Le ‘Etat C’est Moi’

As the conversation between the US and the Allies had slowed down to the point that Taft thought he might actually do little more than enjoy the resort town he was staying in, events would quickly dictate otherwise. It is also an interesting testimony to the nature of speed of light communications that Taft was informed of the developing situation, in France, by Theodore Roosevelt who was still back in Washington. This is rather ironic given that Taft was much closer to the situation since he was sitting in Switzerland. It is relevant because, such a circumstance could have never occurred in previous wars or even in the world of diplomacy.

It was such a development in technology, primarily the telegraph, that created the ability for world leaders to manage situations in real time when they did not even realize they were doing so and, thus, helped contribute to the start of the war. It is easy to say that men such as the Salisbury Cabinet were only doing something that seemed common sense, that of answering a telegram from subordinates on the other side of the planet, when what they were really doing was issuing orders outside the normal channels of diplomacy. Three years later, Theodore Roosevelt was doing the exact same thing with one important difference, he saw the relevance and understood exactly what kind of capabilities it gave him. He equally realized that others would not share these insights because, up till now, they had not really shown any signs of it.

Politicians, like everyone else, used the telegraph liberally but, they also took it for granted. Most people of the time thought of it little more than some kind of ‘fast mail.’ That is not to say that embassy’s and state houses did not have their own telegraph feeds, that diplomats did not used ciphered codes, or any of the other high technology of the time. Yes they did their best to take advantage of the new technology, which, had been around for almost a half century at this point. What was not happening was more in the human mind. All the little gadgets in the world will not help your message if what the message says is trying to accomplish something that could be if the technology did not exist.

What is not certain is if Theodore realized this was exactly what he was doing, fully exploiting the technology. Given his lack of writing on the subject it is quite possible that he did not and was only reacting to another reality, that being his lack of faith in John Hay and the US State Department. That was most certainly part of the reason that one of the first people Roosevelt contacted, upon the onset of the crisis, was Taft. Ironically, as much as Roosevelt and Hay despised each other, in this circumstance, Hay would eventually have to be brought into the fold. It would be this situation that prompted Theodore to send a host of new telegrams, and would, rapidly, get another former President recalled to the White House.

The reason for former President Robert Todd Lincoln’s arrival at the White House was mostly due to the conversations that Roosevelt and Hay were having in the upstairs office that is now named after Robert’s father, the Lincoln bedroom. Lincoln was met at the door by one of Roosevelt’s kitchen cabinet, his former regimental commander, Brevet Brigadier General Leonard Wood. Lincoln recorded that he was shocked, and horrified by the state of what he referred to as, “my old house.” The White House was currently undergoing serious renovation and there were easily more workmen there than staff and soldiers combined.

Lincoln was the last of the little group, that Roosevelt was calling the “pre-war conspirators,” that he could find on short notice. The fact was that some of these men were dead but, the majority were simply too far away for the time being. Theodore now found himself needing these men since, Hay had informed him of the behind the door diplomacy that the US had been involved in with France. The most important result of this cloak and dagger was, of course, the ascension of Georges Boulanger to the Presidency of the Third Republic. Up till now, Roosevelt had been completely in the dark as to the depth of US involvement with General Revenge.

It was a great stroke of luck, for Roosevelt, that Lincoln mostly lived in DC where he owned a modest townhouse on K Street, which, most people know rather well since it is now a highly visited museum and popular tourist trap. This meant that, of all the men who had been involved in the Boulanger Affair, Roosevelt had the only two in the US who truly knew the entire story. John Hay was, naturally, one of them but, the problem Theodore was having was that his chief diplomat was being too diplomatic. Hay was picking and choosing his words very carefully. The relationship between Lincoln and Roosevelt was entirely different as well as the fact that Lincoln was in a position, that of being retired from politics, to be open about his past dealings with Boulanger. Lincoln quickly spilled everything and now the key pieces of Roosevelt’s plan were starting to come together.

The basic problem here, of course, was that Georges Boulanger had lost control of France. The “mutiny’ that had started on the Parisian rail platform had now grown into a general, nationwide, strike against the government. This is not to say that it was universal but, things such as this never are, nor, do they have to be. It is also not to say that the people of France were calling for an end of the war. There has been much hay made of this in the post war world, and there is no disputing the fact that some did call for ending the war but, the evidence seems to indicate that most people participating in the various strikes, protests, and outright riots were just frustrated. If anyone had ever controlled any of this, they certainly did not now. People were just venting and the one thing they wanted, above all else, was just something else. It is not clear that anyone in France really had an idea of what they wanted, just what they did not.

Of course, at the time, what they most definitely did not want was General Revenge. When it became clear, in the Sedan, that the local authorities could not control the situation in Paris, Boulanger decided it was time to actually leave his military headquarters. He had been running both the war and the government from the Sedan since the very outbreak of hostilities. Many have pointed to this fact as the real key to his downfall. Being outside of Paris separated Boulanger from the very heart of his government and he was never fully informed of situations and attitudes in the heart of France.

