The counterfactual follows rules meant to keep it historically bounded. Any alternative must fit the conference's political context, the proposals actually discussed, and the decisions negotiators could plausibly have made. Judging the delegates against a settlement invented without those constraints would be historically unfair. The result is a moderate revision built from the participants' own logic, rather than a present-day wish list imposed on the past.
Notable Point · 1:01:12-1:02:25
How to build a historically bounded treaty counterfactual
The alternative treaty must grow from positions and precedents visible at the Washington conference rather than from an unconstrained ideal settlement.