The Political Intelligence Department (1918–1920) was a department of the British Foreign Office

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...

 created towards the end of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. It was created on March 11, 1918, by Permanent Under-Secretary Lord Hardinge

Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst

Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst, was a British diplomat and statesman who served as Viceroy of India from 1910 to 1916.-Background and education:...

. It gathered political, economic, and military conditions in both allied and enemy countries and prepared reports for the cabinet, the Foreign Office, and other departments. The director of the department was William Tyrrell, with James Headlam-Morley

James Wycliffe Headlam

James Wycliffe Headlam was a British academic historian and classicist, who became a civil servant and government advisor. He changed his surname to Headlam-Morley, in 1918. He was knighted in 1929 for his public service....

 serving as assistant director. Most of the staff were drawn from the Department of Information's Intelligence Bureau, including historians Arnold Toynbee

Arnold J. Toynbee

Arnold Joseph Toynbee CH was a British historian whose twelve-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, A Study of History, 1934–1961, was a synthesis of world history, a metahistory based on universal rhythms of rise, flowering and decline, which examined history from a global...

, Lewis Namier

Lewis Bernstein Namier

Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier was an English historian. He was born Ludwik Niemirowski in Wola Okrzejska in what was then part of the Russian Empire and is today in Poland.-Life:...

, and Alfred Zimmern

Alfred Eckhard Zimmern

Sir Alfred Eckhard Zimmern was a British classical scholar and historian, and political scientist writing on international relations....

.

A major function of the department was to prepare reports on all important subjects and countries which might be of importance at the anticipated peace conference following the war.

A similar department was created in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, also called the Political Intelligence Department

Political Intelligence Department

The Political Intelligence Department was a department of the British Foreign Office during World War II. Established in 1939, its main function was the production of weekly intelligence summaries...

.