Ruminations over the book about the Versailles peace conference 1919 not without pertinence to the current tragedies in the Middle East
Margaret Macmillan,
the Peace(war)makers

Ruminations over the book about the Versailles peace conference 1919 not without pertinence to the current tragedies in the Middle East
Margaret Macmillan,
the Peace(war)makers

Having developed an edge in mechanisation and industrial revolution, Britain and France and the US abandon that the principles of the power of justice, truth force, rights force in favour of the tragic concept of power and submission of all ‘other’ by iron and steel and mechanized instruments of mass impersonal destruction.

With their new and overwhelming advantage, they failed every moral and ethical test and opted for the broader Jungle formula of might is right!

Having had the edge they created a closed club where they resented, resisted and refused to have anybody join even the nations that had by industry, hard work and ingenuity acquired the credentials in full to join the club namely Germany and Japan with the turn of the 20th century.

Analysis of the dynamics of the peace conference at Versailles would show clearly that the seeds of future war or rather future wars were being sown. The basic principles of justice and law where flouted to an extent that was absolutely incredible.

The primal principle of listening to the other accused party or parties.

The primal principle that even a criminal caught red handed has a right:

to present a defense and to have a hearing
to be confronted with the evidence against him and to be given the chance to refute it and/or present counter evidence
to have a neutral body weigh the conflicting evidence and find the the points of fair balance and justice in complex and delicate situations.

These basic principles evolved over centuries of painful struggle towards interactive justice were ignored. Incredibly the Germans were excluded from the conference till the last moments when they were brought in to hear the final decisions. Judgments were made without the presence of the accused The accused were not allowed any participation. There was not even a semblance of trying to listen to their defense or point of view.

At the peace conference, friendships and shady relations and behind-the-scenes contacts between individuals with influence or with money played a major role in changing direction sometimes 180°. A famous and tragic example for the Middle East (Arabs and Jews alike) was the friendship between Balfour and Weitzman.

It turned into a silly, superficial, short sighted push and pull between the voctors who promulgated the formula that might is right and that "might" in the New World belongs to the inner circle club with restrictive conditions that exclude more than two thirds of the World and the most weighty countries in Europe and the far East. A club of privilege advantage and power that belongs to those who can perfect industry, mechanised warfare and weapons, post industrial revolution weapons of mass destruction and of mass impersonal killing eventually making of their citizens mechanized armies which are virtual killing machines. These lead nations who had their lead born out of industry and mechanised warfare, failed to lay down the foundations of a just and balanced peace. They, and the whole of humanity, were to pay a heavy price for their folly, egocentricity, hidden agendas and lack of principles. Subduing the whole World they failed to escape the deadliest conflagrations re-erupting between themselves as a result of the flawed, short sighted ‘peace’ they imposed. In time, the very powers that fall for the delusion that they can impose peace by force instead of make peace by justice and interactive dialogue, will in time be challenged by being faced with their own formula for a privileged peace applied by others defeated, ignored, subdued and unjustly treated for so long. The time is bound to come when the upstart newcomers will seek and defend and if necessary fight for their long denied interests in opposition to the interests of the older exclusive and selfish members of the club of power and advantage. A threatening, gloomy conflict ridden future which is utterly preventable with the development of the culture and practice of interactive dialogue fair representation and neutral arbitration.


A question that must be asked of the so-called leaders of the civilized World, what principles have you established in international relations and in creating and maintaining the dynamics of world peace based on dialogue, uncoerced consensus and justice? The answer is: very little. It has been: live by the sword and maintain hegemony by mechanized warfare and invention and mastery of weapons of mass destruction
‘Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword’, can now be translated as: those who chose postindustrial weapons of mechanised mass impersonal killing as intstruments of world domination and unfair privilege, shall one day suffer these very weapons turned against them.

Was it not the British and Americans and the French and Italians that introduced the principles of ‘might is right’ and that power and influence are tied to industrialisation and to the ability to invent, manufacture and implement more and more deadly weapons of post industrial mechanised warfare? Were the Germans and the Japanese not faithful imitators and followers of their British and American masters, teachers? We must always ask a key question? Who introduced and implemented and re-created the formula of ‘might is right?’ And who equated might with the invention of more and more horrible weapons of impersonal and mass destruction? We have avoided the second half of the teaching ‘those who live by the sword shall die by the sword’ by making sure that our sword shall continue forever to be the biggest, tallest and strongest sword!

This situation can not and will not last for ever.

Can we then in the West be surprised if the Goddess Nemesis pronounces her curse upon us and decree that one day we shall have a full taste of our own medicine applied against us and ours by other forces who in time will acquire and master our nefarious mentality of mechanized warfare and weapons of mass impersonal killing as instruments of power and conflict resolution?