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 Ja ...

existed concurrently with

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 ...

s (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 Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (baptismal name Jan Christiaan Smuts, 24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as P ...

and

Robert Borden Sir Robert Laird Borden (June 26, 1854 – June 10, 1937) was a Canadian lawyer and Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942), Conservative politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920. He is best known ...

. The Imperial War Conference acknowledged the importance of the whole empire in defence policy by admitting

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, not yet self-governing, to future imperial conferences. In 1917, the Imperial War Conference also passed a resolution regarding a future special

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 in London 1918 in London 1917 conferences 1918 conferences March 1917 in the United Kingdom April 1917 in the United Kingdom June 1918 in the United Kingdom July 1918 in the United Kingdom British Empire in World War I Imperial Conference David Lloyd George World War I conferences London in World War I