The warring powers met at Versailles to settle with the Germans and at other châteaux around Paris to settle with the rest. Peace congresses never meet in a world that is really at peace, for there is always an aftermath of local war, crises, and disturbances.
In 1918-1919 these were so numerous and acute that they conditioned the work of the peace congresses. In addition, throughout 1918-1919 an influenza epidemic more devastating than any disease since the Black Death swept across the world, taking 20 million lives and disrupting families and work everywhere.
Possibly Related History:
- Peacemaking and Territorial Settlements, 1918-1923 | The First World War
- The Course of the War | The First World War
- The Second World War and Its Aftermath
- The Weimar Republic: Germany, 1918-1933 | Between The World Wars
- The Thirty Years’ War: The Peace of Westphalia, 1648 | The Great Powers in Conflict
