International Conference “The Frustrated Peace?: The Versailles Treaty and its Political, Social and Economic Impact on Europe”

The conference is held under the auspices of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and the President of the Czech Academy of Science.

When the last shots of the just finished war fell silent in November 1918, it began to be clear that despite the shock of immeasurable economic and human suffering, it would be possible to approach the emerging post-war period as an opportunity to transform Europe, or the whole world order, which, after the collapse of traditional monarchies, would create a framework shaped by the new political regimes and social structures. The most influential platform for building the new order was the peace talks in Paris, taking place from January 1919 to January 1920. The agreements with the individual defeated states could, in a wider perspective, provide the basis for a transformation of the then-world that would prevent or, at the very least, minimize the possibility of a repetition of major wars in the future.

The conference should provide answers to the question of to what extent the post-war states were able to define that symbolic “starting” line and (not) use it to further transformations inside the European or world society. Welcomed are papers that approach the legacy of the Versailles Peace Treaty in broader methodological and conceptual perspectives, and would present the specific consequences and effects of the so-called Versailles Peace System, whether in the political, social, economic or cultural areas.

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