The Great Illusion: Why the Paris Peace Treaties of 1919 were doomed to failure
The Great Illusion: Why the Paris Peace Treaties of 1919 were doomed to failure

Summary/Abstract: The study aims to explain why the Peace Settlement of 1919 was doomed before it was even created and why it was further undermined, on one hand, by its own failure to include in the League of Nations, as keystone of post World War order, the ”troublemakers” Germany and Russia, on the other hand, by Wilson’s failure to bring the US in the League’s fold. As the 1919 Peace of Paris created fourgroups (winners of the war and benefactors; losers and revisionists; opportunists; isolationists), it could not lead to true international harmony or balance of power. Based on impressive vintage and current sources, quoting especially Raymond J. Sontag’s considerations exposed in his European Diplomatic History 1871–1932, the study shares a rather pessimistic view, debating concepts belonging to ethics and philosophy of history, highlighting unresolvable paradoxes, antitheses and dilemmas. But even in cases when history does not serve as a real magistra vitae, historians are nevertheless compelled to view it realistically, never giving up hope in ideals and aspirations for morality.

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