In this concluding volume of the Makers of the Modern World: The Peace Conferences of 1919–23 and Their Aftermath series, Alan Sharp investigates some of the most significant, long-term legacies and contributions of the peace treaties signed at the end of the First World War, including the creation of the League of Nations and the United Nations.

Approaching the First World War from a global perspective, this collection of 28 essays seeks to explain how each of the participating countries that signed the first Versailles peace treaty on 28 June 1919 came to be there, or, in the case of Russia and China, why they were absent. Starting with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, chapters describe how the major states reacted to events in Sarajevo and how countries such as Greece, Portugal and Brazil entered the war.