The Legacy of the Great War by William R. Keylor

937 Words2 Pages

The Legacy of the Great War by William R. Keylor After reading William R. Keylor's The Legacy of the Great War, I realized the important events that pertain to the international relations. Until our present day there has not been so many great leaders come together to address issues such as: politics, economics, and social settings in Europe. This is the beginning of the problems in European civilization. The Paris Peace conference had a total of twenty-seven countries with their highest representatives and aides who devise a peace settlement. For two months they had redrawn the map of Europe with political and economical arrangements. It took another six months for the leaders who defeated the Central Powers to decide which rules that would govern the postwar order. The Central Power leaders are also known as the Big Four who was: President Woodrow Wilson of the United States, Prime Minister David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Premier Georges Clemenceau of France, and Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando of Italy. After all the peace makers of the treaties was creating the fire for the Second World War in 1939. During the Peace Conference there was two themes that was very critical. The first is that each victorious European ally had betrayed the new diplomacy of President Woodrow Wilson and therefore deprived the postwar international order of its moral justification. The second theme is the Carthaginian settlement, which the victors virtually dismantled Germany of all of its power economically and military. When the Peacemaking conference began, President Wilson promised Poland a "free and secure access" to the Baltic Sea. (p.19) The port of Danzinger had an overwh... ... middle of paper ... ...erman economy was down. This led to migrations to other countries. In his speech, Hitler just wanted to liberate nearly four million Germans, and return to their thousand-year-old Reich. For Hitler to united his Germans he had to remove different national and ethnic groups in Germany. Which clearly broke the treaty. I never thought by reading Keylor's The Legacy of the Great War, I would learn the fine details of the Paris Peace plan. The book goes in great detail that enables me to understand everyone's opinion. However I did not agree with everybody actions and thoughts on the treaty. I understood what they were looking for in the outcome. I now have a different feeling for Adolf Hitler. He was very powerful through his speeches and controlling a people's mind. I believe he had great ideas but did not know how to execute them in the proper manner.

Open Document