Book Reflection- Paris 1919

Paris, 1919

As a member of Generation X, I can thankfully say that I have never lived through a world war. When I was born, World War II had been over for thirty years. It is not diffciult to imagine, and photographs I've seen prove this, that when the hostilities of a world war finally end, there is a tremendous outpouring of emotions, among combatants and non combatants. Such intense feelings contain the seeds of joy as well as the roots of misery. The book I am currently reading, Paris, 1919, focuses on the Paris Peace Conference that culminated with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, a treaty that many argue helped contribute to the rise of the Nazis and the start of World War II.

While widows wept and surviving soldiers struggled to adjust to peace, the world's most prominent politicians entered into a delicate game of chess. France, Great Britain, Italy and the United States were the four most influential participants at the conference. Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States, traveled to Europe with over a dozen principles for peace in hand. These were his Fourteen Points. Wilson feared the catastrophy that would ensue in Europe, and eventually the world, if the current peace conference failed. The status quo of ending wars needed to change, and Wilson believed only he could bring about a new, more peaceful world order. His biggest idea was that an international body, called the League of Nations, would foster political cooperation and guarantee that never again would it be necessary, or even desired, to use war to solve disuputes.

Historically speaking, peace agreements usually involved taking land and resources from the defeated nations. Add in a few parties, and that was about it. The Congress of Vienna of 1815, after the Napoleonic wars, was the last peace agreement of the same scale as the Paris Peace Conference. Wilson, with his lofty proclamations of self determintaton and justice, had inspired in the minds of many the expectation that the peace of 1919 would be something different.