The third edition of this acclaimed textbook on peace-making after the First World War advances that the responsibility for the outbreak of a new, even more ruinous, war in 1939 cannot be ascribed entirely to the planet’s most powerful men and their meeting in Paris in January 1919 to reassemble a shattered world. Giving a concise overview of the problems and pressures these key figures were facing, Alan Sharp provides a coherent introduction to a highly complex and multi-dimensional topic.

This is an ideal resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students taking modules on the Versailles Settlement, European and International History, Modern History, Interwar Europe, The Great War, 20th Century Europe, German History, or Diplomatic History, on either history courses or international relations/politics courses.

Alan Sharp’s book offers an invaluable overview of the post-First World War peace treaties for students and for the general reader. It is a pleasure to see a new and updated third edition that includes an excellent survey of the historical debate on the topic. * David Stevenson, LSE, UK *
The comprehensive chronology of key events, the long list of dramatis personae, and especially the excellent annotated bibliography which reviews the historiography of the subject since the last edition, admirably complements the superb text to qualify the third edition of The Versailles Settlement as the most valuable treatment of the subject available. * William R. Keylor, Boston University, USA *

Alan Sharp is Emeritus Professor of International History at the University of Ulster, UK.