Editing Maxime Weygand (section)

==== Supreme War Council ====
British prime minister [[David Lloyd George]] pushed for the creation of a [[Supreme War Council]], which was formally established on 7 November 1917. Keen to sideline the British [[Chief of the Imperial General Staff]], General [[Sir William Robertson, 1st Baronet|Sir William Robertson]], he insisted that, as French Army chief of the General Staff, Foch could not also be French permanent military representative (PMR) on the SWC.{{sfn|Greenhalgh|2014|p=266}} [[Paul Painlevé]], [[Prime Minister of France|French prime minister]] until 13 November, believed that Lloyd George was already pushing for Foch to be Supreme Allied Commander so wanted him as PMR not French Chief of Staff.{{sfn|Greenhalgh|2005|p=171}}

The new prime minister, [[Georges Clemenceau]], wanted Foch as PMR to increase French control over the Western Front, but was persuaded to appoint Weygand, seen very much as Foch's sidekick, instead.{{sfn|Jeffery|2006|pp=206–11, 219–20}} Clemenceau told US President [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s envoy, Colonel [[Edward M. House]] that he would put in a "second- or third-rate man" as PMR and "let the thing drift where it will".{{sfn|Greenhalgh|2005|p=173}}

Weygand was the most junior of the PMRs (the others being the Italian [[Luigi Cadorna]], the American [[Tasker H. Bliss]], and the British [[Henry Hughes Wilson, 1st Baronet|Henry Wilson]], later replaced by [[Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baron Rawlinson|Henry Rawlinson]]).{{sfn|Greenhalgh|2005|p=180}} He was promoted [[Divisional General#France|général de division]] (equivalent to the Anglophone rank of [[major general]]) in 1918. This promotion was specifically because of his appointment as a PMR.{{sfn|Greenhalgh|2005|p=178}}

However, Clemenceau only agreed to set up an Allied General Reserve if Foch rather than Weygand were earmarked to command it. The Reserve was shelved for the time being at a SWC Meeting in London (14–15 March 1918) as the national commanders in chief, [[Philippe Pétain]] and [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Sir Douglas Haig]], were reluctant to release divisions.{{sfn|Jeffery|2006|pp=206–11, 219–20}}