Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Treaties
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- PART I Peace treaties and international law from Lodi to Versailles (1454–1920)
- 2 Peace treaties from Lodi to Westphalia
- 3 Peace treaties from Westphalia to the Revolutionary Era
- 4 Peace treaties from Paris to Versailles
- PART II Thinking peace: voices from the past
- PART III Thinking peace: towards a better future
- PART IV Making peace: aspects of treaty practice
- PART V Conclusion
- Appendix
- Index
3 - Peace treaties from Westphalia to the Revolutionary Era
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Treaties
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- PART I Peace treaties and international law from Lodi to Versailles (1454–1920)
- 2 Peace treaties from Lodi to Westphalia
- 3 Peace treaties from Westphalia to the Revolutionary Era
- 4 Peace treaties from Paris to Versailles
- PART II Thinking peace: voices from the past
- PART III Thinking peace: towards a better future
- PART IV Making peace: aspects of treaty practice
- PART V Conclusion
- Appendix
- Index
Summary
Introduction
In 1980, I covered the problem of peace congresses in the century following the Peace Treaties of Westphalia (1648) for the first time. At that time, the main interest was in formal questions, especially the institution of mediation, whose changing substance and practice I then sketched. Central to the argument was the question why and when the pre-modern age tackled the problem of peacekeeping by developing mechanisms to prevent the outbreak of conflicts instead of merely putting an end to wars, and how successful these efforts, which culminated in the congresses of Cambrai and Soissons in the 1720s, were.
After twenty years, one approaches a question quite differently, according to changing paradigms of research. In this chapter, more emphasis is put on the internal logic and the internal mechanisms of peacemaking, and also on the categories which were used in order to situate the material results of the negotiations in a particular conception of the world. But the chapter also takes into account that the interests of research have considerably moved towards historical semantics, the changing use and meaning of notions and key words, and in general the direction of the language used in the treaties.
Westphalia as a turning point?
First of all, there is a need to reflect on the specifics of the period and on the fundamental changes which took place in the character of the interstate relations and the treaties in comparison with the preceding period.
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- Peace Treaties and International Law in European HistoryFrom the Late Middle Ages to World War One, pp. 45 - 58Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004
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