THE TREATY OF
VERSAILLES AND THE
END OF THE WAR
Introduction:
■ December 13th, 1918 Wilson
arrived in France, the war was
over
■ Wilson went to write a peace
treaty that would make the world,
“safe for democracy”
■ Wilson was welcomed as a king,
everyone in Paris cheered him on
■ He arrived with hopes of achieving
just and lasting world peace
■ European leaders did not
necessarily share his vision
Wilson’s Vision
■ Wilson proposed his vision for peace to
the U.S. congress during the war
■ Wilsons 14 Points: designed to protect
every “peace-loving nation” from “force
and selfish aggression”
■ First goal was to eliminate causes of
wars
– Called for an end to secret
agreements and alliances
■ Called for freedom of the seas
– Merchants could trade peacefully
during peace and war time
■ Reduce armaments: wanted to reduce
militarism and weapons of war
■ Second key goal was to promote selfdetermination
– Everyone controls their own
political future
■ League of Nations: Wilson’s most
important point and aimed to ensure
world peace
– Members from all over the world
would work together to protect
independence
– Ensure territorial integrity:
respecting ones borders
– Resolve conflicts before they reach
war
Wilson’s Unusual Decisions
■ No president had ever traveled to
Europe in office
■ Wilson decided to go to Europe to
ensure lasting peace himself
■ Before Wilson left America had a
mid-term election
■ Wilson called for support for the
Democrats but the Republicans won
■ This led to his peace deal becoming
weakened in America just before he
was about to pitch it to the
Europeans
■ Wilson had only invited one
Republican diplomat to go
with him to Europe
■ William Taft said Wilson
wanted to “hog the whole
show”
■ Senate was now in republican
control and lack of republican
influence angered these
senators
■ Wilson’s oversight would come
back to haunt him
Treaty of Versailles: Ideals vs. Self
Interest
■ Peace conference was held at the
Palace of Versailles in France
■ The Big Four:
– Wilson
– David Lloyd George (GB)
– Georges Clemenceau (France)
– Vittorio Orlando (Italy)
■ Germany had no representatives at
the talks
■ Russia did not attend
■ Wilson’s 14 Points were liked by European powers but
were more interested in their own self interest
■ Clemenceau focused on French security
– Wanted to weaken Germany so they could not
attack France again
– Wanted Germany to have army capped at
100,000 men
■ Lloyd George had recently won reelection with the
slogan “Hang the Kaiser”
– Proposed the War-Guilt Clause
■ War Guilt Clause:
– Germany was forced to accept all blame for the
war
– Destroyed Wilson’s idea for “peace without
victory”
■ Treaty required Germany to pay $33 billion in
reparations
– Payments to victors of war for their costs during
the war
■ Wilson did not want to punish
Germany
■ The other countries wanted to
punish Germany
– They had lost more lives
and property
– Wanted compensation
■ Wilson agreed to the harsh
treatment in return for
support of the League of
Nations
■ Wilson’s commitment to selfdetermination helped ethnic
groups in Europe leave the war
with their own nations
■ Other territorial decisions went
against Wilson’s philosophy
– Parts of Germany given to
France, Poland, Denmark and
Belgium
■ Other German controlled areas
around the world were scooped up
as mandates by European nations
■ Mandates: territories controlled
by the League of Nations
■ Wilson’s goals were not realized
■ He was able to save the League of
Nations and have it included in the
final treaty
■ Wilson hoped that the League
would fix the flaws of the treaty
over time
■ League was to maintain peace
through collective security
■ Collective Security: commitment
by League members to deal with
threatening nations
■ Treaty was signed by the Big Four
on June 18th, 1919
The U.S. Debates Ratification
■ The U.S. senate needed to ratify
the Treaty of Versailles
■ Wilson had strong public support
■ The 2/3’s vote required by the
senate was hard to come by
■ Many republicans were reluctant
to ratify the treaty
■ Reservationists: people who said
they would vote yes if the treaty
was changed
■ Article 10: Focused on collective
security by requiring members to
work together and supply troops
to keep peace
■ This article was the main
concern of the senate
■ People feared that this would
draw the U.S. into war without
congressional approval
■ Wanted Article 10 changed to say
that the U.S. could only supply
troops with congressional
approval
Henry Cabot Lodge
■ Lodge hated Wilson
■ “I never expected to hate anyone in politics
with the hatred I feel towards Wilson”
■ Had personal and political reasons to
oppose treaty
■ Angry about lack of Republicans in
Versailles
■ Wanted to embarrass Wilson and weaken
Democratic party
■ He was head of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee
■ Delayed action on the treaty and gave
critics every opportunity to speak out
against it
Irreconcilables Vs. Internationalists
■ Irreconcilables were a group
of 16 dead set no senators
■ Internationalists supported
the treaty
■ Completely opposed any
treaty
■ Internationalists:
democrats who believed
cooperation in the world
would benefit everyone
■ Used George Washington’s
farewell address to fight for
neutrality
■ Rather than focusing on the
U.S. being pulled in to war
they focused on how the
U.S. would be involved
preventing it
Support for Treaty:
■ The public support for the treaty sputtered
as the debates dragged on
■ Wilson went directly to the public for
support
■ Wilson was in poor health as he planned to
do a speaking tour in support of the Treaty
■ He spoke up to 4 times a day and support
for the treaty seemed to be increasing
■ On September 25th, 1919 Wilson collapsed
while in Colorado
■ Wilson had a severe stroke that left him
partially paralyzed
■ While trying to restore his health his wife
Edith ran his daily schedule
■ The people had no idea
just how sick Wilson was
■ When the severity
became known people
accused Edith of making
his decisions
■ She became caught up
in the heat of the
Versailles debate
Treaty is Defeated
■ Partisanship played a big role in the
treaty being shut down
■ Loyalty to party was above anything else
■ Treaty had been amended 14 times and
Wilson rejected all of them
■ Wilson refused to accept any changes
■ The treaty was not ratified the first time
around
■ The treaty fell 7 votes short of
ratification again the second time
around even with the amendments
1920 Election:
■ Wilson struggled to save the treaty
■ Dem. Candidate James M. Cox and
his running mate Franklin Delano
Roosevelt supported treaty
■ Rep. candidate Warren Harding was
on the fence
■ Public opinion had shifted away from
treaty towards domestic issues
■ Harding won by over 7 million votes
■ The treaty had officially died
The Treaty Dies
■ The United States had
technically fought separately
from the Allies
■ U.S. signed a separate treaty
with Germany
■ League of Nations moved into
operations without the nation
whose president had created it
■ Partisanship had killed
collective security in the U.S.
until WWII