The Versailles Settlement: Peacemaking after the First World War, 1919-1923

Author Alan Sharp

Edition Second

Pages 282

Publisher Palgrave Macmillan

Price £55.00 and £19.99

ISBN 9780333800768 and 800775

Alan Sharp’s book has established itself as an indispensable study of the Versailles Settlement, that complex and far-reaching peace settlement at the end of the First World War, which has been seen as determining much of subsequent 20th-century history. He considers the characters, motivations and tactics of the leaders of the victorious powers and provides an account and an analysis of the making of the five treaties, collectively known as the Versailles Settlement. It was intended to provide the basis of a lasting peace but, notoriously, failed in its purpose and the book concludes with a discussion, incorporating recent scholarship, of the degree to which it can be blamed for the Second Wold War.

Who is it for? All students of 20th-century history.

Presentation Clearly structured, it combines a lively narrative with analysis and includes extracts from documents and quotations from key participants.

Would you recommend it? Yes. It is one of the best books on its subject.