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55 Pol. Sci. Q. 1 (1940)

handle is hein.journals/pclscceqry55 and id is 1 raw text is: 




March   z94o


      POLITICAL SCIENCE


               QUARTERLY


       VERSAILLES TWENTY YEARS AFTER
ONE of the propositions which could probably be put
        forward without fear of contradiction at the present
        time is that the World War did not succeed in pro-
ducing a  satisfactory and lasting peace; the daily papers
remind us of that convincingly enough. Beyond this truism,
an inquiry into the reasons for this failure reveals considerable
divergence of opinion; but there are certain notions which have
gained currency until they have become part of the unques-
tioned belief of large numbers of people. Among such widely
held ideas, none is more common than the legend which has
grown up around the name of Versailles.
  Even  among  informed people the assumption, explicit or
tacit, is often made that the Versailles settlement is the source
and fount of the world's subsequent troubles. This conclusion
would  seem to be the result of a simple syllogism running
somewhat  like this: the World War was fought essentially for
the purpose of establishing an orderly community of nations
(whether the emphasis be on making the World safe for de-
mocracy, the war to end war, the destruction of militarism, or
other kindred slogans) and the primary purpose of the peace
was to bring about such a result; now it is clear that such a
happy  state of affairs has not come into existence; ergo, the
war  itself was a futile waste and the peace settlements were
bad.
   The Versailles settlement is now twenty years old and,
despite the fact that the German Chancellor seems to find it
necessary to resort to periodic announcements of its demise, as


Volume  L V]


[ Number   r

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