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

by David A. Andelman

Advance Praise for A Shattered Peace

"The peace settlements that followed World War I have recently come back into focus as one of the dominant factors shaping the modern world. The Balkans, the Middle East, Iraq, Turkey, and parts of Africa all owe their present-day problems, in part, to these negotiations. David Andelman brings it all back to life--the lofty ideals, the ugly compromises, the larger-than-life personalities who came to Paris in 1919. And he links that far-away diplomatic dance to present-day problems to illuminate our troubled times. A tremendous addition to this vitally important subject."
--Ambassador Richard Holbrooke

"The peace conference in Paris at the end of World War I was the first and last moment of pure hope for peace in the history of world affairs. Our president Woodrow Wilson was the sorcerer for this hope, and he kindled great expectations in people everywhere. David Andelman, a classic reporter and storyteller, tells this fascinating tale of hope falling finally and forever on the shoals of naivete and hard-headed cynicism."
--Leslie H. Gelb, former columnist for the New York Times and President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations

"The failed peace settlement following the Great War of 1914-1918 has been the subject of many fine books. In many respects, David Andelman's A Shattered Peace is the best of these. It is compact and compellingly written. Moreover, it explains more clearly than any other work how the failure of peacemaking in 1919 shaped later history and, indeed, shapes our own era."
--Ernest R. May, Charles Warren Professor of American History, Harvard University

"It is the power and fascination of David Andelman's new book, A Shattered Peace, that he shows us--with the clarity of a first-rate reporter and the drama and detail at the command of a first-rate novelist--that we are all still enmeshed in the loose ends of the Treaty of Versailles. Andelman brings us to Korea, to Vietnam, to the Persian Gulf, and to Iraq in our own vexed era. His story is alive with color, conflict, and interesting people. We could not find a better guide to this time."
--Richard Snow, Editor in Chief, American Heritage

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War I, Politics

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

David A. Andelman, executive director of The Red Lines Project, is a “Voices” columnist for CNNOpinion. He was awarded the Deadline Club Award for Best Opinion Writing for his CNN commentaries in 2018 and again in 2019 for his Reuters columns. He served for more than seven years as Editor & Publisher of World Policy Journal. Previously he served as an executive editor of Forbes. Earlier, he was a domestic and foreign correspondent for The New York Times in various posts in New York and Washington, as Southeast Asia bureau chief, based in Bangkok, then East European bureau chief, based in Belgrade. He then moved to CBS News where he served for seven years as Paris correspondent. There followed service as a Washington correspondent for CNBC, news editor of Bloomberg News and Business Editor of the New York Daily News. He has traveled through and reported from 86 countries. He was awarded the 2017 New York Press Club award for best political commentary for his USAToday columns. He is the author of five books, The Peacemakers, published by Harper & Row, and The Fourth World War, published by William Morrow, which he co-authored with the Count de Marenches, long-time head of French intelligence. His third book, A Shattered Peace: Versailles 1919 and the Price We Pay Today was published in a new Centenary Edition with foreword by Sir Harold Evans. He has translated from the French and written an epilogue to An Impossible Dream: Reagan, Gorbachev, and a World Without the Bomb published in June 2019 by Pegasus/Norton. His next book, A Red Line in the Sand: Diplomacy, Strategy, and the History of Wars That Could Still Happen, will be published January 5, 2021, along with its Evergreen podcast. Andelman has written for Harpers, The Atlantic, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, Readers Digest, Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs. He is a graduate of Harvard University and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and is a member of the Century Association, Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard Club of New York, National Press Club and the Grolier Club. He is President-emeritus of the Overseas Press Club of America and The Silurians Press Club, the oldest club in America for veteran journalists.

Reviews

[Loring Wirbel · Rating 3 out of 5]

(This is a companion review to "Paris 1919", on my bookshelf.)

