For more than half a century it has been widely recognised that the unfettered revenge against Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire which was the cornerstone of the Treaty of Versailles created the circumstances that led inevitably to the Second World War.

Veteran US foreign correspondent Andelman takes this argument one step further and explores the treaty's profound impact on other parts of the world and its legacy in places as far flung as the Middle East, the Far East, the Balkans and even Iraq.

In this revealing and insightful new look at the treaty as the point of origin for many of today's most critical international issues, Andelman exposes the lessons we can learn from that six-month period when the great western powers gathered in the grand halls of Versailles.

The author turns the spotlight on what he sees as the many errors committed by the erstwhile peacemakers that has led, whether directly or indirectly, to crises and bloodshed from Algeria to Kosovo and wars from Israel to Vietnam.

Among the leading players at the negotiations in 1919 were dominant figures of the 20 century like Ho Chi Minh and the French President Charles de Gaulle.

As well as focusing on the deliberations of the Great Powers who sculpted the treaty, he paints a vivid picture of the glittering social whirl that accompanied the negotiations.

Elsa Maxwell threw her first party, young Franklin Roosevelt flirted with Parisian widows to the humiliation of his wife Eleanor and princesses and their young men danced gaily to the hot new sound of American jazz.

Meanwhile prime ministers David Lloyd George and Georges Clemenceau pored over huge maps, carving up territories and cementing their position as leading world powers for decades to come.

Adelman's conclusion on the peacemakers and their legacy is ominous. Not only did the paternalism, ignorance and self-serving approach lead to both short-term and longer lasting disasters; their malign influence has led to the world's developed nations frequently repeating and reaffirming the same mistakes.

With diary quotes, correspondence from the participants and previously unpublished photographs, Adelman provides a powerful and sobering reassessment of a pivotal moment in our history.

(Wiley, hardback, £13.99)