Aspects Of British Policy And The Treaty Of Versailles

Aspects of British Policy and the Treaty of Versailles looks at some key issues involving British policy and the Treaty of Versailles, one of the twentieth century’s most controversial international agreements. The book discusses the role of experts and the Danzig Question at the Paris Peace Conference; the establishment of diplomatic history as a field of academic research; and the role of David Lloyd George and his Vision of Post-War Europe. Contributors also look at the restitution of cultural objects in German possession, and after the war, the Treaty’s impact on both Britain’s enemy, Germany, and its ally, France, revealing how it profoundly affected the European balance of power. Aspects of British Policy and the Treaty of Versailles will be of great interest to scholars of diplomatic history as well as modern history and international relations more generally. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of Diplomacy & Statecraft.

Aspects of British Policy and the Treaty of Versailles looks at some key issues involving British policy and the Treaty of Versailles, one of the twentieth century's most controversial international agreements. The book discusses the role of experts and the Danzig Question at the Paris Peace Conference; the establishment of diplomatic history as a field of academic research; and the role of David Lloyd George and his Vision of Post-War Europe. Contributors also look at the restitution of cultural objects in German possession, and after the war, the Treaty's impact on both Britain's enemy, Germany, and its ally, France, revealing how it profoundly affected the European balance of power. Aspects of British Policy and the Treaty of Versailles will be of great interest to scholars of diplomatic history as well as modern history and international relations more generally. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of Diplomacy & Statecraft.

Signed on June 28, 1919 between Germany and the principal Allied powers, the Treaty of Versailles formally ended World War I. Problematic from the very beginning, even its contemporaries saw the treaty as a mediocre compromise, creating a precarious order in Europe and abroad and destined to fall short of ensuring lasting peace. At the time, observers read the treaty through competing lenses: a desire for peace after five years of disastrous war, demands for vengeance against Germany, the uncertain future of colonialism, and, most alarmingly, the emerging threat of Bolshevism. A century after its signing, we can look back at how those developments evolved through the twentieth century, evaluating the treaty and its consequences with unprecedented depth of perspective. The author of several award-winning books, Michael S. Neiberg provides a lucid and authoritative account of the Treaty of Versailles, explaining the enormous challenges facing those who tried to put the world back together after the global destruction of the World War I. Rather than assessing winners and losers, this compelling book analyzes the many subtle factors that influenced the treaty and the dominant, at times ambiguous role of the "Big Four" leaders?Woodrow Wilson of the United States, David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando of Italy, and Georges Clémenceau of France. The Treaty of Versailles was not solely responsible for the catastrophic war that crippled Europe and the world just two decades later, but it played a critical role. As Neiberg reminds us, to understand decolonization, World War II, the Cold War, and even the complex world we inhabit today, there is no better place to begin than with World War I and the treaty that tried, and perhaps failed, to end it.

This text scrutinizes the motives, actions, and constraints that informed decision making by the various politicians who bore the principal responsibility for drafting the Treaty of Versailles.

Provides students with a clear narrative overview of the period which will enable them to form critical opinions. Introduces students to the historical controversies of the period and communicates the results of recent specialist studies to a student readership in an easily understood manner. An accessible, clearly written account accompanied by useful bibliography, chronology, tables and maps, and written by an author teaching in the field.