Ndré Tardieu: Commissioner for Franco-American War Cooperation (1917–1918)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the activities of the French politician, diplomat, journalist André Tardieu in 1917-1918. Special attention in the study is given to the biography and career path of Tardieu. In 1917, when he was already a well-known journalist observing international relations, as well as a military and political figure, he was entrusted with the task of organizing the High Commission for Franco-American Cooperation in Washington, and then the General Commission in Paris. The institution created by Tardieu and his team with 900 employees and 11 departments was compared by contemporaries with a real ministry. They managed to ensure the intensification of economic relations between the two countries and the uninterrupted supply of allied forces with necessary goods. It is worth noting that this period of Tardieu's life is not represented in Russian historiography, which is why the current article is tasked with filling this gap. The study focuses on trade and financial cooperation, diplomatic and military-political relations between the two countries. Studying the international political and economic relations of the countries of the Entente bloc in the last years of the First World War contributes to the accumulation of scientific knowledge and brings us to the problems of peace and the post-war world order. The research is based on documents stored in the Diplomatic archives, National archives and the Archive of the historical service of the Ministry of Defense of France, which were not previously in scholarly circulation for the study of this issue, which ensures the research’s novelty. The study also involved Tardieu's memoirs and monographs as well as materials from the French and American press. The author makes an attempt to generalize the accumulated scientific knowledge on the problem under study in Russian and foreign historiography.