Help WIth History. About President Wilson.?

Question

When Wilson Came to the Paris Peace COnference with high ideals, the other leaders had more practical concerns. WHy do you think was so?

Answer 1

Germany was not close to the United States. Germany was close, however, to the other nations in Europe. The European allies wanted Germany to pay for all the damange that it had caused during the war. They also felt threatened by Germany. (esp. France!) They were not interested in forming a League of Nations, but they obliged him if he would give up his points.

This is what eventually happened to Germany with the T. of Versailles:

Treaty of Versailles
• It was signed 5 years to the day of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand
• It was signed on June 28, 1919
• The Germans described the treaty as a diktat
• Kaiser William II had abdicated before the war was over and fled to Holland. A provisional government from the left was created
• Lord Keynes, a British economist, said the treaty was a Carthaginian peace (total devastation)
• Some historians say the treaty was not all that bad
• The Treaty of Versailles had 3 points. They were territorial settlements, reparations, and disarmament

Territorial Settlements
• Germany lost about 1/10 of its population and about 1/7 of its territory
• Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France
• A small amount of land was given to Belgium
• The north part of Schleswig was given back to Denmark
• Germany also gave up several areas to the reestablished nation of Poland in the east
• Upper Silesia was also taken from Germany. It had been taken by Frederick the Great from Poland. It was returned to Poland
• Poland also got West Prussia. This included Danzig
• East Prussia was not separated from Germany
• This played a major role with the rise of Hitler
• The rich, industrial Saar Valley region was occupied by France. France was given the right to operate coal mines for a certain length of time

Disarmament
• Germany was required to get rid of most of its navy. The Germany navy was scuttled at Scapa Flow in Scotland
• Germany also had to get rid of airplanes and heavy artillery
• It also had to give up tanks and submarines. Poison gas was also destroyed
• The army was reduced to about 100,000 men and converted into a police force. The German general staff was abolished
• The Allies occupied and demilitarized the Rhineland in West Germany
• The US and Britain promised to aid France if it was attacked again by Germany. The US Congress refused to ratify this. The British government also refused this
• Disarmament was intended to be a complete disarmament of all nations, but this never happened

Reparations
• Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to accept full responsibility for the war. It was known as the war guilt clause
• This provided the legal and moral basis for reparations
• France and Britain also wanted Germany to pay pensions to widows and children
• Germany also had to hand over most of its commercial fleet
• They also had to give up coal, other raw materials, and livestock
• German property in Allied countries was seized and sold
• The complete bill was totaled in 1921. France and Belgium asked for amounts greater than their total wealth before the war
• The final amount was set at 33 billion dollars. Half of this went to France
• The new German government protested the Treaty of Versailles. They believed it violated the terms of the armistice
• All of these things hurt German national pride
• All problems in Germany were blamed on the Treaty of Versailles

Answer 2

I don't disagree with the first poster's comments. What he says is correct. But I think there is more to the story.

Please understand, the French and British had been fighting since 1914, while the US entered in 1917 (with the bulk of their forces entering in 1918). So the US hadn't lost as much or suffered as much as the Europeans. When you consider that British and French casualties were in the millions, it would have been extremely difficult for political reasons for them to take a conciliatory stance like the one Wilson proposed. There would have been riots in London and Paris. It could have precipitated a social melt-down -- it REALLY was THAT serious.

The European attitude was that the Americans could afford the luxery of conciliation, while they could not.

Another reason for Wilson's stance was idealistic. He truly believed that this was to be the "war to end all wars." He believed that an international peace trubunal could be created that would prevent future conflicts, and he knew that if the terms were harsh, it would be difficult to gain the necessary German cooperation.

With centuries and centuries of "realpolitik" diplomacy under their belts, the Europeans were mature in a world-weary (you might say "jaded") fashion. And they viewed the American as a naive newcomer to the game who was representing a country barely out of infancy. In short the Europeans looked at America in the same way a middle-aged person looks at a 15 year old who's lecturing him on the ways of the world. They rolled their eyes in disbelief.

The British and French were looking only as far as the next elections, and doing what they thought they had to do to keep a lid on domestic unrest, while Wilson's view was more long-range. He saw the war as a means of ensuring future peace, while the Europeans were simply trying to keep their heads.

Hope this answer helps. Cheers, mate.

Answer 3

Wilson was idealistic that after the Central Powers were defeated, we could live in a postwar world of peace , prosperity and the desire to rebuild after this period of destruction.
The other Allies, particularily France and Britain were out for amends in the form of restitution in which the Germans could not pay ,should not have been blamed for by themselves . I think since Europe took the brunt of the war and believed that the policies of Versailles shiuld be practical not idealisic"mumbo-jumbo" that we fought for democracy to persevere.

Answer 4

hi!!!!

Like Roosevelt before him, Woodrow Wilson regarded himself as the personal representative of the people. "No one but the President," he said, "seems to be expected ... to look out for the general interests of the country." He developed a program of progressive reform and asserted international leadership in building a new world order. In 1917 he proclaimed American entrance into World War I a crusade to make the world "safe for democracy."

Wilson had seen the frightfulness of war. He was born in Virginia in 1856, the son of a Presbyterian minister who during the Civil War was a pastor in Augusta, Georgia, and during Reconstruction a professor in the charred city of Columbia, South Carolina.

After graduation from Princeton (then the College of New Jersey) and the University of Virginia Law School, Wilson earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University and entered upon an academic career. In 1885 he married Ellen Louise Axson.

Wilson advanced rapidly as a conservative young professor of political science and became president of Princeton in 1902.

His growing national reputation led some conservative Democrats to consider him Presidential timber. First they persuaded him to run for Governor of New Jersey in 1910. In the campaign he asserted his independence of the conservatives and of the machine that had nominated him, endorsing a progressive platform, which he pursued as governor.

He was nominated for President at the 1912 Democratic Convention and campaigned on a program called the New Freedom, which stressed individualism and states' rights. In the three-way election he received only 42 percent of the popular vote but an overwhelming electoral vote.

Wilson maneuvered through Congress three major pieces of legislation. The first was a lower tariff, the Underwood Act; attached to the measure was a graduated Federal income tax. The passage of the Federal Reserve Act provided the Nation with the more elastic money supply it badly needed. In 1914 antitrust legislation established a Federal Trade Commission to prohibit unfair business practices.

Another burst of legislation followed in 1916. One new law prohibited child labor; another limited railroad workers to an eight-hour day. By virtue of this legislation and the slogan "he kept us out of war," Wilson narrowly won re-election.

But after the election Wilson concluded that America could not remain neutral in the World War. On April 2,1917, he asked Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.

Massive American effort slowly tipped the balance in favor of the Allies. Wilson went before Congress in January 1918, to enunciate American war aims--the Fourteen Points, the last of which would establish "A general association of nations...affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike."

After the Germans signed the Armistice in November 1918, Wilson went to Paris to try to build an enduring peace. He later presented to the Senate the Versailles Treaty, containing the Covenant of the League of Nations, and asked, "Dare we reject it and break the heart of the world?"

But the election of 1918 had shifted the balance in Congress to the Republicans. By seven votes the Versailles Treaty failed in the Senate.

The President, against the warnings of his doctors, had made a national tour to mobilize public sentiment for the treaty. Exhausted, he suffered a stroke and nearly died. Tenderly nursed by his second wife, Edith Bolling Galt, he lived until 1924.