Part Five: Oxbow Summary and Analysis

The crowds in London are jubilant with the end of World War I. On November 21, the cruiser H.M.S. Cardiff sails to a rendezvous twenty miles out with a German ship commanded by Admiral Ludwig von Reuter. The Cardiff escorts the German vessel to May Island for a meeting with the British high command where the German flag is lowered at sunset. Britain seems to have survived the war intact. It suffers a loss of wealth but its factories and infrastructure are intact.

The peace conference is held at Versailles where the League of Nations is created. Woodrow Wilson is opposed to territorial acquisitions and insists upon self-determination. The British Empire acquires 988,000 square miles of new territory, many of the former German possessions as well as the Middle East. They attribute it to the Royal Navy...