Wilson’s Fourteen Points
■Wilson believed WW I presented
an opportunity for the USA to lead
the world towards peace:
–Wilson saw moral diplomacy as
the A
antidote
to imperialism
&
faith in government
to
solve international
problems
military
aggression
–Wilson’s plan for peace was the
Fourteen Points based on
progressive liberalism &
improved international relations
Hungary
TheAustria
Treaty of
Versailles
Yugoslavia
■ Wilson’s
Fourteen
Points contained
Poland
Czechoslovakia
Turkey3
main themes:
–Creating new nations out of
weakened empires based on
“national self-determination”
–New international rules: freedom of
the seas, no more secret treaties,
reduced militarism
–Proposed a League of Nations to
solve future problems
Wilson made a mistake by not including
Wilson’s
Fourteen
Points
any key
Republicans
in his Paris
delegation
■Wilson traveled to the Paris Peace
Conference in 1919 to help create
the Treaty of Versailles:
–He hoped his Fourteen Points
would become the framework for
the peace treaty
–But he realized the need to
compromise other issues if he
wanted a League of Nations
Major Provisions of the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Paris, 1919
■The treaty was a compromise:
–Poland,
Czech,
Yugoslavia
Wilson
originally
hoped for awere
“peace
without victory”
formed
but Germany’s
colonies
were split up by the victors
–Germany had to accept the “war
guilt clause” & pay $33 billion
–The treaty did not mention free
trade or freedom of seas
–Despite calls for open covenants,
the treaty was drafted in secret
Europe
Europebefore
after the
the war
war
New countries!
Divided empires!
New countries!
New countries!
New countries!
New countries!
Divided empires!
New countries!
Russia turns
Communist (USSR)
A Peace
Articleof
10Paris
The the
Members
of
theconsisted
League
undertake
■But,
“Big
Four”
agreed
to “Big
Executive
Council
of the
toFour,”
respect
& preserve
as against
external
Japan,
&
4
other
elected
nations
Wilson’s
League
of
Nations:
aggression the territorial integrity and
–Created
a General
Assembly
existing political
independence
of all of
Members
the League.Council
27 nations
& of
Executive
In case of any such aggression or in
–Acase
Court
ofthreat
International
Justice
of any
or danger of
such
aggression the
shall sanctions
advise
–Arbitration
& Council
economic
upon
the means
by which
this obligation
would
be used
to settle
conflicts
shall be fulfilled.
against nations that resort to war
–Article X asked nations to protect
each other’s independence
■On June 28, 1919, the Treaty of
Versailles was signed by
Germany & officially ended WW I
A Peace at Paris
■All the major European powers
signed the treaty & joined the
League  but not the U.S.
■Polls showed U.S. support for the
treaty, but the Senate wanted to
amend the League’s covenant to
keep the U.S. from begin forced
to fight foreign wars
■Wilson refused to compromise &
weaken the League of Nations
Rejection in the Senate
■ 2/3 of the Senate was needed for
the U.S. to approve the treaty:
–The “mild reservationists”
wanted changes to slightly
weaken the League
–The “strong reservationists” led
by Henry Cabot Lodge wanted
major changes to Article X
–The “irreconcilables” refused to
allow the U.S. to join the League
Rejection in the Senate
Like
he
did
at
the
Paris
■Senate Majority Leader Lodge led
Peace Conference
the attack on the treaty & League:
–Instead of compromising, Wilson
tried to pressure the Senate with
the rest of his presidency,
aFor
cross-country
speakingEdith
tour
Wilson served as de facto president
–The tour was popular but
ineffective in pressuring Lodge
–During the tour, Wilson had a
stroke & remained bed-ridden
Rejection in the Senate
■Wilson’s failure to compromise led
the “irreconcilables” & “strong
reservations” to defeat the treaty
■The United States never signed
“Compromise?
Let
Lodge
compromise…
Better
the Treaty of Versailles nor joined
a thousand times to go down fighting than to dip
League
of Nationscompromise.”
yourthe
colors
to a dishonorable
—Woodrow
Wilson
■In 1920, the Republican
Warren
Harding won in a landslide
signaling a “return to normalcy”
The League of Nations (Such as it is…)
■ The League of Nations was formed in early 1920s
■ But almost nothing like the organization that Wilson had dreamed
up and fought for
■ No USA, no Soviet Union, no Germany
■ Result: Very little teeth, very little authority to do anything
Members of the League of Nations
U.S. signed its own peace treaty
with Germany in 1921
Conclusions:
Post-War Disillusionment
The Postwar
war killed Disillusionment
“something precious
■The
impact
the GreatinWar:
and
perhapsofirretrievable
the
hearts
of
thinking
men
and
women.”
–The U.S. played a key role the
international peace process
A
promise
“not
of
heroics
but
–Led to unprecedented economic
healing; not nostrums but normalcy;
prosperity
&
gov’t
involvement
not revolutions but restoration.”
but killed Progressivism
–To the next generation, the war
seemed futile & wasteful
–Americans welcomed President
Harding’s return to “normalcy”
US International Involvement
■ Claimed to be “isolationist”
■ In reality, quite heavily
involved in world affairs
■ Economically: Has lent,
continues to lend money to
Europe
■ Also helps to re-negotiate
the terms of German
reparations
■ Diplomatically: Helps to
reduce naval armaments at
Washington Conference
■ Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928):
Pledges nations of the world
to renounce war forever
On to the “Roaring Twenties”
■ Kellogg-Briand
Pact symbolizes
the supreme
optimism of the
1920s
■ Optimism +
prosperity = The
Roaring Twenties
One Perspective from 1941
■ In 1919 we had a golden opportunity, an
opportunity unprecedented in all history, to
assume the leadership of the world—a
golden opportunity handed to us on the
proverbial silver platter. We did not
understand that opportunity. Wilson
mishandled it. We rejected it. The
opportunity perished. We bungled it in the
1920s and in the confusions of the 1930s
we killed it.”
Henry Luce, “The American Century”