Paris 1919
Six Months that Changed the World
Margaret MacMillan
- Previously
- published
- as
- PeacemakersBetween
- January
- and
- July
- 1919,
- after
- the
- war
- to
- end
- all
- wars,
- men
- and
- women
- from
- all
- over
- the
- world
- converged
- on
- Paris
- for
- the
- Peace
- Conference.
- At
- its
- heart
- were
- the
- leaders
- of
- the
- three
- great
- powers
- -
- Woodrow
- Wilson,
- Lloyd
- George
- and
- Clemenceau.
- Kings,
- prime
- ministers
- and
- foreign
- ministers
- with
- their
- crowds
- of
- advisers
- rubbed
- shoulders
- with
- journalists
- and
- lobbyists
- for
- a
- hundred
- causes
- -
- from
- Armenian
- independence
- to
- women's
- rights.
- Everyone
- had
- business
- in
- Paris
- that
- year
- -
- T.E.
- Lawrence,
- Queen
- Marie
- of
- Romania,
- Maynard
- Keynes,
- Ho
- Chi
- Minh.
- There
- had
- never
- been
- anything
- like
- it
- before,
- and
- there
- never
- has
- been
- since.For
- six
- extraordinary
- months
- the
- city
- was
- effectively
- the
- centre
- of
- world
- government
- as
- the
- peacemakers
- wound
- up
- bankrupt
- empires
- and
- created
- new
- countries.
- They
- pushed
- Russia
- to
- the
- sidelines,
- alienated
- China
- and
- dismissed
- the
- Arabs,
- 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;
- failed
- above
- all
- to
- prevent
- another
- war.
- Margaret
- MacMillan
- argues
- that
- they
- have
- unfairly
- been
- made
- scapegoats
- for
- the
- mistakes
- of
- those
- who
- came
- later.
- They
- tried
- to
- be
- evenhanded,
- but
- their
- goals
- -
- to
- make
- defeated
- countries
- pay
- without
- destroying
- them,
- to
- satisfy
- impossible
- nationalist
- dreams,
- to
- prevent
- the
- spread
- of
- Bolshevism
- and
- to
- establish
- a
- world
- order
- based
- on
- democracy
- and
- reason
- -
- could
- not
- be
- achieved
- by
- diplomacy.
- Paris
- 1919
- (originally
- published
- as
- Peacemakers)
- offers
- a
- prismatic
- view
- of
- the
- moment
- when
- much
- of
- the
- modern
- world
- was
- first
- sketched out.
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