Paris 1919

A 2008 NFB History Docu-drama narrated by Robert Holmes Thomson.

How can you make peace when what you really want is revenge? In the wake of 37 million casualties at the end of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson took his dream of a League of Nations to Paris to seek "peace everlasting," joining over 30 international delegations who descended upon the great city for the most ambitious peace talks in history. Helmed by the Big Four (the United States, France, Great Britain, and Italy), the Paris Peace Conference ultimately and ironically sowed the seeds of resentment that led to World War II.

Director Paul Cowan expertly blends re-enactments with archival footage to transport us to one of the most important summit meetings of the 20th Century. Inspired by the award-winning bestseller by Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919 chronicles an extraordinary historical event that dissolved empires, redrew maps, engineered the Treaty of Versailles - and created far-reaching consequences that continue to afflict and trouble our world today.