Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

The author's stated purpose for this book is to examine the impact of the Treaty of Versailles on the Middle East (to include Iraq), the Far East and the Balkans. I think that he does a wonderful job of providing insight into how decisions that came about during the conference in Paris has impacted each of these areas of the world to the present day. His inclusion of lesser known players, their opinions, and thier interactions with the other participants in the conference, and even their social life during the conference is entertaining, easy to read, and adds a great deal to the book. At the end of the book I had a clear picture of how the decisions were arrived at in Paris and thier continuing impacts.
I have only one criticism of the book. The author presents different options that were available to the participants of the conference for solving the issues in each of these areas of the world - but does not provide any analysis for the feasibility of taking these different options. I would have liked to have heard the author's opinions as to: How many Soldiers would have been needed to enforce these different options? How much money and other resources would have been required to facililiate these different options? And would these different options have prevented or lessened the amount of bloodshed that the world has witnessed since this treaty was completed? I think this type of analysis would add to the book's value and make what seems to be in many cases obvious solutions to the issues at hand during the peace conference not quite as appealing or desireable given the realities of the times (specifically that the world was trying to recover from a just finished WWI).
Highly recommend this book however, it contains many valuable points for consideration and is a page-turner.

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.

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.

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.

This book was actually assigned for a class I have. It is a good book. Unique look at the post-WWI peace process. Things it did, and particularly the things it failed to do. Definitely a good read. As a caveat, the writer is a journalist, not an historian. He has a definite point of view, so don't mistake his opinion as gospel. That is the only drawback to this excellent book. Its a very broad look at the peace, looking at people impacted from Eastern Europe to the Middle East. Profiles on characters involved are quite good. I would highly recommend.

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.

As a resident of the Muddle East, as a citizen of the world with an assumed historical outlook, I see in Edelman's work a successful attempt at pin-pointing the responsibility that lies with the Peace makers of 1919, for most of the woes we suffer today in the Indian sub-continent, in the European Balkans and especially in the Middle East. The book takes what was probably the most momentous event of the 20th Century, and succeeds at drawing conclusions that superfitiality, ignorance, lack of interest and mediocrity, mixed with ravenous self interests, turned a would-be mega event loaded with impact, to one that brought about the vast majority of the misery that befell the entire world for the following 100 years at least. In as far as my immediate neighborhood, Versailles is the one event that can be most held responsible for the unsolveable mess we have in Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, Turkey, West Africa and finally but not least, the Israeli-Arab conflict that will afflict us forever.
Michael Vromen
Tel Aviv, Israel

I really enjoyed reading David Andelman's new book, 'A Shattered Peace'. His well researched, cohesive book offers great insight into the events of the early 20th century, events that continue to shape the world almost 100 years after the fact. David writes from a perspective that analyzes the personalities of the participants and the key events of the era. He foreshadows some WWII history and puts them all into a highly readable narrative.
As the treaty was being negotiated, my family, my paternal grandparents were fleeing E. Europe, crossing the lines between the White Russians, the Bolsheviks, the Poles, the Germans. They departed their shetetl (Trisk/Tursk/Turysk/Tryska) on the Bug River with a US Citizen rescuer, a relative who returned to the old country from his new home in Vermont to save the family.

The events surrounding the conclusion of World War One and the subsequent treaty negotiations had a direct impact on todays world and most importantly, it had a direct impact on my family landing in the United States. Through David's book, I could see the world events interwoven with the trials & tribulations of my emmigrant/immigrant family fleeing the old country for a new life in the new world.

All in all a great book.

I am still a bit not sure (out of shock) at how the world was shaped back in 1919 by novices and youngsters who were given a free reign to decide and chart what the world was to look like. This work sounds fictional, perhaps because I could not believe the going ons as detailed in the book. From the first chapters to the end, this is an amazing journey through the anals of history and some of the ridiculous plans and actions taken by the fathers of the mordern world as shaped out in Paris in 1919.