Instruments of Peacemaking 1918-1941: The Failure of Diplomacy

This book is a sequel to Instruments of Peacemaking 1870-1914 in that it considers how attempts were made to settle disputes between states without recourse to war after ‘the war to end all wars’. It considers the idealism of President Wilson's Fourteen Points which formed the basis for the Armistice in 1918, and his scheme for a League of Nations providing for self-determination of nations and ‘collective security’ for European states. It goes on to analyse the key challenges that faced statesmen and jurists in attempting to resolve disputes under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.It considers the consequences of the Peace Conference of 1919 that failed to give France security guarantees and aroused German animosity through loss of territory, population, and payment of reparations.Despite its defects the treaty was an instrument for resolving disputes and tensions between the victors and the vanquished. The book considers cases referred to the Reparations Commission and to ar