American President Wilson, British Prime Minister Lloyd-George, Italian Prime Minister Orlando and French Premier Clemenceau came together at the Paris Conference in 1919 and changed Europe forever. Did they allow the best peace that Europe could have had? Or did they let their own motives intervene? The Treaty of Versailles inflicted on Germany, and the peace settlements accepted in Eastern Europe had in common the creation of independence for "victim" nations, disarmament, and reparations due. How much of this could have been avoided? And how much was sticking to the principles of the peace? It would seem that the motives of the three main players (Orlando was soon left out) in the drafting of the treaty had their minds made up before even arriving in Paris. However, general principles do recur throughout the various peace settlements.

`Sometimes people call me an Idealist. Well, that is how I know I...