A landmark work of narrative history, Paris 1919 is the first full-scale treatment of the Peace Conference in more than twenty-five years. It offers a scintillating view of those dramatic and fateful days when much of the modern world was sketched out, when countries were created—Iraq, Yugoslavia, Israel—whose troubles haunt us still.Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize • Winner of the PEN Hessell … Prize • Winner of the PEN Hessell Tiltman Prize • Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize
Between January and July 1919, after “the war to end all wars,” men and women from around the world converged on Paris to shape the peace. Center stage, for the first time in history, was an American president, Woodrow Wilson, who with his Fourteen Points seemed to promise to so many people the fulfillment of their dreams. Stern, intransigent, impatient when it came to security concerns and wildly idealistic in his dream of a League of Nations that would resolve all future conflict peacefully, Wilson is only one of the larger-than-life characters who fill the pages of this extraordinary book. David Lloyd George, the gregarious and wily British prime minister, brought Winston Churchill and John Maynard Keynes. Lawrence of Arabia joined the Arab delegation. Ho Chi Minh, a kitchen assistant at the Ritz, submitted a petition for an independent Vietnam.
For six months, Paris was effectively the center of the world as the peacemakers carved up bankrupt empires and created new countries. This book brings to life the personalities, ideals, and prejudices of the men who shaped the settlement. They pushed Russia to the sidelines, alienated China, and dismissed the Arabs. They struggled with the problems of Kosovo, of the Kurds, and of a homeland for the Jews.
The peacemakers, so it has been said, failed dismally; above all they failed to prevent another war. Margaret MacMillan argues that they have unfairly been made the scapegoats for the mistakes of those who came later. She refutes received ideas about the path from Versailles to World War II and debunks the widely accepted notion that reparations imposed on the Germans were in large part responsible for the Second World War.
Praise for Paris 1919
“It’s easy to get into a war, but ending it is a more arduous matter. It was never more so than in 1919, at the Paris Conference. . . . This is an enthralling book: detailed, fair, unfailingly lively. Professor MacMillan has that essential quality of the historian, a narrative gift.” —Allan Massie, The Daily Telegraph (London)
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With this book Margaret MacMillan consolidates her position as one of teh great and challenging narrative historians of our time. Wonderful.
100 years ago the leaders of the free world met to broker a peace to ensure the war to end all wars was just that. Margaret MacMillan’s book brings to life brilliantly the story of the peace treaty. Marvellous…
Well paced
Very well-researched and -written. Narratives often tell us Hitler’s rise to power was directly caused by the Treaty of Versailles, but as with everything else, there is more to the story. This book provides a great wealth of information from all of the different perspectives of those involved. Those interested in learning history will enjoy this …
Not only is the history surrounding the treaty informative, the various “characters” representing the nations involved are brought to life. The author discusses the mutual personal opinions held regarding the participants. Most are unflattering.
Wandered off topic in a few places…needed to skip thru those parts..a lot of actors involved
Author offers a very detailed examination of all the negotiations leading to the treaty of Paris that set the post world war boundaries for the Middle East and much of Europe.
What a well-written book about the treaty that followed World War One. In addition to history, I also learned a lot about geography and different ethnic groups. Would like to learn even more!
A wonderfully detailed account of how the post -World War 1 conference changed the world.
If you ever wondered how civilization descended into world war II, Vietnam , Bosnia , and the disastrous mideast muddle this book is a must read.
Will be background info on a course I teach on WWII.
a bit jumbled but pretty good.
this lengthy book has all the info neeeded to see why the versailles conference and peace treaty led to more problems in most of eastern and southern Europe. Then we have WWll.The book flows well ,but might have been cut down omiting a lot of personal detail on the participants. . The most annoying thing is the lack of maps.Each participant …
Well documented and well written account of a critical period in world history.
This could be a textbook for a history course. It is a bit too detailed for a casual read, and I won’t remember all the borders that were changed and the men (they were all men) who were at the Paris conference that decided the fate of nations following World War 1. Those decisions had great impact on the world between the wars and resonate …
Paints a vivid picture of post-war Europe and all the issues that went into the Treaty of Versailles. Treats all the diplomats and government officials without prejudice and with brutal honesty for good and ill.
Factual , comprehensive and analitycal in-depth story of the 1919 post War 1
conference and its consequences. Very well researched and written.
Well written: style.
To anyone who needs to understand the 20th century and today, read this as well as many others about the wars and leaders.