Many factors contribute to a group of people failing to accomplish a goal, but the stubbornness of participants often is a leading cause. The Senate’s failure to ratify the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 shows this idea, due to the feud between President Woodrow Wilson and the Internationalists, and Henry Cabot Lodge and the Reservationists. The Internationalists fully supported the passing of the Treaty of Versailles, whereas the Reservationists believed it was necessary to change the Treaty, specifically Article Ten. Similarly, Borah and the Irreconcilables believed that the League of Nations was in conflict with one of the ideals the nation was founded on; to not engage in foreign entanglements. As Senator William Borah, put it, the League …show more content…
The Republicans resisted the Treaty because they believed that if it were to be ratified, Wilson’s prestige would soar and he might even be re-elected for a third time (Bailey, 184). Thus, the Republican Party was against the Treaty of Versailles in its original form out of fear. Wilson fully believed that the Treaty was going to bring world peace, and regardless of this belief, the Republican Party voted against it because of who came up with it. Wilson fought greatly for it and said that if the Treaty failed that he would gather all the soldiers who fought in World War One and tell them “I told you before you went across the seas that this was a war against wars and I did my best to fulfill the promise, but I am obliged to come to you in mortifications and shame and say I have not been able to fulfill the promise,” (Wilson). Wilson was willing to take blame for the hypothetical failure of the Treaty of Versailles and the Republicans still voted against it because they did not want Wilson’s popularity to go up. Wilson believed so strongly in Article Ten that he believed that the League of Nations would justify the United States’ honor and bring peace to the world (Wilson). The belief that the Republican Party did not ratify the Treaty because they did not want to risk another Wilson presidency is absurd. This idea perpetuates the idea that if one person, in a position of power, strongly believes in something, then it must good. One can apply this idea to how strongly Wilson believed in the Treaty of Versailles, yet it was not enough to convince the Senate that the League of Nations’ Collective Security Covenant was a good idea. It was not the Republican Party’s fear of a third term of Wilson that caused the death of the Treaty, but Wilson himself. The belief that if
President Wilson's own ineptitude and stubbornness is what led to the Senate's defeat of the Treaty of Versailles, rather than the strength of the opposing forces. Even Wilson's closest and most trusted advisors could not sway his stance. Wilson was strong in his stance and incorporated the idea of the 14 points. While it is true that opposing forces contributed to defeat the treaty, it was Wilson's unmovable position that led to its ultimate defeat in the Senate.
The treaty of Versailles was a treaty signed at the end of World War I by Germany and the Allies. United States, Great Britain, France, and Italy negotiated the treaty at the peace conference held in Versailles beginning January 18, 1919. The treaty reduced Germany’s armed forces to very low levels and prohibited Germany from possessing certain kinds of weapons, it also established Germany’s liability for reparations. The treaty was supposed to ensure peace and help Europe recover from the war. In my opinion the treaty did not help with any of those two subjects.
The Treaty of Versailles had a great chance of being ratified if only President Wilson would have been able to make small amendments. The reservationists had a strong argument about the pros of a League of Nations, but they disagreed with Article 10, which gave the League’s
The treaty of the Versailles was an agreement between France, England and the United states. Its intentions were to prevent a second world war however, it was a total fail. An obvious reason for not being effective could be because not everyone was included in the conference such as Russia, and Central Powers. Instead, Prime minister George Clemenceau had thought he would speak for all of europe and wanted to be the strongest of europe. Clemenceau seeked revenge towards Germany, in fact he desired most dismantle the best of Germany 's military and their nationalist pride. As for the United States, Wilson implemented the fourteen points which focused on self determination of people. Only few of his points were included in the treaty but these points had been the reason for conflicts happening in europe. Participation from everyone is important and not allowing everyone 's input could lead to negative outcomes such as, The league of nations which most likely failed because the United States wasn’t allowed to participate.
