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Wilson’s League of Nations and Its Legacy
As much of the world lay in shambles as the closing to the War to End All Wars approached, President Woodrow Wilson contemplated the global state of affairs. In his Fourteen Points, Wilson expresses his desire for “a just and stable peace” and outlines ways in which to accomplish it. One of his points—the fourteenth—suggests the creation of a group of nations with a common purpose. As his idea took root, it grew into the League of Nations. Despite good intentions, the League of Nations proved too weak to be effective at the outbreak of World War II. Even though the League itself failed, the legacy of its framework and missions live on in the current international system, most obviously in the United Nations.
Stated in The Fourteen Points, Wilson’s idea of the purpose of the proposed “general association of nations” was to “afford mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.” Wilson was of the belief that the victory of democracy over absolute rule would result in the victory ...
Each of these three people wanted different belongings for their country. Wilson wished for self-determination, his Fourteen Points, and most importantly a League of Nations to prevent future wars and to maintain peace. Clemenceau requested national security, reparations from Germany to pay for war costs, for Germany to be stripped of all of its weapons, and a buffer state, Rhineland, between them and Germany. Lloyd George aspired for only one thing, make the Germans pay for war costs. Secret agreements between nations made some of these desires difficult and the only way to get what they wanted was through compromise.
Out of the Fourteen Points came Wilson’s most important achievement at Versailles, the creation of an international peacekeeping organization, the League of Nations. Woodrow Wilson did all that he could to gain the support of his people for the acceptance of the League of Nations in the Treaty of Versailles. He believed that the idea of collective security was the key to keeping world peace. Yet, Wilson was ahead of his time. America was not ready to switch from an isolationist state to an international peacekeeper. The American senate wanted to make changes to the treaty in order to secure their international stand on domestic issues. But Wilson was unwilling to compromise on securing peace for mankind, so Wilson gained nothing. The ratification of the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations would fail, however the idea still burned on, and the United Nations would be formed after the Second World War.
The plan for a group of independent states with a weak central government was ultimately a mess. Many controversies surrounded these early thoughts for a government, such as the lack of money to pay those who fought the war as well as managing foreign affairs. Additionally, these papers assumed that people could effectively govern themselves. They gave all the power to the people and expected it to go just as they had planned. If history has taught us anything, it is that nothing goes as planned when it comes to governing people. The Articles also assumed that a central government was not as important as a state government and that it was not fully necessary. They failed to realize that a central government is key in uniting the nation as well as providing a national income as well as defending members of the nation. These two false assumptions proved to be the downfall of this document, but the beginnings for a new and better
One of the main aims of the League was to stop war. This aim was
...efore. Wilson tried to apply his own moral standards to international politics, he was convinced that the president should be the people's leader, not merely the nations' chief executive.
Wilson’s 14 points would have created a world government (the League of Nations) where nations could go to settle their disputes diplomatically, without starting another war. However, the League of Nations was doomed to fail because the United States Congress refused to join. If
...Furthermore, by offering a little more of its power to the world, the US would appear to bind its hands and encourage cooperation in future operations. The US will not be the world’s strongest power forever, and it would be wise to invest some of its power today in strong norms and international laws that future countries, like China for example, would be bound to follow in the future. The UN is “a theatre of realpolitik where members (the powerful ones, in particular) pursue their own interests.” Over the past sixty years of its existence, it has remained the same picture of the world that it reflected in 1945, but the world has drifted away from this picture. For the UN to regain its effectiveness, especially after the war in Iraq, it must reform. The true test of President Roosevelt’s vision for global peace and security is whether change is possible today.
At the end of World War I, President Wilson led the U.S. delegation in Paris in order to make sure his Fourteen Points were used. Wilson felt that America was the only nation that had nothing to gain and he was the only one who really cared about
Nations lie in the fact that it provided the groundwork for the United Nations. This international alliance, formed in 1895. after World War 2, not only profited by the mistakes of the League but borrowed much of the organizational machinics of the League of Nations. The League of Nations and its impact on world peace. John James Mrs. Hippe History March 7, 1996 Bibliography:..
What is the Treaty of Versailles? The Treaty of Versailles was the treaty that ended World War I (WWI). It did fulfill it’s purpose for a time, however The Treaty of Versailles may have been what caused World War II (WWII). The treaty wasn’t well thought out due to the amount of loopholes, and it wasn’t enforced. It was also extremely harsh on the Germans. This treaty put them in severe debt. It also made their army a fraction of what it was before. The Germans also never agreed to the treaty. This angered the Germans and may have been what led to WWII. However such a harsh treaty was only signed due to harsh actions. The Treaty of Versailles wasn’t enforced, and could have been the cause of WWII.
France’s Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, Great Britain’s Prime Minister David Lloyd George and American President Woodrow Wilson were collectively called The Big Three and took charge of the setup of the new world order. However, they did not share fundamental goals for the post-war world. While France wanted to keep self-safety in Europe and Britain thought about imperial expansion, Wilson tried hard to spread his Fourteen Points across the globe and to build a supranational institution to maintain the new world order. Several factors constrained the full function of his vision. For Europe, Wilson’s shallow understanding of the region and his arrogant attitude made his plan unacceptable for approval among European leaders. His idealism resulted in his failure to utilize the most effective weapon, America’s status as creditor of Europe, to push Europe to regard participation in the League of Nations as an obligation, rather than a right that European powers could use to bargain for more benefits. Instead, Wilson hoped all countries would voluntarily accept his idea. While for non-European nations, Wilson’s vision of self-determination was set up in the context of racism and power politics. As evidence, the Big Three ignored the position of Japan, the only Asian
In the United States the league was met with fierce opposition from those who thought it unwise to enter America into a collective organization, which would restrict its power and influence. Congress especially concerned with Article X, which morally bound the U.S. to aid any member of the League of Nations that was victimized by aggression, and revoke...
Wilson won the Nobel Prize for his creation but the United States never joined the league because of isolationist pressure in Congress. In another meeting the leaders decided which countries were going to have the most power in the United Nations. Stalin did not want small countries to have much of a say in the United Nations, but Churchill did. The two argued constantly about this with no solution in site.
This historical investigation will determine: to what extent was the Treaty of Versailles responsible for starting World War II? The years under investigation are 1919, the time of its ratification, until 1939, the year in which World War II began.
During the Treaty of Versailles, Wilson’s fourteen points proved how different America was, when compared to the old powers of Europe. America’s ideologies were based on maintaining peace, especially between the European powers, but at the time America was still an isolated country. America’s isolation was largely due to it’s need to remove itself from world wars and global