The End of Order: Versailles 1919

by Charles L. Mee Jr.

Puts the spotlight on the Versailles meeting in which Wilson, Clemenceau, and Lloyd George discussed the world situation after the war and negotiated what they hoped would be a longlasting peace

Genres: History, European History

301 pages, Hardcover

First published November 12, 1980

About the author

Charles L. Mee is an American playwright, historian and author known for his collage-like style of playwriting, which makes use of radical reconstructions of found texts. He is also a professor of theater at Columbia University. (Source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[René · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really a book about the diplomatic, political and social challenges of the end of WWI, but a book trying to go through the motions of the times (including some useless paragraphs on dadaism) and the battles between the 3 main leaders (Clémenceau, Lloyd George and Wilson), who chose to write most of the treaty by themselves, without consulting anyone or pondering about what it may all lead to. One cannot help but think that most French leaders should also have been tried at Nuremberg for being the leading war criminals, as their obsession in punishing Germany is what mainly led to WWII (where they folded and ran away...).

[Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The format of the book is a series of short (1 to 2 page) vignettes from the Paris peace conference. Many are quite funny - or would be, if the consequences for the following years were not so grave. Don't miss Keynes parody of minutes from a meeting of the Big 3.

[Jeffrey Manners · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not as ambitious as Margaret Macmillan's "Peacemakers" as its focus is primarily on the the treaty with Germany with some discussion of the issues concerning Austria, Hungary and Italy. To his credit the author does give us considerably more insight than Margaret Macmillan's book as to what was happening in Germany during the six months that Britain, France and the US were negotiating among themselves the terms of the treaty. And he presents the German perspectives (sic) as how to negotiate with the Allies. I did not see any German language primary source materials listed in the select bibliograpy. However, I understand that the author has draw heavily on Richard Watt's book "The Kings Depart: The Tragedy of Germany: Versailles and the German Revolution."
All in all, this book is vastly superior to Margaret Macmillan's book on the Paris Peace Conference in that it succeeds in giving a balanced view and its conclusions actually adhere to the evidence presented. I can heartily recommend this book as a well needed antidote to Margaret Macmillan's propaganda tract.

[Binston Birchill · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Catch-22 of Versailles. Everyone knew that the treaty was bad yet they signed it anyways. They felt that politics required them to. It makes absolutely no sense yet when you look back at it that's exactly what appears to have happened. If others had been the negotiators of the treaty everything might have turned out very differently, then again, it might have turned out exactly the same. One thing we can be sure of is that with Wilson, Clemenceau and George as the primary negotiators, things went absurdly awry. In this book the use of short chapters and a vast array of characters provide a unique look at the formation of the treaty. Well worth reading, especially if you have no real knowledge of the treaty itself.

[Donna Herrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of the treaty after WWI

[Michael Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed review of the Versailles Treaty and the mess it made.