion that the kaiser himself and most of his immediate advisors did not want war because they wished Germany to expand commercially and grow in wealth, but the army was military and aggressive and ready for war at any time. Nonetheless, the two men both agreed, by the end of the meeting, that Neither England, Germany, Russia, nor France desire war. history/this-day-in-history/colonel-house-meets-with-british-foreign-secretary-in-london
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 16:11:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015