The Treaty of Versailles

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
Cl�menceau 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.

Signed in 1919 between Germany and the Allied Powers, the Treaty of Versailles formally ended World War I. Controversial from the very beginning, the treaty still shapes the destinies of societies and states worldwide. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George said It is all a great pity. We shall have to do the same thing all over again in twenty-five years at three times the cost, and French Marshal Ferdinand Foch declared that "This is not peace. It is an armistice for twenty years." At the time, observers read the treaty through competing lenses of peacemaking after the First World War, the future of colonialism, and the emerging threat of Bolshevism. A century after its signing, we can gain new perspectives on the treaty and its impacts by looking at how those histories evolved through the remainder of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. The author of several award-winning books, Michael Neiberg provides a clear and authoritative account of the Treaty of Versailles, explaining the enormous challenges of trying to put the world back together after the global destruction of the First World War. He shows how the treaty affected not only Europe but also the rest of the world. In China, the Allied decision to give the Shantung Peninsula to Japan led to a wave of protests known today as the May Fourth movement, which is seen as a foundational moment in the modern history of China. Global disillusionment with the treaty led to mass transnational movements that helped to set the foundations for Cold War debates about anti-colonialism. American rejection of the treaty also served as a mirror and a prism for American fears and ambiguities about its own international role. The treaty is, therefore, much more than its role in ending the First World War."--