The End of the First World War
In 1917 the United States of America went to help the allies in the First World War. Many British and French historians say that if the United States did not go to help the allies, Germany would have possibly won the war. All of this happened shortly after the Russian collapse, better known as the Bolshevik Revolution. During the winter of 1917/1918 the allies wanted a comforting type of moral support, so President Woodrow Wilson along with the house devised the Fourteen Points on January 8,1918. But as all know that only one of the fourteen passed. The German front finally failed in July of 1918. Then Germany appealed to the United States on the grounRAB of the Fourteen Points.
On January 12, 1919, 27 nations met in Paris, which later became known as the Paris Peace Conference. Up until this time, there had never been such a diplomatic gathering of this size in history. At first there were five leading countries that lead the conference. They are as follows Great Britain, Italy, France, Japan, and the United States. Not long after things got started, Japan left the Big Five so it became known as the Big four. Considering that the country of France was not there much, it was really only the Big Three. These three countries made the major decisions for all the allies. President Wilson ranted to make special demanRAB on the allies, along with their commitments to each other. The treaty was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles near Paris. The United States did not ratify this agreement but did sign a separate treaty with Germany in June of 1921.
By the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was required to abolish all military service. Germany also had to reduce her military army to 100,000 people, which are not very many men. Germany could not have any military on the left bank of the Rhine River and the land on the right bank 31 miles from river. She had to stop all importing and exporting. Germany could only have 24 naval ships, with no submarines. She was pretty much shut down as far as anything went. Germany had to give up the coalfielRAB to France for ten years. The United States allies gave a bill of 25 billion dollars to Germany to cover the costs of damages. John Maynard Keynes said, “I believe that it would have been a wise and just act to have asked the German Government at the peace negotiations to agree to a sum of ten billion in final settlement, without further examination of particulars.” This would have been a better idea, because Germany would have went along with that I feel. The reason for this is because it would not have been impossible to repay. All of the allies knew how bad President Wilson wanted the League of Nations.
There were a few more problems that President Wilson had to face. There was a small group of Senate “Irreconcilables” led by Senator Lodge. These men were determined to reject any League of Nations that Wilson devised. Lodge was Wilson’s bitterest enemy, and he would do anything to destruct him. Wilson regarded the League of Nations as the key to the whole settlement between the 27 nations.
Wilson fought for this proposal, but in the end he lost. He did indeed have several objects holding him up. President Wilson had been warned several times by his advisors. He should have seen that this treaty was not going to work considering all of his oppositions, even the thought of an international police force was kind of crazy.
William White made the statement, “a superstate with a superarmy and a superstaff might even be tempted to knock the superdaylights out of the United States. On the other hand, no one really knows what would have happened if we would have joined it. Wilson knew that the treaty did indeed have some problems in the writings, but he figured that he and the league could iron it out later. Lodge attached 50 amendments to the treaty but Wilson did not accept it. Later Lodge tried to get Wilson to ratify the treaty, but again he did not agree with it. President Wilson went on a cross-country trip to tell the Americans what this treaty could do and to also gain popularity for the upcoming election. Wilson had a stroke and was never able to finish his trip. The United States never signed the Treaty of Versailles. At this points all knew that Wilson had failed.
Works Cited
Greene, Theodore. Wilson at Versailles. Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1957. 114pp.
In 1917 the United States of America went to help the allies in the First World War. Many British and French historians say that if the United States did not go to help the allies, Germany would have possibly won the war. All of this happened shortly after the Russian collapse, better known as the Bolshevik Revolution. During the winter of 1917/1918 the allies wanted a comforting type of moral support, so President Woodrow Wilson along with the house devised the Fourteen Points on January 8,1918. But as all know that only one of the fourteen passed. The German front finally failed in July of 1918. Then Germany appealed to the United States on the grounRAB of the Fourteen Points.
On January 12, 1919, 27 nations met in Paris, which later became known as the Paris Peace Conference. Up until this time, there had never been such a diplomatic gathering of this size in history. At first there were five leading countries that lead the conference. They are as follows Great Britain, Italy, France, Japan, and the United States. Not long after things got started, Japan left the Big Five so it became known as the Big four. Considering that the country of France was not there much, it was really only the Big Three. These three countries made the major decisions for all the allies. President Wilson ranted to make special demanRAB on the allies, along with their commitments to each other. The treaty was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles near Paris. The United States did not ratify this agreement but did sign a separate treaty with Germany in June of 1921.
By the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was required to abolish all military service. Germany also had to reduce her military army to 100,000 people, which are not very many men. Germany could not have any military on the left bank of the Rhine River and the land on the right bank 31 miles from river. She had to stop all importing and exporting. Germany could only have 24 naval ships, with no submarines. She was pretty much shut down as far as anything went. Germany had to give up the coalfielRAB to France for ten years. The United States allies gave a bill of 25 billion dollars to Germany to cover the costs of damages. John Maynard Keynes said, “I believe that it would have been a wise and just act to have asked the German Government at the peace negotiations to agree to a sum of ten billion in final settlement, without further examination of particulars.” This would have been a better idea, because Germany would have went along with that I feel. The reason for this is because it would not have been impossible to repay. All of the allies knew how bad President Wilson wanted the League of Nations.
There were a few more problems that President Wilson had to face. There was a small group of Senate “Irreconcilables” led by Senator Lodge. These men were determined to reject any League of Nations that Wilson devised. Lodge was Wilson’s bitterest enemy, and he would do anything to destruct him. Wilson regarded the League of Nations as the key to the whole settlement between the 27 nations.
Wilson fought for this proposal, but in the end he lost. He did indeed have several objects holding him up. President Wilson had been warned several times by his advisors. He should have seen that this treaty was not going to work considering all of his oppositions, even the thought of an international police force was kind of crazy.
William White made the statement, “a superstate with a superarmy and a superstaff might even be tempted to knock the superdaylights out of the United States. On the other hand, no one really knows what would have happened if we would have joined it. Wilson knew that the treaty did indeed have some problems in the writings, but he figured that he and the league could iron it out later. Lodge attached 50 amendments to the treaty but Wilson did not accept it. Later Lodge tried to get Wilson to ratify the treaty, but again he did not agree with it. President Wilson went on a cross-country trip to tell the Americans what this treaty could do and to also gain popularity for the upcoming election. Wilson had a stroke and was never able to finish his trip. The United States never signed the Treaty of Versailles. At this points all knew that Wilson had failed.
Works Cited
Greene, Theodore. Wilson at Versailles. Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1957. 114pp.