19.4
WILSON FIGHTS FOR PEACE
OBJECTIVES:
Identify the elements of the Treaty of Versailles.
Explain the reasons why it failed.
PROBLEMS WITH THE PEACE…
 CONTEXT:
 Germany had not been militarily defeated.
 Britain, Italy and France want Germany
“humbled” so she will never invade again.
 Wilson wants to create a “peace without
victors” and avoid future conflicts.
 PROBLEM:
 Both views seek peace, but have opposite means
to that end.
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT…
Vittorio Orlando - Italian premier
David Lloyd George - British prime minister
Georges Clemenceau - French prime minister
Woodrow Wilson - American president
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
I.
NO SECRET TREATIES
II.
FREEDOM OF THE SEAS
III.
FREE TRADE AMONG NATIONS
IV.
DEMILITARIZATION
V.
FAIR AND EQUITABLE TREATMENT OF
COLONIZED PEOPLES
XIV.
LEAGUE OF NATIONS
How many of the points were achieved?
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private
international understandings of any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and
in the public view.
NO SECRET TREATIES
Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace
and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action
for the enforcement of international covenants.
FREEDOM OF THE SEAS
The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an
equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating
themselves for its maintenance.
FREE TRADE AMONG NATIONS
Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the
lowest point consistent with domestic safety.
DEMILITARIZATION
A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based
upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of
sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the
equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.
FAIR AND EQUITABLE TREATMENT OF COLONIZED PEOPLES
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
VIII-XIII.
(These points dealt with boundary changes)
XIV. A general association of nations must be formed under specific
covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political
independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.
FOURTEEN POINTS REJECTED
 Allies reject Wilson’s plan
 Central Powers not included in peace negotiations
 Russia and smaller allies excluded – only Britain, France,
Italy and USA
 German, Ottoman, and Austrian empire in part “liberated”
and divided among France and Britain
 Germany’s military dismantled
 Germany forced to accept war guilt clause
 Germany must $33 billion in reparations
WHAT PROBLEMS DOYOU FORESEE?
HOW MANY OF THE FOUR LONG-TERM
CAUSES OF WWI DID THE TREATY FIX?
HINT: Look back in your notes to the 4 major causes?
PUNISHING GERMANY
“It stripped Germany of just over 13 per cent of its territory, much of
which, in the shape of Alsace and Lorraine, was returned to France. It
also reduced Germany's economic productivity by about 13 per cent
and its population by ten per cent. Germany lost all of its colonies and
large merchant vessels, 75 per cent of its iron ore deposits and 26 per
cent of its coal and potash.”
SOURCE: British Broadcasting Corp.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/versailles_03.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/worldwarone/hq/outcomes3_01.shtml
WEAKNESSES OF THE TREATY
1.
It humiliated Germany, and it meant to.
2.
Russia was not included. It lost more land than Germany did,
leaving it wanting more.
3.
Allies stripped Germany of its colonies, but kept and expanded
their own.
WILSON DISILLUSIONED
 Americans see the Treaty as too harsh & a sell-out
 Many of the new boundaries created new problems, especially in
Middle-East
 League of Nations worried isolationists – it looked like an
entangling alliance!!!
WILSON DISILLUSIONED



Opposition to Treaty lead by Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge and
Republican Party.
Wilson refuses to compromise and appeals directly to the
voters
Wilson collapses with a stroke.
OUTCOME:
1. Senate rejects the Treaty and US does not join the League of
Nations.
2. Germans feel betrayed and regret stopping the war.
3. Germany’s economy is ruined.
4. Hitler comes to power, capitalizing on anger, bitterness, and
fear for the future.
Henry Cabot Lodge
The world's best hope, but if you fetter her in
the interest through quarrels of other nations, if
you tangle her in the intrigues of Europe, you
will destroy her powerful good, and endanger
her very existence. Leave her to march freely
through the centuries to come, as in the years
that have gone. Strong, generous, and confident,
she has nobly served mankind. Beware how you
trifle with your marvelous inheritance -- this
great land of ordered liberty. For if we stumble
and fall, freedom and civilization everywhere
will go down in ruin.
http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/ppmsc/03600/03676r.jpg
Wilson after his stroke, 1919
Wilson after his stroke, 1919
In October 1919 President Woodrow
Wilson (1856–1924) receives
assistance after his massive stroke,
which made it difficult for him to
maintain his train of thought and
manage government affairs.
Historians continue to debate the
influence of Wilson's poor health on
the president's losing battle for U.S.
membership in the League of Nations.
(Library of Congress)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
PROVISIONS
TREATY OF VERSAILLES
WEAKNESSES
REASONS FOR
OPPOSITION
IN THE US
TERMS
 Fourteen Points
 Objectives:
 League of Nations
 Identify the elements of
 Treaty of Versailles
 Reparations
 War-guilt clause
 Henry Cabot Lodge
the Treaty of Versailles.
 Explain the reasons why
it failed.