THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES AND THE END OF THE WAR

Introduction: ■December 13 th, 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 self- determination –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 self- determination 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 18 th, 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 ■Completely opposed any treaty ■Used George Washington’s farewell address to fight for neutrality ■Internationalists supported the treaty ■Internationalists: democrats who believed cooperation in the world would benefit everyone ■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 25 th, 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