Professor Archibald Cary Coolidge of Harvard University, special assistant to the Department of State, assigned to the American Commission to negotiate peace after World War 1. He is seen in this sequence, with members of his staff, headquartered in Vienna, Austria, from where they assessed postwar political conditions in Austria-Hungary and neighborhood countries, and made recommendations for the U.S. participants at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. The sequence begins with staff members walking from the Hofburg (Hofburg, Michaelerkuppel 1010 Wien). It is January, and snow is on the ground. Professor Coolidge holds gloves in his left hand and warms his right hand inside his coat in Napoleonic manner, as he chats with others. Staff members are predominantly military officers and include both U.S. Army and Navy personnel.
Wrecked houses and buildings at a mountainside along a lake or sea in the Austria-Hungary empire soon after end of World War I. Close views of rubble of homes. Civilian men walk on the street with their luggage and belongings on horse-carts.
Slate refers to The Red Army recruiting place at the castle. Many Hungarian and some Russian men are seen. Most are in military uniforms. This is during the brief World War I post-war period when Hungary had a communist Government, the Hungarian Soviet Republic. Slate states that Red soldiers, one of them Russian speaking, appeals to patriotism of the recruitment candidates.
1919: Communist and Socialist politicians and supporters gathered outside the Hungarian Parliament Building during an alliance in Budapest. A large crowd before the building and in the street. The Communist politician Bela Kun being interviewed amidst the crowd. Men climb a tower in front of the building to get a better view of the event. View of Hungarian Socialist Democratic Party leader Dezső Bokányi standing with other men. Socialist politician Sandor Garbai standing with Bela Kun and addressing the crowd. A man addresses the crowd from a car roof. Musicians play violins and other instruments during the event. The two politicians talk and give speeches.