Too many of us, particularly in America, prefer sizzle to steak, and in the case of WW1-era history, this seems to be the case for Andelman's book. In the same way that Dan Brown gets more attention than Umberto Eco in the field of conspiratorial fiction, Andelman gets plenty of rave reviews for his history of the Versailles Treaty, at least as compared to Margaret Macmillan's older book on the same subject (though Richard Holbrooke, who gave Andelman a thumbs-up, wrote a foreword for Macmillan). Andelman certainly can offer a good turn of phrase, and his historical reference points are always front and center, but his work seems less substantive than Macmillan's.

Part of the problem is that Andelman never lets you forget he was a leading correspondent for NY Times, Forbes, and other publications, and inserts the personal pronoun too often for my tastes. He also can be a little overbearing in making historical analogies - yes, we know the Bolsheviks of 1919 were somewhat like the Salafist Islamic groups of the 21st century, but must you hammer us over the head with these analogies again and again?

Andelman offers some detail in biographies of both Great Power and Third World leaders, including some wrinkles Macmillan does not have. He knows a few stories Macmillan misses, such as the fact that Allen Dulles inserted spies into Herbert Hoover's food missions into Russia and Europe.

One thing I appreciate is that Andelman and MacMillan, like many more recent authors, have poked holes in the fervent pro-Woodrow-Wilson fanaticism that has been prevalent in America for many decades - and they do not do so from a conservative, isolationist position. Andelman sees Wilson as a failure not only because he was too stubborn and unwilling to compromise to get the League of Nations through the US Senate, but also that he was too imperialist and racist (befitting his 19th-century youth in the South) to be able to treat small nations fairly.

Overall, though, someone seeking a single comprehensive history of the Versailles Treaty would be better off seeking out Macmillan's "Paris 1919". Her detailed and fascinating book is the true steak, while Andelman relies too much on sizzle alone.

[Steve Penner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This certainly was an interesting read concerning the repercussions of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles. There is no doubt that the process of dividing up the German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires created all the conditions leading to WWII and the smaller conflicts since. To realize all of the Who, Where and Why behind the decision-making processes is to realize that the leadership of the Western world has been unwise at the very least.

The problem with the book is that it is written in a journalistic utopian framework. Underlying much of the helpful history is an arrogant, paternalistic perspective that is constantly assuming, "If I, my fellow journalists and some of my favorite left-wing academics has been there, we would have avoided all the mistakes and the world would be as it should, without war and everyone prospering." There are so many "what-ifs" concluding each section that I almost grew nauseated.

So the history is well-written, the analysis silly, at best.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was truly educational. There is so much that I didn't know about the end of WWI and the Versailles treaty. And it was this treaty that drew the borders of the middle east as we know it today. The first chapter about TE Lawrence and King Faisal was really illuminating. Why didn't the great powers listen to these guys? And then there was Ho Chi Min busing tables at one of the great hotels where leaders would dine at the end of the day. What I began to realize as I read this book was that ending a war can be just as cataclysmic as any other part of the war.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good for being a non-academic, or even quasi-academic book. Gets more beyond the Versailles tables in some ways than MacMillan's "Paris 1919," especially on the Arab world and in the Balkans. The latter, especially, is its strongest area. Andelman looks at each tidbit and sliver of land battled over by Poland and Czechoslovakia, Romania and Bulgaria vs Yugoslavia, Romania vs Hungary, etc. One of the maps at the end focuses on this.

On the Arab world, he notes the British didn't pay enough attention to Henry St. John Philby's tout of the House of Saud and so, and not just in terms of oil, backed the wrong horse.

Besides Ho Chi Minh, whose full story I already knew, Chinese pleas get at least a look, as do Japanese machinations.

Andelman tries to draw lessons for Bush-era Iraq War and other things that leave this book dated in some ways. That said, contra some lesser reviewers, as I understand him in the Arab world of a century ago, he was arguing for religious divisions, but yet within a larger confederation. (I wonder how many of these reviewers still have a romanticized view of Feisal.)

