0.3 Great war (part ii)  (Page 6/16)

With communists in charge of Russia, only England, France, Italy, and the US met to decide the fate of the Central Powers. Even though the Cold War would not begin for decades, the seeds of that twentieth-century conflict were planted at Versailles. Although the western powers wished to crush Germany, they could not leave Germany in such a state as to allow the Russian Revolution to spread west. For example, Germany was forced to give back some of Russia’s losses as a result of Brest-Litovsk and the League of Nations in turn created the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia (important speed bumps in the mind of Soviet leaders to slow down the next German invasion) however American, British, and other Allies kept troops in Germany through the mid 1920s thus ensuring that the Communist army and its agents would not be able to move into the beaten, battered, and considerably smaller Germany.

Versailles will also acknowledge the German repudiation of Brest-Litovsk, but also does nothing to directly help Russia adjudicate, mediate, or guarantee any economic reimbursement from Germany, except to state that “[t]he Allied and Associated Powers formally reserve the rights of Russia to obtain from Germany restitution and reparation based on the principles of the present Treaty” (Part III, Section XIV, Article 116). In other words, Russia is on its own to negotiate with Germany.

Wilson took nearly all of the members of the Inquiry, plus his closest friend and unofficial adviser, Col. Edmund House to France. Wilson also ignored leading Democratic and Republic senators and thus no one should be shocked to find out that the US Senate will never pass the treaty Wilson helped create in Versailles. The Republicans controlled the Senate, yet Wilson refused to consider adding the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Henry Cabot Lodge, to the American group that went to France.

Wilson’s second problem in Versailles was the Allies. France and England had no interest in discussing, analyzing or negotiating anything: they sought to carve up Germany and its colonies like a group of hunters carving up a bear after a successful hunt. With the massive destruction to property and lives in England and France, the allies were not willing to embrace Wilson’s “peace without victory” philosophy. The Allies blamed Germany for starting the war and for all damage and deaths during the war. Parts of Germany will be carved away and given to France, such as the coal-rich eastern parts of Germany (the Saar Valley). Germany will lose all of their colonies and Germany itself (or what’s left of Germany) will be an occupied nation until 1926 –the year that Germany is allowed membership into the League of Nations.

Wilson’s final problem in Versailles was his health. He had become physically exhausted in large measure because he decided to lead the US delegation. Some speculate that Wilson even suffered up to three strokes before he was elected president in 1912. Nonetheless, Wilson was determined to see his vision for a world “safe for democracy” come true and thus Wilson told a reporter who inquired into the president’s health, “I do not want to do anything foolhardy, but the League of Nations is now in its crisis, and if it fails, I hate to think what will happen to the world ... I cannot put my personal safety, my health, in the balance against my duty -- I must go.” Wilson embarked on a cross-country speaking tour as he attempted to whip up support for the Treaty in general and the League of Nations in particular. Wilson suffered a massive stroke in the early fall of 1919. He would not be seen in public for six months.