The Making of Peace Rulers, States, and the Aftermath of War

The Making of Peace represents a fascinating contribution to the study of war: namely, the difficulties that statesmen have confronted in attempting to put back together the pieces after a major conflict. These essays examine how Western belligerents have addressed - or failed to address - the making of peace across a span of two and a half millennia and in contests reflecting a broad range of prompting disputes. Some efforts produced at best a momentary suspension of hostilities. Others transformed the very context of international relations. Defined more modestly, however, as the control and moderation of violence, some peacemaking efforts were notably more successful than others. This study also serves as a first draft of a guide for those who will confront the equally difficult task of maintaining the peace, once achieved. It contains path-breaking essays by leading historians of the United States and the United Kingdom.

1. Introduction Williamson Murray; 2. The peace of Nicias Paul H. Rahe; 3. 'A swift and sure peace': the congress of Westphalia 1643–8 Derek Croxton and Geoffrey Parker; 3. The peace of Paris, 1763 Fred Anderson; 4. In search of repose: the congress of Vienna and the making of peace Richard Hart Sinnreich; 5. War and peace in the post-civil war south James M. McPherson; 6. Vae victoribus: Bismarck's quest for peace in the Franco-Prussian war, 1870–1 Marcus Jones; 7. Versailles: the peace without a chance Williamson Murray; 8. 'Building buffers and filling vacuums': Great Britain and the Middle East, 1914–22 John Gooch; 9. Mission improbable, fear, culture, and interest: peacemaking, 1943–9 Colin Gray; 10. The economic making of peace James Lacey; 11. Ending the Cold War Frederick W. Kagan; 12. Conclusion: history and the making of peace Richard Hart Sinnreich.

The Making of Peace represents a fascinating contribution to the study of war: namely, the difficulties that statesmen have confronted in attempting to put back together the pieces after a major conflict. It contains a number of case studies by many leading historians in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Williamson Murray is Senior Fellow at the Institute for Defense Analyses in Washington, DC, and Professor Emeritus of History at the Ohio State University. He is co-editor of The Past as Prologue (with Richard Hart Sinnreich), The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300–2050 (with MacGregor Knox), Military Innovation in the Interwar Period (with Allan R. Millett), and The Making of Strategy (with Alvin Bernstein and MacGregor Knox).
Jim Lacey is an analyst at the Institute for Defense Analyses in Washington, DC, where he has written several studies on the war in Iraq and on the Global War on Terrorism. Lacey was also an embedded journalist with Time magazine during the invasion of Iraq, during which he traveled with the 101st Airborne Division. He is the author of Takedown: The 3rd Infantry Division's 21-Day Assault on Baghdad.