Woodrow Wilson and The Treaty of Versailles

Woodrow Wilson and The Treaty of Versailles

Woodrow Wilson, Premier Clemenceau, Prime Minister Lloyd George and Premier Orlando started the Versailles Treaty committee. Wilson worked to win the Senates consent of the Treaty of Versailles when he returned to America in July of 1919. Basically the treaty forced on Germany the burden of reparations, and to take complete blame for the war. Woodrow Wilson felt that the treaty was too harsh, placing unrealistic goals on Germany. Wilson wanted to add his Fourteen Points, which was a less harsh approach to punish Germany. Unfortunately not all the points were added to the Treaty of Versailles, but some points were introduced into the treaty. The Treaty that President Wilson agreed on did not include freedom of the seas or reduced tariffs, but he did hope that the Senate would agree to the League of Nations. The Senate, to the regret of Wilson, overruled the treaty. This was mainly because the reservationists, as they were called, couldn't support the treaty for many reasons. They didn't want to subject the United States into foreign entanglements. They also didn't want the Senate's constitutional power to declare war taken away from them. Wilson would have to compromise in order gain the support of the reservationists, but compromising was one thing he refused to do. In fact, the more his advisers urged him to compromise, the more rigid Wilson became. Although the ineptitude and stubbornness of Wilson was damaging to the amending of the Treaty of Versailles, it was not the only thing that led to its defeat.

Unfortunately for Wilson there were many people who opposed his ideas and that of those in the Treaty of Versailles. A speech given by William Borah, a past member of the Se...

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... if the Fourteen Points, all of them, had been added to the treaty, and the treaty had been ratified, then probably WWII wouldn't have started. The way I see it, if Wilson hadn't been "stubborn" and "inept" then none of his points would have been on the Treaty, at least it lightened up the pressure on Germany but unfortunately not by much. Wilson was trying to help the country, trying to help them through a rough time, through post-war. Yes he was stubborn, and yes part of the reason the treaty wasn't ratified was because of him. But he did want to help the country, and I feel he would have done anything to help the country. And if by doing that he had to be stubborn to get what he wanted, then so be it. Unfortunately, the treaty wasn't ratified. If it were though, him being stubborn wouldn't even be a subject; everyone would probably glorify him for being stubborn.