Cohrs, Patrick O. 1972–

views updated

Cohrs, Patrick O. 1972–

PERSONAL:

Born September 24, 1972. Education: University of Oxford, Lincoln and St. Antony's Colleges, Ph.D., 2002.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of History, Hall of Graduate Studies, Yale University, 320 York St., Ste. 2688, New Haven, CT 06511. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, fellow at Center for European Studies, 2002-03, post-doctoral fellow at Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs 2005-06; St. Antony's College, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, senior associate, 2004, Alistair Horne Fellow, 2006-07; International Security Program research fellow, 2004-05; Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, history department research fellow, 2004-05; Yale University, New Haven, CT, assistant professor of history, 2007—. Also affiliated with the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies as a residential fellow at Branford College, Yale University; International Security Studies Fellow, Yale University.

WRITINGS:

The Unfinished Peace after World War I: America, Britain and the Stabilisation of Europe, 1919-1932, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Patrick O. Cohrs was born September 24, 1972. He attended Lincoln College and St. Antony's College at the University of Oxford and graduated with his doctorate in 2002. An assistant professor of history at Yale University since 2007, he has also served as the Alistair Horne Fellow at St. Anthony's College, Oxford, and was an assistant professor at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. In addition, Cohrs has been a fellow at both the Center for European Studies and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. He is linked to the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies as a fellow of Branford College at Yale University. His primary areas of academic and research interest include U.S. international history and the history of Europe, international politics, and the contributions of the United States to a potentially improved international system. He is the author of The Unfinished Peace after World War I: America, Britain and the Stabilisation of Europe, 1919-1932, which was published in 2006.

In The Unfinished Peace after World War I, Cohrs suggests that it is necessary to look at the Paris peace talks at the close of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles, and the character of the ensuing international order with a fresh perspective. It has been suggested by a number of historians that the Treaty of Versailles resulted in an inefficient international system in the wake of World War I—one that ultimately trickled down into more modern global relations. The international order created by the Treaty of Versailles, then, is viewed by these historians as carrying the seeds of its own destruction. Against this interpretation, Cohrs argues that any failure on the modern global scale was the result of multiple issues and not just the single treaty and its signing. Moreover, he suggests that the peace created by the Treaty of Versailles (and, more importantly, subsequent diplomatic events such as the London reparations settlement of 1924 and the Locarno security pact of 1925) was viable and genuine and can be placed on a continuum with the international order that followed the next World War. It was largely the Great Depression that warped and shattered this interwar peace, Cohrs argues, although he also points out other issues that contributed distinctly to the shifting balance of powers. In addition, during a period when allied governments were attempting to strengthen their ties and unify their goals for a global outlook, both France and England had several rapid changes in their governments, shuffling the individuals responsible for the strengthening of those ties. Given those two countries' age-old animosities toward one another, this proved detrimental toward their long-term political relationships. In addition, Cohrs argues that in many respects Germany was viewed and treated as pitiable and wretched due to its status, economic and otherwise, following the war. This alone engendered a more lenient attitude toward the country by certain allied nations that might otherwise have been more strict regarding the question of reparations.

In researching The Unfinished Peace after World War I, Cohrs delved into a number of resources, both public and private, sorting through archives in England, France, Germany, and the United States, as well as collections belonging to the League of Nations. His exhaustive research has provided new insights into global reactions to the Treaty of Versailles, as well as to other behaviors on an international level following World War I. While critics differ in their opinion regarding the success of Cohrs's argument, they agree that his research efforts were thorough. Frederic Krome, writing for the Canadian Journal of History, concluded that "Cohrs marshals an impressive amount of evidence for his assertions." Regarding the overall premise of the work, Krome commented: "Cohrs's argument for a reorientation away from a focus on Versailles as the defining issue of the diplomacy of the 1920s does not always appear sustainable as it was the starting point for most of the subsequent negotiations by the participants. He is, however, almost certainly correct that few regarded the treaty as immutable."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, June 1, 2007, Lloyd E. Ambrosius, review of The Unfinished Peace after World War I: America, Britain and the Stabilisation of Europe, 1919-1932, p. 821.

Canadian Journal of History, March 22, 2007, Frederic Krome, review of The Unfinished Peace after World War I, p. 177.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, July 1, 2007, P. Scherer, review of The Unfinished Peace after World War I, p. 1961.

Diplomatic History, April 1, 2008, William Keylor, review of The Unfinished Peace after World War I, p. 263.

English Historical Review, September 1, 2007, Zara Steiner, review of The Unfinished Peace after World War I, p. 1059.

Historische Zeitschrift, February 28, 2007, Werner Link, review of The Unfinished Peace after World War I, p. 244.

International History Review, March 1, 2008, Klaus Schwabe, review of The Unfinished Peace after World War I, p. 163.

Journal of American History, June 1, 2007, Stephen A. Schuker, review of The Unfinished Peace after World War I, p. 319.

Journal of British Studies, April 1, 2007, Mai'a Davis Cross, review of The Unfinished Peace after World War I, p. 409.

Journal of Military History, October, 2007, Gordon Martel, review of The Unfinished Peace after World War I, pp. 1264-1266.

Times Literary Supplement, September 1, 2006, T.G. Otte, review of The Unfinished Peace after World War I, p. 7.