Readiness standards comprise 65% of the U. S. History Test

4 (F)

Readiness Standard (4)The student understands the emergence of the

U. S. as a world power between 1898 and 1920.

The Student is expected to:(F) Analyze major issues such as

isolationism & neutrality raised by U. S. involvement in World War I [see (C) 2 above], Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen

Points, & the Treaty of Versailles

Readiness Standard (4)The student understands the emergence of the

U. S. as a world power between 1898 and 1920.

(F) 2 Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points

Underlying Principles of Wilson’s Fourteen Points

• No secret treaties—“public diplomacy” (the Versailles Conference itself violated this principle, its treaty terms negotiated in secret)

• Limitations of national armaments• Principle of self-determination followed for all national groups (not universally followed by

the terms of Versailles)• Establishment of a League of Nations (the only one of these 4 which seemed achievable)

Readiness Standard (4)The student understands the emergence of the

U. S. as a world power between 1898 and 1920.

(F) 3 the Treaty of Versailles

Making Peace: The Treaty of Versailles

• Armistice—a truce or cessation of hostilities; it was signed November 11, 1918 at 11 p.m.

• The last comparable meeting was in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna

Armistice and Ending the War

Opening of the Paris Peace Conference, January 18, 1919

The Major Players and Their Respective Aims

The So-Called Big Four of the Versailles Peace Conference

Woodrow Wilson, U.S. President

• Wilson was the acknowledged leader of the conference, imbued with a capacity to interpret the aspirations of the peoples of Europe. He thrust the U. S. into the moral leadership of the world, making America the symbol of hope to the people of Europe.

• Wilson envisioned a “Peace Without Victory”• Wilson’s 14 points—the key ideas of his

“liberal” peace play

Underlying Principles of Wilson’s Fourteen Points

• No secret treaties—“public diplomacy” (the Versailles Conference itself violated this principle, its treaty terms negotiated in secret)

• Limitations of national armaments• Principle of self-determination followed for all

national groups (not universally followed by the terms of Versailles)

• Establishment of a League of Nations (the only one of these 4 which seemed achievable)

Announced before Congress on January 8, 19188, Wilson’s far-reaching, non-punitive terms “were generous and farsighted, but they failed to satisfy

wartime emotions that sought vindication. England and France distrusted Wilsonian idealism as the basis

for peace. They wanted Germany disarmed and crippled; they wanted its colonies; and they were

skeptical of the principle of self-determination.” While Wilson’s European counterparts were far from

cooperative, he proved a clever negotiator, trading small concessions for his major objectives: self-

determination, a reduction of international tensions, and the establishment of a League of Nations.

David Lloyd George, British Prime Minister

He desired a fairly moderate peace but had just won an election based on promises of a harsh peace

George Clemenceau, French Premier

The working chairman of the conference—he hated the Germans and his foremost aim was to weaken them in every way. He felt revenge was just.

Orlando, Italian chief of state

He played a minor role in comparison to his foreign minister Sidney Sonnino; they were determined to hold the Allies to the promises they made to Italy in 1915

Vittorio Orlando, 1860-1952

Sidney Sonnino

Those Excluded: neither the Central Powers nor Russia were represented at the

conference. Germany had no voice in the peace-making

process (contrast to France at the Congress of Vienna in

1815)

Problems of Making Peace

• Many secret treaties were made by the Allies—this violated the basis for Wilson’s proposed peace

• Many foreign and domestic disturbances came in the wake of the war’s end. Indeed, statesmen hurried to convene the conference because of the threat of Bolshevism, and numerous disturbances took place while the conference was in session

No one seemed to know how to establish a lasting peace, even though it was desired

External Problems:

External Problems Continued

• The clamor in Allied countries for a speedy settlement and return to everyday life. There was a general and popular assumption that peace making was easy. When wars end, people want to stop worrying, to celebrate

• The general physical and nervous strain under which the delegates labored

Internal Problems—questions on which the Allies did not see eye-to-eye

• Germany’s colonies

• The Rhineland

Internal Problems Continued

• Reparations

The issue here was how to make good the damage done to the civilian populations of the Allies. To justify a large

penalty imposed for even pensions to victims of war and allowances to their families, “War Guilt” was placed on Germany for her aggression in starting the war. In the final analysis, the Allies imposed both responsibility for

the war and crippling reparations that came to a whopping $33 million.

