For more than five months, from August 1916 to the end of January 1917, leaders from the United States, Britain, and Germany held secret peace negotiations in an attempt to end the Great War. They did so far out of public sight—one reason why their effort, which came astonishingly close to ending the war and saving millions of lives, is little understood today. In The Road Less Traveled: The Secret Battle to End the Great War, 1916-1917, historian and former diplomat Philip Zelikow brings this story into the light, complicating our understanding of the war and the nature of the peace that did eventually follow. Join Dr. Zelikow and moderator Trygve Throntveit as they discuss this lost opportunity and its implications, with particular emphasis on President Woodrow Wilson’s role in creating it as well as his failure to ensure its realization.  

Philip Zelikow is the White Burkett Miller Professor of History and J. Wilson Newman Professor of Governance at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, both at the University of Virginia. A former career diplomat, he was the executive director of the 9/11 Commission. He worked on international policy in each of the five administrations from Reagan through Obama. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.