A couple of days ago, USBlog noted UK education secretary, Michael Gove's, desire to "to give all children a proper rounded understanding of our country’s past and its place in the world."
To that end he defended an interpretation of Britain's role in World War 1 as motivated by the promotion of freedom.
Please see below for the text of a secret treaty between Britain, France, Russia and Italy which was aimed at bringing Italy into hostilities with Austria-Hungary and Germany, with promised rich territorial rewards in Europe and Africa, and an immediate loan of 50 million pounds.
So much for the self-determination of peoples, the defence of small nations, and an alliance freely entered into....
After the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917, the Leninist state published the Treaty of London, among numerous other secret treaties and agreements they found in the Tsarist foreign affairs ministry, that demonstrated with utmost clarity the territorial-imperial character of the War.
The Treaty of London (1915)
Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers, London, 1920, LI Cmd. 671, Miscellaneous No. 7, 2-7.
The Treaty of London was signed on April 26, 1915. Its provisions were to cause some difficulty during the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919 [and, I should say, to Mr Gove's interpretation of Britain's story in WWI].
ARTICLE 1. A military convention shall be immediately concluded between the General Staffs of France, Great Britain, Italy, and Russia. This convention shall settle the minimum number of military forces to be employed by Russia against Austria-Hungary in order to prevent that Power from concentrating all its strength against Italy, in the event of Russia deciding to direct her principal effort against Germany....
ARTICLE 2. On her part, Italy undertakes to use her entire resources for the purpose of waging war jointly with France, Great Britain, and Russia against all their enemies.
ARTICLE 3. The French and British fleets shall render active and permanent assistance to Italy....
ARTICLE 4. Under the Treaty of Peace, Italy shall obtain the Trentino, Cisalpine Tyrol with its geographical and natural frontier, as well as Trieste, the counties of Gorizia and Gradisca, all Istria as far as the Quarnero and including Volosca and the Istrian islands of Cherso and Lussin, as well as the small islands of Plavnik, Unie, Canidole, Palazzuoli, San Pietro di Nembi, Asinello, Gruica, and the neighbouring islets....
ARTICLE 5. Italy shall also be given the province of Dalmatia within its present administrative boundaries....
ARTICLE 6. Italy shall receive full sovereignty over Valona, the island of Saseno and surrounding territory....
ARTICLE 7. Should Italy obtain the Trentino and Istria in accordance with the provisions of Article 4, together with Dalmatia and the Adriatic islands within the limits specified in Article 5, and the Bay of Valona (Article 6), and if the central portion of Albania is reserved for the establishment of a small autonomous neutralised State, Italy shall not oppose the division of Northern and Southern Albania between Montenegro, Serbia, and Greece....
ARTICLE 8. Italy shall receive entire sovereignty over the Dodecanese Islands which she is at present occupying.
ARTICLE 9. Generally speaking, France, Great Britain, and Russia recognise that,... in the event of total or partial partition of Turkey in Asia, she ought to obtain a just share of the Mediterranean region adjacent to the province of Adalia....
ARTICLE 11. Italy shall receive a share of any eventual war indemnity corresponding to their efforts and her sacrifices.
ARTICLE 13. In the event of France and Great Britain increasing their colonial territories in Africa at the expense of Germany, those two Powers agree in principle that Italy may claim some equitable compensation....
ARTICLE 14. Great Britain undertakes to facilitate the immediate conclusion, under equitable conditions, of a loan of at least 50,000,000 pounds....
ARTICLE 16. The present arrangement shall be held secret.
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