David talks to historian Margaret MacMillan, author of the prize-winning Peacemakers, about whether the 1919 Paris Peace Conference deserves its reputation as a missed opportunity and the harbinger of another war. Could the peace have been fairer to the Germans? Could the League of Nations have been given real teeth? Could the Bolsheviks have been involved? Or did the peacemakers make the best of a bad job?

To hear the second part of David’s conversation with Chris Clark about the fateful origins of the First World War, sign up now to PPF+ and get ad-free listening and all our other bonuses too: £5 per month or £50 a year for 24 bonus episodes: https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

Sign up here for our free fortnightly newsletter: the new edition is out tomorrow to go with our latest counterfactual episodes: https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters

Next time: What If… The Berlin Wall Hadn’t Fallen? 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.