Page 123 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

Fig. 5

The Allies were divided. The British faced an internal The hotel industry and the diplomatic world move at
political crisis, which led to the resignation of Lloyd George on completely different paces, reflecting their differing needs and aims.
19 October 1922 and the subsequent victory of the Conservative Hotels generally run like clockwork, performing the same dull tasks
Party in the election of 20 November (which had been brought at a rhythmic pace, barely disturbed by the arrival and departure
forwards from its anticipated date of October 1923). Mussolini had of passing clients, and even less so by the indolent movements of
just seized power in Italy, and the Conference of Lausanne gave their long-term guests. They are usually able to react to unexpected
him his first opportunity to assert himself on the international problems or changes without missing a beat. The diplomatic world
political stage, one he exploited in spectacular fashion by forcing has to keep time with rapidly evolving international situations, where
Lord Curzon and Poincaré to meet him at Territet (as opposed tensions threaten to erupt into bloody war at any given moment.
to Lausanne train station) where he was greeted by an Italian Diplomatic conferences effectively attempt to slow down the pace
military band (fig. 6). of events in order to avoid crisis and reach a peaceful resolution.
At the outset of the Conference of Lausanne, the Allies The Conference of Lausanne followed a similar rhythm to
planned to take control of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus Straits that of the First World War, the pace of which swung between
and share the economic profits they had hoped to reap after the negotiations, crises and conflict. The shifting balance of power in
Treaty of Sèvres, ostensibly by engineering a peace agreement 1922 set the tempo for the conference. The victory of the Turkish
between Greece and Turkey. They believed that they had come nationalists was quickly followed by a desperate dash (by the
to negotiate with a power that had been defeated and crushed opposing nations) to try and reverse the course of events. The
after the First World War, but instead, they came face to face with conference was hastily organised in a blur of confusion: some
a delegation of Turkish nationalists who were ambitious and of the participating nations were themselves in crisis, and the
defiant, and had come to Lausanne in force to impose a new Conference had to be brought forwards after the Turkish delegation,
vision of Turkey on the international scene. The rapid settlement convinced of its success, left Constantinople early and arrived in
reached by Turkey and Greece and the sudden appearance and Lausanne ahead of plan. Then came a succession of incidents: near
disappearance of the ‘Balkan bloc’ (as it was called by the French breakdowns in the discussions, a crisis at the end of November,
national newspaper Le Temps) exemplify the power struggles and the postponing of some of the commissions, problems with the
shifting objectives of the conference. guest speakers, and threats of ultimatums. ‘The delegates went back
to their hotels and packed their bags, bursting with barely concealed rage.
HOTELS AND DIPLOMACY: Then, that same afternoon, order was restored […]’ 14
MOVING AT DIFFERENT PACES The conference lumbered on slowly until the end of January
The political and diplomatic objectives of the conference 1923, when the first session was adjourned indefinitely after the
were evidently lost on the hotel managers; that is not to suggest Turkish General Ismet Pasha stubbornly refused to comply with
that they had no opinion, but quite simply that they were not the opposition’s demands. Negotiations continued elsewhere in
concerned with the issues being debated, even if they felt some the interim: Mussolini travelled to London to meet with Lord
of their effects. The Turkish delegation remained resolute and Curzon and Poincaré once again, stopping at Lausanne station on
intransigent against the dissenting Allies, and negotiations were his way back to Rome; and Ismet Pasha went to Geneva (fig. 7).
difficult and tense from the start of the conference until its The Conference of Lausanne finally reopened in April and
conclusion in July 1923, when the peace treaties were signed. concluded, after much difficulty, in July 1923.

Fig. 4 Official cars wait for delegates outside the Beau-Rivage Palace during
Caricature showing the role of Lausanne’s hotel industry the Lausanne Conference. Photograph, 1923.
in international politics. Lithograph, c.1922-23.

123