Wilson urged “peace without victory” and the rejection of reparations.

Internal Problems Continued

• Fiume Crisis

• Shantung Issue

Signing and Terms of the Treaty

• Treaty signed June 28, 1919– Intended as an ironic twist, this was five years

to the day from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. It was a settlement dictated to the vanquished, the Germans

• Imposition of territorial, military, and economic restrictions

– Territory Germany lost:

Territory & Resources Germany lost

• A third of her pre-war territory• 15% of her coal• Almost 50% of her iron• 19% of her iron and steel industries• She gave up her colonies• She recognized the independence of

AustriaMany Allied powers wished to punish Germany and prevent it from becoming a world power

again.

Militarily, Germany:

• Reduced its army to 100,000 volunteers• Limited its navy to 6 battleships of 10,000 tons

and a few smaller ships• Agreed to have no offensive weapons (e.g.,

submarines, aircraft, tanks, heavy artillery)• Dissolved its General Staff• Submitted to the supervision of an Allied

Military Control Commission to monitor those provisions

Economically, Germany:

• Had to pay reparations with no exact amount set (a Reparations Commission was to decide; in the meantime, Germany was to pay $5 billion in cash or kind)

• France received large amounts of coal to compensate for the wanton destruction of her mines

• England received ships to compensate for losses of over 5,000 ships to submarine warfare

Economically, Germany (continued)

• Most German rivers were internationalized

• German foreign assets of $7 billion were confiscated

• Many German patents were seized• Germany was prohibited from raising her

tariffs above the pre-war level

Finally, there was the call for punishment of war criminals including the Kaiser

In short, everything possible was done to prevent and avert the

threat of a strong, vengeful Germany

The Post-War Period

• Nations struggle to overcome the effects of war

• The defeated countries smart over

– The harshness of the treaty terms

– The violation of several of the 14 Points

– The fact that the principle of self-determination was ignored in many Slavic areas creating new nations with large alien populations (mostly Germans or Hungarians which would be vindictively answered by Adolf Hitler)

• Establishment of democratic governments

Establishment of Democratic Governments

• Unfortunately, this was associated with the defeat in war (i.e., Germany, Austria, Hungary, Turkey)

• In the tense, tumultuous postwar atmosphere, democracy did not consolidate or function wellInexperienced parliamentary governments in Eastern and Central Europe could not handle arising problems

• In their place arose a new kind of dictatorial, totalitarian regime better suited to cope with the emergencies of world crisis

Europe’s Tripartite Division

• The victors

• The vanquished

• Russia, i.e., the Bolsheviks

League of Nations—Why It Failed

Wilson envisioned the League as a world

conscience, an organized moral force—a parliament

of nations in which international problems could

be discussed and solved (shades of the Concert of

Europe of 1815)

Article X of the Covenant of the League of Nations—required member nations

to protect one another against aggression, to

guarantee mutual independence and

territorial integrity. Americans like Senator

Henry Cabot Lodge feared this would entangle the U.

S. in war

Purpose and Goals of the League

• Promote international cooperation

• Achieve international peace and security

• It was founded on the concept that collective security with peace maintained by the community of nations rather than a “balance of power

• Specific Goals:

Specific Goals:

• International disarmament– In this, the League failed. Verification of

disarmament violations (e.g., Iraq after the Gulf War) were difficult to prove; secret treaties were made; it was hard to find a valid basis for determining the military power of a nation

• Arbitration of international disputes– Provision for the League Council were vague and

necessitated unanimous approval. It was effective for settling disputes among the smaller powers, but when big power interests collided, the League proved quite powerless

Specific Goals Continued

• Sanctions against aggression

– To be effective, these sanctions needed the approval of all the big powers (and not all were members of the League). The League had not military troops to put teeth into its actions. Military sanctions were left to the discretion of each individuals member.