I also never before knew that the Dulles brothers were nephews of Wilson's Secretary of State Robert Lansing.

[jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are many tastes in history books as there are topics. Unfortunately, I am unable to think of a taste that would find "A Shattered Peace" a good history. No, this is just bad. Better were written shortly after Versailles (think Keynes from whom Andelman draws so liberally, the great economist deserves a co-author credit), better have been written since, and better were written over the individual topics Andelman seeks to cover. Keynes wasn't only a better writer, but also had the excuse of immediacy to fuel his razor prose.

Andelman has no similar excuse. Instead of seeking to help readers understand the perspective of the various players which led to their many mistakes (which were indeed grievous), we have played down context, papering over very real concerns of the likes of Loyd George and Clemenceau, and an infuriating Panglossian belief that alternative choices would have been "better." Such arguments from hindsight might be easier to take if Andelman wasn't so committed to assuming another settlement would have spared the world the 20th century.

To take an obvious case, consider his analysis of the Middle East and the region's disastrous 20th century history. Andelman argues at once that the treaty should've created a pan-Arab state of the sort envisioned by Faisel AND drawn borders taking into consideration the Sunni/Shi'a divide in the region. Of course those two ideas are contradictory. Moreover, nobody -- least of all Faisel -- favored such a basis of division, preferring one along ethnic lines. Last but hardly least, there is of course no way to know what might flow from the counter-factual. To assume it would of course be "better" represents the laziest sort of analysis.

From factual errors to ignoring the crucial post-war context, this book just fails. Perhaps Andelman's only real success is making me feel sympathetic for Wilson, a man I truly loathe. I guess that is something.

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I confess, I only got through Chapter 4, and I was regretting not having gotten the other well-known book on this topic, Paris 1919. So then I went ahead and put Shattered Peace down and got Paris 1919, and even though I'm only a few pages into Paris 1919, its so much better and worth the extra bulk.

[Felix Sun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Narration is unclear, it jumps around the timeline, phrasing are unnecessarily fancy making it obscure.

[Bap · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very well written and riveting account of the Versailles peace treaty which sowed the seeds of discord and war that remain with us today. Following four years of war both victor and vanquished were exhausted, bankrupt, and coping with devastating losses. This is the story of how the victors recarved Europe and the middle east by creating new nations out of the wreckage of Austria Hungary and the Ottoman empire. Despite Wilson championing of self determination and that this had been a war to end all wars, the Brits and especially the French were intend on vengeance, the bolstering of their colonial empires, draconian reparations, and the creation of a buffer zone in eastern Europe of newly created states that would be a trip wire for aggression from Germany or the Russian Bolsheviks. The states in the east were bound to fail, a polyglot mishmash of nationalities, religions and languages. By cramming Germans into Poland and Czechoslovakia, there was a potent fifth column created that would ask for help when Germany rearmed. The Czecks and the Slovaks had little in common and would later separate when the iron curtain was lifted. Worse these newly created states bickered amongst themselves and soon succumbed to dictatorships. Likewise the creation of Yugoslavia was doomed for failure forestalled by the charisma of Tito but the fracturing of the state along ethnic lines was what should have occurred in the first place. The great powers also failed miserably in creating Syria, a French protectorate that again was a volatile mishmash as we now see in the present civil war. The worst example of creating a failed state was Iraq. The Kurds in the north, the Shiites in the south and the Sunnis in the center only have one thing in common: their hatred of one another. Adding to this was the utter disdain that the negotiators had for colonial peoples. A Vietnamese waiter in Paris was rebuffed when he presented a petition for the self determination of the people in Vietnam Nam. He would leave Paris embittered and radicalized and would assume the name Ho Chi Minh. The book ends directing the reader to go on-line to read chapter 9 and a half concerning the brutal reparations imposed on Germany that were completely unrealistic as Keynes tried to tell them. In the end, the treaty not only was a gift to the likes of Hitler determined to shed the shackles of the treaty and to restore Germany's pride and power; But World War Ii as terrible as that was was only part of the legacy that is with us still.
Even if you do not enjoy history read this book, it is a fast read and a fascinating read.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read to understand how the failures of the past continue to affect the world today. Though the author jumps around a bit and there are so many names to keep track of, it is a very enlightening read.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the Treaty of Versailles and how it continues to impact world issues today.

