Drawing on sources in Japanese, Chinese, and American archives and libraries, this book reassesses another facet of Woodrow Wilson's agenda at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I. Breaking with accepted scholarly opinions, the author argues that Wilson did not "betray" China, as many Chinese and Western scholars have charged; rather, Wilson successfully negotiated a compromise with the Japanese to ensure that China's sovereignty would be respected in Shandong Province. Rejecting the compromise, Chinese negotiators refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles, creating conditions for the Soviet Union's entry into China and its later influence over the course of the Chinese revolution.

The war-time series for 1939-46, edited by A. J. Toynbee, comprises the following volumes: [v.1] The world in March 1939, edited by A. J. Toynbee and F. T. Ashton-Gwatkin.--[v.2] The Middle East in the war, by G. Kirk.--[v.3] America, Britain & Russia, their co-operation and conflict, 1941-1946, by W. H. McNeill.--[v.4] Hitler's Europe, edited by A. Toynbee and V. M. Toynbee.--[v.5] The Middle East, 1945-1950, by G. Kirk.--[v.6] The realignment of Europe, edited by A. Toynbee and V. M. Toynbee.--[v.7] The Far East, 1942-1946, by F. C. Jones, H. Borton and B. R. Pearn.--[v.8] Four-power control in Germany and Austria, 1945-1946. I. Germany, by M. Balfour. II. Austria, by J. Mair.--[v.9] The war and the neutrals, edited by A. Toynbee and V. M. Toynbee.--[v.10] The eve of war, 1939, edited by A. Toynbee and V. M. Toynbee.--[v.11] The initial triumph of the Axis, edited by A. Toynbee and V. M. Toynbee.

This book is the first volume in a trilogy that traces the development of the academic subject of International Relations, or what was often referred to in the interwar years as International Studies. This first volume takes on the origins of International Relations, beginning with the League of Nations and the International Studies Conference in Berlin in 1928 and tracing its development through the Paris Peace Conference, the quest for cooperation in the Pacific, the Institute of Pacific Relations and lessons from Copenhagen, Shanghai and Manchuria. This project is an impressive and exhaustive consideration of the evolution of IR and is aptly published in celebration of the discipline's centenary.