• Treaty revision

– Article 18 was intended to prevent secret diplomacy; Article 19 allowed for changes in treaties once the hatred of war cooled. . . but the powers did not use this opportunity fully

Problems With the League

• Germany entered in 1926

• USSR entered in 1934

• USA never entered due to strong isolationist sentiment in postwar America—an “America for Americans” sentiment

– The US failed to ratify the Treaty of Versailles

– In its absence, the League was dominated by the European victors without an impartial arbiter which the US could have been

Several big, important nations were not members

The Central Problem

The big powers would not act selflessly except in fields that did not effect their

national interests

Accomplishments of the League

• It improved the standard of colonial administration

• It raised the status of workers everywhere by an international labor organization

• Its concern with matters of health• Its concern with illicit drug traffic• Its concern with the international arms

trade

Many of these important institutions were precursors of United Nations organizations for which they set important precedents.

Changes made by Wilson to obtain Senate approval of the League Covenant

• Allowed for withdrawal from the League

• Recognition of the importance of the Monroe Doctrine in the Western hemisphere

Wilson’s Failures

• The division of the spoils of war and creation of new nations created new minorities, cf., Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary

• Wilson’s position was weakened by:– The mid-term election of a Republican Congress in

1918– Wilson had neglected to include any major

Republicans in the American delegation he took to Paris; this impolitic exclusion came back to haunt him after the 1918 election

Wilson arrived in Europe almost a messianic figure. “Never before had such crowds acclaimed a democratic political figure.” Understandably, “Wilson was sure that

the poeple of Europe shared his goals and would force their leaders to accept his peace.” When Lodge (below)

and others obstructed treaty ratification, Wilson took his case directly to the American people. In September 1919, he set out on an aggressive speaking campaign to muster grass roots support. In Pueblo, Colorado, after making perhaps the most effective speech of his tour, he fell ill.

Upon his return to Washington, he collapsed on the White House floor, the victim of a stroke. He remained at

least partially incapacitated for the duration of his presidency, leaving himself open to the charge that his wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, was actually running the

country.

Wilson’s Failures Continued

• Wilson’s faux pas contributed to the Congressional rejection of American participation in the League of Nations, that aspect of Wilson’s 14 Points that the president felt most important

Wilson’s omission of powerful Republican Senator, Henry Cabot Lodge (left) from Massachusetts proved fatal for treaty ratification. Lodge shortly became head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and did much to block passage of the treaty in the Senate.

League Appeared to be a Threat to American Sovereignty

Where Opinion Divided

William E. Borah (left—R-Idaho) was a key figure in the “Irreconcilables,” a group that opposed U.S. entry into the League under any circumstances.

Frank B. Kellogg (right) from Minnesota was the leader of the “Mild Reservationists,” a group of 12 that accepted the Versailles Treaty with a few modest reservations. Lodge (above) headed a group of 23 “Strong Reservationists.” He used his Senatorial power to drag out the debate over ratification and in the end, on November 9, the Senate voted down the treaty by 39 to 55.

And Finally. . .

not all Americans were ready to assume world

leadership, involvement in internal affairs

“After 1919, there was disillusionment. Would War I was feared before it started, popular while it lasted, and hated when it

ended. To a whole generation that followed, it appeared futile, killing without cause, sacrificing

without benefit.”

By participating in the Peace Conference at Versailles, the United States began a tentative effort to assume leadership in world affairs (right). Versailles (below right), in contrast to the Congress of Vienna (below) in 1815, failed to establish a durable peace.

The fact that the European delegates at Versailles were bent on sating their thirst for revenge condemned the peace settlement to failure. It sewed the seeds that would ultimately germinate in a second and even more destructive conflict only two decades later

As a graduate student at Harvard University, Henry Kissinger (b. 1923, right) wrote a doctoral dissertation

(subsequently turned into the book, A World Restored, left) that examined the

Congress of Vienna and why it proved so successful in preserving the general peace

in Europe from 1815-1914. He argued that every party in a peace agreement

must have a stake in preserving the new status quo created by the treaty terms. If not, the nation or nations least satisfied with the resulting settlement will sooner or later act aggressively to overturn the

newly established order. Kissinger served as Secretary of State under U.S. president

Richard Nixon.

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