Moreover, it is hard to imagine that if Wilson’s proposals had formed the basis of the peace, and set the tone for all future negotiations, the history of Europe in the twentieth century would have been worse than it actually was. That makes the Treaty of Versailles a poor example to use to demonstrate the desirability of secrecy in international negotiations.
保罗•施罗特是一个历史学名誉教授，他在本月早些时候发表在《纽约时报》上的一篇文章中提出，公开外交往往带有“致命的缺陷”，并把凡尔赛条约举作一个需要秘密谈判以达成协议的例子。由于凡尔赛条约对德国民族主义的复兴，进而导致了希特勒的崛起和第二次世界大战的爆发负有重大责任，公平地说，凡尔赛条约是一个人类历史上最具灾难性的和平条约。