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20 - The Imposed Peace

The Missed Opportunity of a Negotiated Settlement with Weimar Germany?

from Part IV - No Pax Atlantica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2022

Patrick O. Cohrs
Affiliation:
Università degli Studi, Florence
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Summary

Chapter 20 sheds new light on what arguably was the crucial problem of the peacemaking process of 1919 – the fact that ultimately the peace settlement and the terms and rules of the new order were not negotiated between the victors and the vanquished but imposed by the western powers, above all on the fledgling Weimar Republic. It shows that what led to this outcome were not only the unprecedented transatlantic complexities Wilson and the principal British and French “peacemakers” faced when trying to hammer out the fundamental parameters of the peace and postwar order, and to reconcile their often all but irreconcilable interests, aims and ideological priorities. As it underscores, the imposed peace of 1919 was also the outgrowth of underlying hierarchical assumptions the victors shared about their “right” to dictate terms to the defeated German power and to place it on probation. Also analysing the strategies that leading German policymakers like Brockdorff-Rantzau and Matthias Erzberger pursued to open the door to a negotiated peace it finally reappraises the eventual political-cum-ideological battle between the victors and the vanquished that escalated in 1919 and analysis the destructive consequences of the peace settlement’s ultimate imposition.

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The New Atlantic Order
The Transformation of International Politics, 1860–1933
, pp. 809 - 877
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • The Imposed Peace
  • Patrick O. Cohrs, Università degli Studi, Florence
  • Book: The New Atlantic Order
  • Online publication: 22 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316338988.026
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  • The Imposed Peace
  • Patrick O. Cohrs, Università degli Studi, Florence
  • Book: The New Atlantic Order
  • Online publication: 22 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316338988.026
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Imposed Peace
  • Patrick O. Cohrs, Università degli Studi, Florence
  • Book: The New Atlantic Order
  • Online publication: 22 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316338988.026
Available formats
×