THE VERSAILLES TREATY: 1919, Germany's Formal Surrender at the End of the Great War

by Harold Cecil Vaughan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1975

In a point by point tally, Vaughan condemns the provisions of the Versailles Treaty that brought about chaos and collapse in Germany and outlines some of the major reasons for the treaty's harshness -- the international (and especially French) climate of opinion, the personalities of the Big Four leaders, the unwieldy and often unbalanced organization of the conference itself. Like many others, Vaughan ultimately wishes that Woodrow Wilson had fought harder for his first thirteen points and not trusted to the establishment of a League of Nations to set things right, and he compares Versailles unfavorably to the Congress of Vienna. Neither the statistics nor the conclusions will mean much unless the reader begins with an overall knowledge of the course of the Great War, the spirit of nationalism in which it was fought, and the economic disaster it precipitated. This is supplemental background for those who want to pinpoint its mistakes and place the treaty in the context of diplomatic history.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 66

Publisher: Franklin Watts

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1975

Categories: NONFICTION