[Ian Sanwald · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a pity there isn't more written on Versailles because Andelman simply doesn't cut it. I don't know if I have ever read a less objective history book.

[Kusaimamekirai · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The proposal of the Polish Commission that we should place 2,100,000 Germans under the control of a people . . . which has never proved its capacity for stable self-government throughout history must, in my judgment, lead sooner or later to a new war in the East of Europe. . . . I would therefore take as a guiding principle of the peace that as far as is humanly possible the different races should be allocated to their motherlands, and that this human criterion should have precedence over considerations of strategy or economics or communications which can usually be adjusted by other means.”
- British Prime Minister Lloyd George

Count Mihaly Karolyi, the moderate president of what was left of Hungary, questioned Allen Dulles’s friend Hugh Gibson, who reported the bitter remarks to the young coordinator of U.S. intelligence: ‘Why do you go on pretending you are fighting for the rights of small peoples? Why not say frankly, ‘We have won and shall now do with you exactly as we please.


Several threads seem to run through this book that tie together all of the misguided and reckless attempts at partitioning countries with an eye toward the interests of only four countries (America, France, The U.K., and to a lesser extent Italy) in complete disregard to any semblance of history or forethought to their futures.
There is the visage of Woodrow Wilson arriving in Paris with his “Fourteen Points” about autonomy and freedom for small nations but quickly retreating whenever France, Italy, or the U.K. pushed back on any of them, in exchange for support of his beloved League of Nations.
Essentially, Wilson sacrificed everything he promised to the oppressed people of the world for an institution that was dead on arrival. It’s a fitting metaphor for the ego and hubris most leaders brought to Paris with them.
There was also the creating of Israel out of what was Palestine. Which on the surface seems like a good idea providing that the Palestinians would quietly acquiesce to being forcibly removed from their land. As the last one hundred years have shown us however, it was the most dangerous kind of wishful thinking,
This same obliviousness to reality was also seen in how the major powers cut the Middle East into countries where religious minorities were almost certain to be persecuted by religious majorities, ignoring hostilities between religious sects that stretched over centuries. Something that even the greenest diplomat then or now should have realized. Sadly this is something that we have yet to learn even today, even after one hundred years and counting of bloody wars and seemingly endless conflict.
These massive miscalculations by European men with pens, literally crawling on their knees over maps of Europe and the Middle East to shape the world in their own immediate and selfish interests, can almost be forgiven for ignoring the importance of other regions that weren’t immediately relevant to the problem of Germany. Germany (and Austria-Hungary) after all had in the eyes of many not only been the instigator of the war but a threat to soon rearm and create conflict on the continent again.
And yet these “great” men failed miserably here as well, demanding Germany pay exorbitantly punitive reparations that they would have no chance of ever keeping up with, as well as carving up the country and creating new and culturally unsustainable borders around it. The newly created Czechoslovakia for example was ethnically only 51% Czech, 22% German, and a volatile mix of other ethnicities who linguistically, culturally, and historically had no ties to the Czechs.
It was a staggeringly bad decision that almost immediately saw this German population in open rebellion and seeking to reunite with Germany. Something that a frustrated little Austrian housepainter would recognize and barely twenty years later use as a springboard to one of the bloodiest wars the world has ever seen.
Reading these stories and others, I could only shake my head at the tragedy of not one or two bad but isolated decisions (Allen Dulles in Switzerland receiving a phone call from Vladimir Lenin in Switzerland just before he was smuggled out of the country and lost to the West, but choosing to play tennis with a lady friend instead of taking the call. A young busboy who would later be known as Ho Chi Minh walking around Paris trying to talk to the French, Americans, or anyone who will listen about freedom for his people but being ignored, are but two ridiculous but sad examples) but rather decisions so full of hubris and and staggering incompetence that they would continue to reverberate well into the 21st century.
It was a moment where the world truly could have, with humility and an eye to the future instead of a shortsighted view of immediate political and economic interests, began to craft a lasting global peace. More is the pity that this chance was squandered so completely, with such disastrous and lasting consequences.

[Garrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by one of my daughter's history teachers after my daughter mentioned to him that I'd recently finished Barbara Tuchman's 'Guns of August'. I was a bit worried about the recommendation while reading the Prologue and the first chapter. The author reasonably assumes that the reader possesses a working knowledge of the general events of WWI, Woodrow Wilson and his Fourteen Points and the outcome of the Treaty of Versailles negotiations. My problem with the beginning of the book is that the tone felt a bit too retrospectively judgmental to me. I understand that challenge, it's hard not to think about what eventually transpired when writing about historical events, but perhaps the introductory chapters could have benefitted a little less of that perspective?

The book picks up momentum during the subsequent chapters that examine specific geographic regions, the decisions that were made about those regions during the Treaty of Versailles negotiations and the subsequent impact of those decisions. The scholarship of these middle chapters is impressive, very thorough and well researched. Not exactly an easy read given the density of the material, but very well done and the human story behind the negotiations emerges effectively. These region-focused chapters would be particularly enjoyable to readers who have an interest in specific areas and contemporary conflicts. For example, thinking about the current Israel Palestine conflict given the context and history described in chapter four, 'The State of the Jews'.

It's in the final two chapters where I felt that 'A Shattered Peace' really shines. In 'Setting Up a Global Economy', the opinions and perspectives of the key participants are emphasized in the retelling of the events that led to the onerous German reparations. John Maynard Keynes, the emergence of the US as a global power, the tension in the relationship between Britain and its continental allies, the immediate need to feed the German people, increasing fear of Bolshevism and its possible spread west from Russia, etc. These themes combine in what became the new economic system post WWI and obviously, facilitated the rise of extremist parties in Europe, most notably of course the Nazis.

The final chapter, 'Where Did They All Go?', is a very somber epilogue to the simmering tragedy of the Treaty of Versailles. Andelman also uses this final chapter to provide his own opinions and conclusions regarding the Treaty and its impact on subsequent events. Specifically (i) Woodrow Wilson was naive and completely overmatched by his European counterparts, (ii) the idealism inherent in Wilson's Fourteen Points never had a chance of success because other countries were acting in their own self-interest and couldn't really be expected to do otherwise, (iii) it will always be challenging for idealism to prevail in international diplomacy and (iv) intra-nation stability and peace is a function of establishing smaller countries with borders representing relatively homogenous populations with shared interests. This last conclusion is sad and discouraging given its implication that diverse groups will have difficulty co-existing in a single country, but unfortunately the supporting evidence continues to be fairly compelling...

[Jdblair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Normally, I would not pick up a book like this to read. However, the situation was not normal. I was adopted as a newborn and it wasn't until 2015 that I discovered who my birth mother was. After more research and an AncestyDNA kit, I identified her parents and learned that they were born in Transylvania (Hungary) in 1890 and 1897. They immigrated to the US in 1913 and 1915.

Hungary was part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire that was a loser in WWI. As part of the Paris Peace Treaty and the Treaty of Trianon, Hungary lost much of its land to neighbors, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, and Romania. In the Treaty of Trianon, much of SE Hungary was ceded to Romania and that included the villages that my maternal grandparents were born. They were of German/Saxon descent and many of these people found themselves in Romania, a place of a different language and traditions. Now, most of the German/Saxons have left Romania (Transylvania) and returned to Germany.

