The Game of Major Powers: One Hundred and Eighty Days to Change the World

Author: Margaret MacMillan (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: This book was awarded as one of The New York Times' Top 7 Books of 2002, the David Cohen Prize for History, the Hessell Tiltman Prize for History, and the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction by BBC4. A fascinating history. —Tony Blair, British Prime Minister Truly the kind of book I love: well-structured, playful, and built on solid academic foundations. —Roy Jenkins, former President of the European Commission It is enchanting, detailed, fair, and consistently vivid, filled with brilliant characters. —Alan Massie, renowned historical novelist, The Daily Mail A monumental work. She uses her vast knowledge to paint a colorful picture, presenting the negotiators with their respective motivations in full. —Simon Heffer, Literary Review Paris in 1919 was the capital of the world. The world-renowned Paris Peace Conference was taking place here, where the negotiators were all influential international figures. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and French Premier Georges Clemenceau became the "big three" of the conference. Here, world leaders traded, drafted treaties, created new nations and organizations, even dined together and went to the theater. They staged a grand farce of tragedy and comedy that shaped the modern world. Over the six months from January to June, Paris became a world government, a court of appeal, and a parliament, but also a place of fear and hope. These were extraordinary 180 days, where great powers engaged in a game, ending bankrupt empires while creating entirely new nations. The book brings the negotiators to life, vividly portraying their personalities, ideals, and prejudices. They pushed Russia out, isolated China, and rejected the Arab demands. At the same time, they struggled hard for the establishment of a Jewish homeland and other issues. Yet, the negotiators failed, and most importantly, they failed to prevent another war from breaking out. The world leaders tried to be impartial, but their goals—to rebuild defeated nations without destroying them, satisfy impossible nationalist dreams, prevent the spread of Bolshevism, and create a new world order based on democracy and reason—all proved impossible to achieve through diplomacy alone. They intended to make peace, yet, in a baffling twist, they instead created a larger, more devastating war. This book is like a movie, recreating the dramatic personalities and intricate struggles of interest among the world leaders, making it deeply entertaining. It paints a dazzling scene, giving us a blueprint of the nascent modern world. It is a classic work that helps us understand the formation of the contemporary world and the development of the new world order.