Sure, Boulanger got detailed reports but, there is always much that is lacking in such bureaucratic dribble which is often boring, too detailed, and written with an eye towards finishing the job instead of being thorough. It also cannot convey attitudes and Boulanger’s next move certainly demonstrated his lack of understanding for that particular facet of the situation. That is not to say he was entirely ignorant of such things. We do know that Boulanger was a routine reader of Clemenceau’s opposition newspapers. It is even reported that Boulanger was a fan of his former patrons writings. It has been reported that Boulanger often read Clemenceau’s opinion articles with a grin and occasional chuckles. It is quite possible that Boulanger was so used to reading nasty things about himself that he took most of it with a grain of salt. This can be detrimental if you are so used to it that you, suddenly, do not realize that such articles go beyond the author and are no longer just bitter personal ramblings.

This must have been why Boulanger thought he could, personally, turn all of this around. He quickly boarded his personal military train for Paris. He was urged by his General Staff to send troops into the city to restore order but promptly told his Generals that it would be, “of most hazard and completely non essential.” In other words, Boulanger had become completely isolated from even his staff at The Sedan and was no longer listening to anyone. This had probably been the case for some time.

Once in Paris, he was met with a troop of lancers, ceremonial cavalry who were wearing their best dress uniforms and riding large white horses. They saved the biggest one for Boulanger and he rode at the head of the column as they ceremoniously, and slowly, clopped their way towards the Arch De Triumph. It would be there that Boulanger planned on mounting a platform and giving a speech. We have no idea what that speech was going to be because, even though he wrote it down on his train ride to Paris, he never gave it to anyone else and the paper has since been lost.

Needless to say, this bombastic parade was the last thing anyone in Paris wanted to see. Many of those who were partaking in the disturbances were either soldiers or veterans who had already been to the front. This display of military splendor would not work on them and, even had quite the opposite effect. While Boulanger’s column was never shot at, it was attacked before ever reaching the platform that was being erected for his speech. Most of the assailants hurled food at the dictator and, in the end, this actually seems more fitting given the state of supplies in France at the time. Boulanger was forced to retreat and, as it became clear to the crowds and spectators, the mob only grew in size and ferocity.

Before Boulanger even reached his train car, the Council of Deputies were calling for new elections to appoint another President. This particular act makes it clear that there were those in Paris, and Clemenceau was most definitely one of them, who were just standing by and waiting for Boulanger to make a mistake. The riot he caused, most definitely, fell in that category. Of course, he may have still salvaged the situation but, Boulanger made yet another mistake. Once out of Paris he stopped at the first military depot that allowed him to hook up the telegraph in his train car to the network. He promptly began issuing orders to marshal troops required for the “restoration of order in the capital.” These orders fell on deaf ears and, in fact, tipped the balance against him.

While Boulanger might have misread the Paris riots, his General’s had not. As Boulanger fled the city, they were already receiving telegrams from men like Clemenceau, all of them giving detailed information about the emergency meeting of France’s elected body of legislatures. Still, the General’s were not entirely sure where they fell on the situation but, it was the one telegram from Boulanger that decided the matter for them. Even if they had first suggested using troops to quell the riots, they now understood the nature of these riots and realized that, ironically, Boulanger had been right not to try. Now they chose not to do it and the fact that Boulanger had reversed himself was the final straw.

If French troops marched in too French cities, the General’s reasoned, then it was likely that the entire army would fall apart in short order. The war would be lost and the German’s would, once again, occupy the nation and the consequences of that would be devastating. That is quite possibly why the General’s chose to not only quit listening to Boulanger but, did not even bother to reply to the man who had led them for almost twenty years. When Boulanger finally realized that no one was listening to him and that his military support was rapidly evaporating, he did the one thing left that he could do, he fled to neutral Belgium.

Naturally, it goes without saying that this was a disaster for the Entente. In Washington, Roosevelt was faced with the realization that all of the military gains that had been made, in the past three years, were about to come unglued in a matter of hours. Roosevelt handled it by doing what he was best at, studying the situation in detail and digesting the facts in such a way that he could devise a workable solution to the problem. This was mostly in the form of grilling the men who had, as he discovered, been largely responsible for putting Boulanger in power in the first place.

Roosevelt might have been angry that he was now stuck with a mess that had been created by other men, long before he was even in politics. Now that there was anarchy in Paris, it was most definitely possible that the details of US involvement in the Boulanger Coup could come to light. If that were to happen then France might very well feel as if they had been betrayed and manipulated by their wartime friend, as indeed they had been, and seek a separate peace with the Allies. This might even happen if the information remained buried. Such a situation would leave the US at the mercy of the Royal Navy and, suddenly, both the US and Russia might have to sue for peace on Allied terms. This situation was unacceptable to Roosevelt.

Oddly enough, it would be the most junior man in the meeting, General Wood, who gave a very practical solution to the crisis. This suggestion would become US policy and it was, “if we put one man in power it seems to me that the solution here is, we do it again.” Hay and Lincoln were at a loss as to how they possibly could. After all, they had spent decades working on the Boulanger conspiracy and, now, they had only days at best. It would be a man not in the meeting, William Howard Taft, who offered a solution. More specifically, that solution was living two doors up from his rented Geneva lake cottage.