British-Armenian relations in the First World War and after

Prof. Heather Jones will examine the geopolitical stakes that influenced British decision-making regarding the fate of Ottoman Armenians during the First World War and its aftermath. What are the strategic factors which determined British responses to the Armenian Genocide? To what extent did Britain’s alliances with France and the United States constrain British actions, and why did Britain consistently prioritise British mandates in Jordan and Palestine?

Prof. Jones will investigate the British approach to the region after the October 1918 Mudros Armistice, which ended hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies.

The talk will trace the evolution of British diplomatic policy towards the Armenian question through a series of key post-war events: the Treaty of Sèvres, the collapse of the French mandate in Cilicia, the Treaty of Kars and the Treaty of Lausanne. It will set out how Britain ultimately adopted a mix of realpolitik and reconciliatory policies towards the new Republic of Turkey, at the expense of British-Armenian relations.

Moderated by Dr Becky Jinks. This event will be hybrid.

This event is held in collaboration with the Centre International de Recherche de l’Historial de la Grande Guerre, Péronne -Somme- France, supported by the Conseil départemental de la Somme.

We recommend the talk they are scheduling on Tuesday 22 April 2025 by Anouche Kunth: “Le génocide des Arméniens de l’Empire ottoman 1915-2025”, streamed online, 5pm BST. Please request the streaming link via: cir@historial.org. Please note that Anouche Kunth's talk is in French.

About the Speaker

Heather Jones is Professor of Modern and Contemporary European History at University College London and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She is the author of Violence Against Prisoners of War in the First World War: Britain, France and Germany, 1914-1920 (Cambridge, 2011) and For King and Country: The British Monarchy and the First World War (Cambridge 2021), and over 50 chapters and articles on the Great War era as well as two co-edited books.