A Shattered Peace: Versailles 1919 and the Price We Pay Today

By David A. Andelman

Book Overview

How the Treaty of Versailles is still influencing current events-with a new Foreword by Sir Harold Evans and a new Introduction by the author

For more than half a century, it has been widely recognized that the Treaty of Versailles created the circumstances that led inevitably to World War II. Less acknowledged and understood is the treaty's profound impact on many other parts of the world--an impact that echoes to this day in the Middle East, the Far East, the Balkans, and, yes, in Iraq. In A Shattered Peace, veteran foreign correspondent David A. Andelman takes a fresh new look at the Treaty of Versailles as the point of origin for many of today's most critical international issues.

In this revealing history, Andelman turns the spotlight on the many errors committed by the peacemakers that led to crises and bloodshed from Kosovo to Iraq, wars from Israel to Vietnam. Focusing on the small nations and minor players at the negotiations, including figures such as Ho Chi Minh and Charles de Gaulle who would later become boldfaced names, he traces the outcome of the deliberations through the history of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. Andelman also paints a vivid picture of the glittering and often chaotic social whirl that accompanied the negotiations. Elsa Maxwell threw her first party; young Franklin Delano Roosevelt flirted with Parisian widows to the humiliation of his wife, Eleanor; princesses and young gentlemen in formal attire danced gaily to the hot new sound of American jazz--all this as prime ministers Georges Clemenceau and David Lloyd George ogled huge maps, dividing up territories and cementing their nations' positions as leading world powers for decades to come.

Complete with a new foreword by Sir Harold Evans, a new introduction from the author, and a never-before-published chapter on establishing a global economy, as well as insightful quotations from the diaries and correspondence of participants and previously unpublished photographs of the proceedings and their surroundings, A Shattered Peace will change the way you think about twentieth-century history, its influence on current events, and where we should go from here.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1620459914
• ISBN13: 9781620459911
• Release Date: November 2014
• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Length: 388 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

If you Like Ambrose and McCullough, you'll Love A Shattered Peace

David Andelman is a writer of history on par with Stephen Ambrose or David MCullough, and A Shattered Peace one of the most intriguing, readable nonfiction books in recent years. If you think this is a dry memoir of diplomatic history... think again! Andelman brings obvious - and not-so-obvious actors (think Ho Chi Minh) to life. A Shattered Peace doesn't just describe or analyze the Treaty of Versailles as a moment in history, but takes you inside one of the most fascinating and consequential gatherings in history. Andelman puts his journalistic training to great use in A Shattered Peace. His voice is that of a historian of the present, as he misses no chance to explain the impact of decisions (and non-decisions!) at Versailles on the present. The end result is more than a great history book. This is a book for our time.

Excellent Read - Compact and Informative

Excellent book, excellently written, if a little mis-titled. David Andelman has written a book which presents very cogently how the debacle of Versailles 1919 still impacts the world today. The reason why I suggest the book is mis-titled is because the author does not take us in depth into the negotiations which took place at Versailles. Instead, he paints a very vivid picture of the key players, countries and geo-politics that prefaced Versailles and World War I. In presenting these well crafted pictures, he shows that to some extent, Versailles was a done deal almost before the event. "Across the region, forces of all sides were seeking to establish fait accomplis - bringing further misery, death, and destruction to millions of people." The level of intrigue, secret agreements and downright Machiavellian behavior which the major and some minor powers involved themselves in the years prior to 1919 is mind boggling. Maybe the saddest element of this book is that many of the key parties understood, even as they were negotiating the treaty that in the words of a disappointed T.E. Lawrence "There will be hell to pay." There has been hell to pay - World War II, Vietnam, Yugoslavia / Bosnia / Croatia, the Japanese involvement in WWII can all be traced to the Shattered Peace. Andelman makes it quite clear that three things motivated the major parties Colonialism, for instance "The view of Allied Statesmen was that Arabs ... needed to be ruled by Europeans for their own benefit"; Revenge and Ensuring Germany would never be a power again. The terrible irony of course is that the terms imposed on the German people virtually ensured Europe would be at war again within two decades which is not something that was unexpected. Lloyd George wrote in one prescient document, "I cannot conceive any greater cause of future war" than the transfer of millions of Germans to smaller neighboring nations. "It will lead sooner or later to a new war in the East of Europe." How horribly right he was. The author provides clear pictures on Arabia, Palestine and the conflict between Czechoslovakia's Tomas Masaryk and Poland's internationally famed pianist turned statesmen Ignace Jan Paderewski. He also paints a very interesting and compelling portrait of the young Ho Chi Minh, initially an idealistic believer in the Versailles process, but who ultimately felt his country's fate could best be served by pledging his loyalty to Lenin. The Vietnamese leaders description of one massacre of his people helps one appreciate why they despised the French colonial rule of their country. I am sure there have been many lengthier books written on Versailles, but few can be as interesting a read. Excellent reading for anyone who wishes to explore the genesis of many of today's geo-political problems.

An Anatomy of a Failed Diplomacy

Truly, a brilliant account of the Paris settlements that ended World War I and their tragic aftermath. It resonated with everything my father ever told me about Wilsonian naivete and how the British and French in their artificial carve-up of the world left a legacy that bedevils our government to this very day.

Great Read

Sometimes it's hard to believe that we are still suffering from political shenanigans and mistakes in Europe of nearly a hundred years ago, but just read David Andelman's book and you'll be convinced. "A Shattered Peace" captures the times of the so-called "Great War" and its aftermath vividly and compellingly - and not just the major players like Woodrow Wilson and Georges Clemenceau. He shows us the actions of people like Ho Chi Minh and Charles de Gaulle who only later became famous. But, hey, this book isn't dry history -- it's a great read: Andelman is a story-teller par excellence.

Now We Know Who To Blame!

It really is amazing how so many of the world's problems started nearly a hundred years ago. Andelman's story of the world's architects after World War I never ceases trying to explain current events through the lens of history. He's remarkably good as both a writer and scholar.