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Harold Nicolson
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Peacemaking 1919: Being Reminiscences of the Paris Peace Conference Paperback – January 1, 2001

by Harold G Nicolson (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 21 ratings
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Recollections of a British diplomat, who was a member of the Peace delegation of Great Britain at Paris. He wrote: "Given the atmosphere at the time, given the passions aroused in all democracies by four years of war, it would have been impossible even for supermen to devise a peace of moderation and righteousness."
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  1. Print length
    412 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Simon Publications
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2001
  5. Dimensions
    6.06 x 1 x 9.02 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    193154154X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1931541541
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon Publications (January 1, 2001)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 412 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 193154154X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1931541541
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.45 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.06 x 1 x 9.02 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 21 ratings

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Harold Nicolson

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
21 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jessica Sheetz-Nguyen
5.0 out of 5 stars Consider this for classroom readings.
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2017
Verified Purchase
This is a must-read for anyone studying the Great War and its aftermath. Nicholson is insightful and prescient all at one and the same time.
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ralph norman
4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating "Yiu Were There". reminiscence of the making of the Versailles Treaty
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2016
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Nicholson's "I was there" account of the Paris peace conference provides a fascinating addendum to the better known J M Keynes account. Although it is reasonably consistent with Keynes's appraisal, it gives us a fascinating, workaday aacciunt of what went on and is in some important ways more useful as a look tan at reasons for the eventual failure,of the peace. A good companion to Keynes and to the more recent book by Msrgaret Macmillan.
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars The inner workings of the Paris Peace Conferance.
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2004
British diplomat and diarist, Harold Nicholson's account of his work with the Peace Conference. The book includes his diary for the period as well as memoirs written after the fact. While initially enthusiastic about Wilson and his promises to negotiate a just peace, Nicholson's book recount a conference which soon slipped into traditional infighting and intrigue. Wilson's willingness, as seen by Nicholson, to sacrifice any principle in favor of obtaining agreement on the League of Nations soon soured Nicolson on the American President. Written and published years after the conference, Nicolson reflected the then general view by the British that the conference had failed to achieve as satisfactory peace. The book is an invaluable primary source and provides insights into the day to day operations of the committees where much of the work of the conference was done.
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Top reviews from other countries

Justinian
5.0 out of 5 stars Lessons from the Past
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2016
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This is an excellent analysis of the course of the peace conference at Versailles in 1919. It contains many lessons for future generations and educates us in the mistakes that were made and the lessons to be learned. One of the key problems was the lack of a working agenda at the conference. Another was the committee systems whereby experts and others would discuss certain questions e.g boundaries and others would deal with the same area in a different context. The result was that the overlap would cause confusion and further that the re-arrangement of populations would inevitable cause huge problems in future. President Wilson proved unpopular through his non delivery of United States participation in the League of Nations and because his 14 Points seemed a world away from the Treaty itself.

The Armistice terms indeed appear to bear little relationship to the final treaty. Had cooler heads prevailed a great deal of this would have been avoided. Another critical point was the lack of representation from Germany and the penal imposition of the reparations. Indeed, the conference seems to have been imbued with a sense of vindictiveness and revenge which resulted in an imbalanced treaty and contributed greatly to German resentment.

Nicolson describes a number of factors which in his experience made him question the efficacy of the conference. . First, that public opinion can be seriously misled by a populist and jingoistic press; this was the case in England and France. Second that inexperienced politicians with little knowledge of diplomacy or history do not facilitate a fair negotiation and balanced Treaty when they seek to put undue pressure on their national delegation without knowledge of the facts. Several times Lloyd George had to fight counter attacks on such pressures at home taking him away from the conference. Third, that it is vital to have sufficient resources at the delegates command to deal with difficult points. Fourth that reliance on efficient juniors may be necessary, but not necessarily wise. Nicolson believed he was given too much responsibility, although from what he writes he seemed well capable. Finally, he complained there was too much information and not enough analysis.

The first part of the book is thus a deep critique of the conference; the second part contains extracts from his diary of those times.

For anyone wanting to know what happened in this critical conference this account is a telling account.
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Ron Todd
4.0 out of 5 stars Very well written
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 20, 2013
Verified Purchase
Without much background in the history of this period it did get a bit heavy going. For anybody interested in the origins of the second war it is well worth reading as a companion to his 'why we are at war' written twenty years later. As with other writers of his age he gives the impression of creating clear well thought out paragraphs with little or no effort, First I feel that my bog standard comprehensive education is inferior; he does not say so but I bet he went to a good public school, then I have to admit to myself that whatever education I had got (got gotten?) anything I wrote would look clumsy in comparison.
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