The Senate which the liberal democratic President Wilson had to persuade to sign the Treaty of Versailles was comprised mostly of conservative republicans. There were two groups in the Senate that were on opposite sides of the issue, the liberal Internationalists, who agreed with Wilson, and the isolationist Irreconcilables, led by William Borah, who were adamantly against the Treaty the way it was. There was also a third group, the Reservationists, led by the conservative Henry Cabot Lodge; who were willing to ratify the Treaty so long as some adjustments were made. None of these groups held the majority of votes (over 50%); however, the Reservationists would determine the fate of the Treaty depending on whether the President was willing to compromise on some issues within the Treaty. They believed that the issues with the Treaty was that the League of Nations would drag the United States into foreign entanglements, and that the people of the Country didn’t fully support the treaty (Document E). They believed the League would jeopardize the country’s independence in world affairs, that collective security was unlikely to work, and that while it may be worthwhile for the United States to be involved to help prevent major wars, it
With Woodrow Wilson being a democrat, ratification of the Treaty would be difficult in a Republican led senate. The Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles based primarily on objections to the League of Nations. One of the main objections to the League of Nations was that it would eventually lead to a loss of American Sovereignty. William Borah said during a speech in United States Senate “Will anyone advocate that those matters which are of vital importance to our people shall be submitted to a tribunal created other than by our own people and give it an international army subject to its direction and control to enforce its decrees?” (Document A)
On September 3, 1783 the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the revolutionary war between the United States and Great Britain. After the Treaty of Paris was signed, the U.S broke away from what appeared to be a corrupt government in England and the American leaders formed the concepts of their ideal society. The end of the American Revolution instigated much change within the newly independent nation, particularly political and diplomatic. From the years 1783 to 1801 the U.S faced many political and diplomatic issues including a weak national government, the national debt, international relations,
World War I was one of the most brutal and bloodiest war ever fought in the early twentieth century. The war left ten million soldiers dead, seven million civilians dead, and another ten million people to be wounded (Background Essay). It was the Triple Alliance, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey, against the Triple Entente, France, Britain, Russia, and Italy (Background Essay). The war ended with the Paris Peace Conference where world leaders meet up to discuss about a creation of a treaty to settle the peace terms. President Woodrow Wilson of the U.S. simply wanted to create a League of Nations to settle future conflicts and to avoid war (Background Essay). However, Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau of France and Prime Minister David Lloyd George of England wanted even more; revenge and humiliation on Germany. They are forcing Germany to pay hundreds of billions of dollars for
There are many things that the Treaty of Versailles help cause World War II. Economic losses, territory loss, overpowered by size, reparation and war guilt were causes that led to World War II. The Treaty of Versailles brought World War I to an end but began World War II.
Senator Gilbert Hitchcock’s address was titled, “The trouble with Senators who oppose the League of Nations”. Hitchcock was a democrat, like President Wilson, and felt that the United States should join the League of Nations. He states, “The trouble with Senators who
Between the years 1919-1939, the Treaty of Versailles affected Germany in many ways such as economically, politically, loss of German territories, and caused Germany’s armed forces to struggle. The Treaty of Versailles was when Germany and The Allies signed a peace treaty, ending WW1. The treaty stripped Germany 25,000 square miles of land and over 7 million people. The treaty also caused Germany to go into a great depression.
treaty, eventually defeated by Senate, was victim to criticism from a variety of audiences ranging
As World War I came to a close with a victory for the allies, nearly 10 million soldiers were killed in combat while 10 million more were injured. Although the war was over, global problems, economic problems, and ways to settle disputes, became a controversy that seemed unsolvable. Hoping to end the chaos, President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, came up with a plan called the League of Nations. In this League they attempted to make the Treaty of Versailles fair while punishing Germany. Although it was designed to settle the conflicts, the Treaty of Versailles produced German anger and humiliation, sowing the seeds for World War II. The Treaty of Versailles did this by imposing territorial loss with military restrictions, economic reparations,
During World War I (WWI) the soldiers utilized new tactics such as the use of machine guns and chemical warfare. As a result, the number of fatalities reached the millions. Seven months after World War I came to an end, the Allied nations, Great Britain, France, and the United States, came up with an idea to establish a treaty with hopes of preventing another calamitous war from breaking out in Europe. This treaty is called the Versailles Treaty and it was signed on June 28, 1919. Unfortunately, Germany had no say in the matter and was one of the nations listed in the Treaty of Versailles. This incident caused Germany to display signs of bitterness and conflict eventually erupted. (Background Essay) One could argue that the Versailles Treaty was the spark that fueled World War II (WWII) for numerous reasons such as territorial losses, mandatory reparation payments, and the
On October 2, 1919, at the White House in Washington, D.C., United States President Woodrow Wilson suffered a massive stroke that left him partially paralyzed on the left half of his body. Wilson had poured all his strength into a last-ditch effort to win public support for the Versailles treaty and its vision of international cooperation through a league of nations after World War 1. After the senate foreign relations committee began it debate on the treaty, Wilson took the unprecedented step of appearing before the committee to argue for ratification, making it clear he would accept no changes to the treaty. While the committee— headed by Wilsons nemesis republican senator Henry Cabot Lodge—voted on many amendments to the treaty, while ignoring