The book talks a lot about how the English, French, Belgians, and Russians, were more interested in maintaining their colonial control over their respective empires without giving much thought to language, religion, etc. They wanted the losers of WWI to pay dearly. New borders were drawn in a manner to let these imperial countries maintain their control over their colonial assets. The result of decisions made and borders drawn 100 years ago is the reason we continue to have serious conflicts between people all over the world.

[Amy Mcclellan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to know how the world as we know it today was shaped by WWI and the Treaty of Versailles. This book enlightened me but it was a bit painful. The author went into far too much detail about all of the delegates from all of the countries attending the Paris Peace Conference. Did you know Ho Chi Minh had two or three other names before he became Ho Chi Minh? Well the author alternates all of Ho Chi Minh’s names throughout the book and even from one paragraph to the next. Pick a name and stick with it! Lastly, the editing was horrendous. There were typos throughout...a lone period, a question mark instead of an apostrophe. Ridiculous. But, alas, now I know.

[Indian · Rating 4 out of 5]

13th May 1919, the victors- USA,France,UK and Italy at the Paris Peace Conference, headed by Woodrow Wilson, George’s Clemenceau, David Lloyd George and Vitoria Emmanuel Orlando, join hands with the representatives from Leaders around the world, to chop and dice the spoils of Germany, Austria_Hungarian empire and the Ottomans (Middle East and balkans) and in the ensuing loot the seeds for the forthcoming WWII was being sown and the tinderbox of Middle East was also getting impregnated.
What a meet and what a scale and impact of that pact!

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a signed copy after I attended a speech at the college in my hometown, which was kind of like a peak at what was to come. It took me a while to finish because it got a little dull at some points, kind of dragging on about the same topic. There was still tons of factual information addressing a world wide issue that still affects everyone of us today. It's crazy how the Treaty of Versailles, signed over 100 years ago, has had such a significant impact on the world.

[Amanda Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book fills in so many gaps in knowledge. I was enthralled the entire time. I will say my copy had some typos and/or typesetting errors throughout, which is always a bit disappointing and makes you wonder about quality of the overall product, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.

[Mario · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough, informative, and generally written in a clear, flowing style. I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

[Kevin W Deveno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Book

For anyone who heard that the problems of our world and country are rooted in Versailles and was curious about the decisions that were made there - this book is for you!! It's a complex tale told very simply offering insight into the way the Middle East and many other parts of the world, were cobbled together after WWI ended, resulting in the power struggles we have today. it's simple and powerful, but will also give the evening news some much needed context.

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering that Mark is deployed it really got me thinking about country's borders...and a lot of turmoil stems from the borders drawn or disputed back in WWI. This book was crazy interesting; if you're a history buff like me, you'd enjoy all those juicy details that I love to soak in.

[Brandon Shultz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the book was very informational, but did seem to run on with unneeded details. I liked how the chapters were organized based on the history and developments surrounding one country. It would be a great book to use as a research book to get information on a topic.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

finally gave up on finishing this book. I found the beginning and the several chapters I read to be very interesting and I found myself quoting portions of it often... but just couldn't stay interested in it long enough to finish it.

[Flora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greatly informative, and rather engaging once it got going. (The preface/foreword lacked proper editing.) Helpful lessons on Indochina, the Middle East, the Balkans and a few other parts of the world that were affected by what seemed like careless delineations made by the great powers.

[Mike Heitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read to understand our current world

If you don't learn from history you are doomed to repeat past mistakes. This book shines a light on the causes of all of our current hot points around the world

[David Kamioner · Rating 4 out of 5]

good and properly cynical history of the most important intl gsthering of the 20th century.

[D. Ennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly well written and not as dry as one would imagine. Clearly shows how every hotspot in the second half of the century was a direct result of this misguided meeting of world powers.

[Albulena]

Not what I was expecting.

[Mohit Garg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book describing the unrest and chaos prevailing in the Arab world and presents in detail the people and the blindness of the western world in creating the situation. Must for historians

[Luis Frauca remacha · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is much easier to grasp the modern Middle East conumdrum once you've read this book