The

Imperial War Cabinet The Imperial War Cabinet (IWC) was the British Empire's wartime coordinating body. It met over three sessions, the first from 20 March to 2 May 1917, the second from 11 June to late July 1918, and the third from 20 or 25 November 1918 to early Jan ...

existed concurrently with Imperial Conferences (or "Imperial War Conferences"), which were held from 21 March to 27 April 1917 and from 12 June to 26 July 1918. In April 1917, the conference passed Resolution IX, which resolved that a conference was to be held after the war in order to rearrange Imperial constitutional arrangements "based upon a full recognition of the Dominions as autonomous nations of an Imperial Commonwealth", and should give the Dominions and India "a right... to an adequate voice in foreign policy and in foreign relations." The resolution is thought to have been largely authored by Jan Smuts and Robert Borden. The Imperial War Conference acknowledged the importance of the whole empire in defence policy by admitting India, not yet self-governing, to future imperial conferences. In 1917, the Imperial War Conference also passed a resolution regarding a future special

Imperial Conference Imperial Conferences (Colonial Conferences before 1907) were periodic gatherings of government leaders from the self-governing colonies and dominions of the British Empire between 1887 and 1937, before the establishment of regular Meetings of ...

to readjust the relations of the component parts of the Empire. That readjustment should be based upon the full recognition of the dominions as autonomous nations of an Imperial Commonwealth, with an "adequate voice" in foreign policy.

References

Bibliography

* {{Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings 1917 conferences 1918 conferences British Empire in World War I Imperial Conference