PARIS -- The French capital and its environs have been the meeting place of peacemakers through the centuries.
Sometimes their efforts changed history, sometimes they disappeared into its forgotten pages.
As early as 1229, the city on the Seine lent its name to a treaty ending a crusade of northern nobles against the religious heretics of the south, a war which had nearly destroyed the rich provencal culture.
Others were:
-- Treaty of Paris of 1259, the most famous settlement made by King Louis IX, known as St. Louis, which adjusted the claims of Henry III of England on the French throne.
-- Peace of Paris of 1396, concluded by Richard II of England and Charles VI of France. It provided for a 30-year truce, but really created only a short pause in the Hundred Years War which did not end for another 57 years.
-- Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle 1748, returned property surrendered by the French in King George's war by British and American colonial forces against the French.
-- Treaty of Paris of 1763, ending the French and Indian War by which France gave up Canada and the American midwest.
-- Treaty of Paris of 1783, settling the American War of Independence, signed Sept. 3, following an earlier agreement in which Britain recognized U. S. independence. The preliminary agreement was signed here in November, 1782.
-- Treaty of Versailles of 1783, settling disagreements between France and Britain over trading rights in Senegal.
-- Treaty of Paris of 1784, ending war between the English and Dutch, with the Dutch giving up important colonial possessions.
-- Treaty of Paris of 1814, a secret treaty by which France, Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia (later joined by Sweden and Portugal) tried to re-establish peace in Europe after Napoleon's first abdication.
-- Treaty of Paris of 1815, a public treaty by the same allies, also signed by Spain, containing further measures which were deemed necessary following Napoleon's return from exile on Elba.
-- Treaty of Paris of 1856, signed May 30 by Britain, Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia and Turkey following the Crimean War.
-- Treaty of Paris 1898, ending the Spanish-American war.
-- Conference of Paris 1919-20, for framing the treaties which ended World War I.
-- Treaty of Versailles 1919, setting World War I issues.
A series of smaller conferences growing out of World War I followed in Paris 1919-1923.
The Kellogg-Briand peace pact was signed in Paris, Aug. 27, 1928, by 62 nations condemning war as an instrument of national polity.
At Fontainbleu, July 9 to Sept. 8, 1916, North Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh asked for "autonomy" for Vietnam and was turned down. The talks collapsed.
A peace conference was held at Palais Du Luxembourg, July 29 to Oct. 30, 1941, by 21 nations which had fought against Germany in World War II. Treaties were signed establishing peace In Europe.
Several other meetings followed, culminating in a summit conference of May 16-17, 1960, between President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Nikita Khrushchev, Prime Minister Harold MacMillan of Britain and President Charles Do Gaulle of France. It collapsed in the wake of the U2 spy plane incident.
