The Unfinished Peace after World War I: America, Britain and the Stabilisation of Europe, 1919–1932

by Patrick O. Cohrs

• ISBN13: 9780521853538
• ISBN10: 0521853532
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-05-15
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This is a highly original and revisionist analysis of British and American efforts to forge a stable Euro-Atlantic peace order between 1919 and the rise of Hitler. Patrick Cohrs argues that this order was not founded at Versailles but rather through the first 'real' peace settlements after World War I - the London reparations settlement of 1924 and the Locarno security pact of 1925. Crucially, both fostered Germany's integration into a fledgling transatlantic peace system, thus laying the only realistic foundations for European stability. What proved decisive was that key decision-makers drew lessons from the 'Great War' and Versailles' shortcomings. Yet Cohrs also re-appraises why they could not sustain the new order, master its gravest crisis - the Great Depression - and prevent Nazism's onslaught. Despite this ultimate failure, he concludes that the 'unfinished peace' of the 1920s prefigured the terms on which a more durable peace could be founded after 1945.

Table of Contents

Prologue: the truncated peace of Versailles and its consequences, 1919 23

1. The wider challenges: the legacy of the 'Great War' and the era of imperialism

2. Wilson, Lloyd George and the quest for a 'peace to end all wars'

3. The ill-founded peace settlement of 1919

4. The escalation of Europe's post-Versailles crisis, 1920 23

Part I. The Anglo-American Stabilisation of Europe, 1923 24: 5. Towards a progressive transformation of European politics: the reorientation of American stabilisation policy, 1921 23

6. Towards transatlantic co-operation and a new European order: the reorientation of British stabilisation policy, 1922 24

7. The turning point - the Anglo-American intervention in the Ruhr crisis

8. From antagonism to accommodation: the reorientation of French and German postwar policies, 1923 24

9. The two paths to the London conference: the Dawes process and the recasting of European international politics

10. The first 'real' peace settlement after World War 1: the London agreement of 1924 and the consequences of the 'economic peace'

Part II. Europe's Nascent Pax Anglo-Americana, 1924 25: 11. The dawning of a progressive Pax Americana in Europe?

12. Towards the Locarno pact - Britain's quest for a new European concert, 1924-25

13. Regression? US policy and the 'political insurance' of Europe's 'economic peace'

14. Beyond irreconcilable differences? German and French approaches to Locarno

15. The path to Locarno - and its transatlantic dimension

16. The second 'real' peace settlement after World War I: the Locarno conference and the emergence of a new concert of Europe

Part III. The Unfinished Transatlantic Peace Order: the system of London and Locarno, 1926 29

17. Sustaining peaceful change and stability - the challenges of the latter 1920s

18. Progressive visions and limited commitments: American stabilisation efforts in the era of London and Locarno

19. 'Reciprocity'? Britain as 'honest broker' in the Locarno system

20. The new European concert - and its limits

21. The quest for a 'final postwar agreement' at Thoiry

22. Towards a peaceful change of Polish-German relations?

23. Achievements and constraints - the European security system of the latter 1920s

24. No 'new world order' - the limits of the Kellogg-Briand Pact

25. Towards the young process - the final bid to fortify the system of London and Locarno

26. The last 'grand bargain' after World War I - the Hague Settlement of 1929

Epilogue

Conclusion.