The gist so far is:
Germany was devastated, France was devastated (1 in 4 men age 18-30 – Gone.) The Bigwigs are meeting in Paris – an unfortunate location because the French are so angry; they had hoped to meet in Geneva but after hearing that Switzerland was on the verge of revolution (Switzerland, really?) and that the whole place was swarming with German spies they had to give in to France’s pleas to have it in their capital city. Colonel Edward House (trusted advisor to President Woodrow Wilson) commented, “It will be difficult enough at best to make a just peace, and it will be almost impossible to do so while sitting in the atmosphere of a belligerent capital. It might turn out well and yet again it might be a tragedy.”
Germany was devastated, France was devastated (1 in 4 men age 18-30 – Gone.) The Bigwigs are meeting in Paris – an unfortunate location because the French are so angry; they had hoped to meet in Geneva but after hearing that Switzerland was on the verge of revolution (Switzerland, really?) and that the whole place was swarming with German spies they had to give in to France’s pleas to have it in their capital city. Colonel Edward House (trusted advisor to President Woodrow Wilson) commented, “It will be difficult enough at best to make a just peace, and it will be almost impossible to do so while sitting in the atmosphere of a belligerent capital. It might turn out well and yet again it might be a tragedy.”
Commentary proceeds from here:
The Peace Conference of 1919 made Paris the capital of the World and involved, at its heart, three men of power, men as apt to human error as the citizens they represented. They came together in the midst of war-torn Europe with the large goal of peace and reconciliation, and the most noted result was the Treaty of
Versailles, signed in June 1919.
Mighty Europe has torn itself to shreds, predictably over a power squabble in the Balkans. The saying “Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” comes to mind – a commentary on the devastation inherent to desire for influence. The only countries that had managed to stay out of the war were Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia. At the end of the war, Austria-Hungary, a larger country in the middle of Europe, had
disappeared. Left in her place was a small collection of newborn and reborn countries: Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia. As peacemakers met, new borders were being traced, dotted lines creating temporary entities, across these lands.
“Self-determination” was the watchword of the time– a phrase gleaned from the comments pouring from the White House. A idea thrown from behind a press conference throng of microphones, its impact was hard to crawl out from under. As Secretary of State Robert Lansing remarked, “When the President talks of ‘Self-determination,’ what unit has he in mind? Does he mean a race, a territorial area, or a community?...It will raise hopes which can never be realized. It will, I fear, cost thousands of lives. In the end it is bound to be discredited, to be called the dream of an idealist who failed to realize the danger until it was too late.” The phrases served as an inspiration to peoples all over the world – “Autonomous development”, “the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments” – but the intention was vague. Did Wilson actually mean that any people who called themselves a nation should have their own state? The possible implications of such is an arresting thought.
From this we see the roots of modern problems:
The Peace Conference of 1919 made Paris the capital of the World and involved, at its heart, three men of power, men as apt to human error as the citizens they represented. They came together in the midst of war-torn Europe with the large goal of peace and reconciliation, and the most noted result was the Treaty of
Versailles, signed in June 1919.
Mighty Europe has torn itself to shreds, predictably over a power squabble in the Balkans. The saying “Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” comes to mind – a commentary on the devastation inherent to desire for influence. The only countries that had managed to stay out of the war were Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia. At the end of the war, Austria-Hungary, a larger country in the middle of Europe, had
disappeared. Left in her place was a small collection of newborn and reborn countries: Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia. As peacemakers met, new borders were being traced, dotted lines creating temporary entities, across these lands.
“Self-determination” was the watchword of the time– a phrase gleaned from the comments pouring from the White House. A idea thrown from behind a press conference throng of microphones, its impact was hard to crawl out from under. As Secretary of State Robert Lansing remarked, “When the President talks of ‘Self-determination,’ what unit has he in mind? Does he mean a race, a territorial area, or a community?...It will raise hopes which can never be realized. It will, I fear, cost thousands of lives. In the end it is bound to be discredited, to be called the dream of an idealist who failed to realize the danger until it was too late.” The phrases served as an inspiration to peoples all over the world – “Autonomous development”, “the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments” – but the intention was vague. Did Wilson actually mean that any people who called themselves a nation should have their own state? The possible implications of such is an arresting thought.
From this we see the roots of modern problems:
Among them one would list:…the crisis over Iraq(whose present borders resulted from Franco-British rivalries and casual map-making); the continuing quest of the the Kurds for self-determination; disputes between Greece and Turkey; and the endless struggle between Arabs and Jews over land that each thought had been promised them.
And the immediate regret:
"I cannot say for how many years, perhaps I should say for how many centuries, the crisis that has begun will continue," predicted Georges Clemenceau, whose own behavior contributed to the failure. "Yes, this treaty will bring us burdens, troubles, miseries, difficulties, and that will continue for long years."
In Paris three men met, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France, and David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Britain, assisted by their respective advisors, and in their hands they held the beginnings of a new world.
More to come later.
