Chapter 8 addresses the issues facing the victorious Allies in their effort to produce peace agreements after the war. In January 1919 more than 30 delegations from around the world gathered in Paris to work out the arrangements for a postwar world. They faced a Herculean task for which they were woefully unprepared. The German, Habsburg, and Ottoman Empires had disappeared, creating a political vacuum that stretched across Central Europe and the Middle East. There was a pervasive sense of fear and uncertainty which undercut the confidence of the peacemakers in their efforts to define boundaries for new and existing states. There would be several years of additional conflict before the new map of Europe and the Middle East was finally settled. Historians continue to debate whether John Maynard Keynes’ indictment of the peacemakers’ efforts was justified. More recent assessments suggest that the accomplishments of Paris peace conference were probably as much as could be reasonably expected given the magnitude of the task before them. The First World War was a tragic catastrophe whose dark legacy remains part of the modern world.