Joseph Smith Klein

Tierney
History
5/15/16

Whose wants wants were more met in the Treaty of Versailles?

The Fourteen Points and Racism
The Worlds oldest profession may be prostitution, but its oldest hobby is war. Its
immemorial nature is beautifully demonstrated in the opening of 2001 A Space Odyssey, where
war started shortly after the dawn of man. As time progressed, man slowly started to become
aware not only of wars destructive nature but a means to prevent it. When WWI ended, man
reached a potential turning point to use this new awareness to minimize the chances of future war
in Europe. That opportunity for peace was born on the opposite side of the Atlantic in the Wilson
Administration and was lost to a plan of false peace proposed by Americas European Allies,
which eventually brought about WWII.
Diversity in the origins of conflict means that there is an equal diversity in the ways to
prevent and end it. A small sliver of this diversity was present at the writing of the Treaty of
Versailles, where former allies started to clash over how to create a peaceful Europe. On one side
were the damaged but victorious European powers, while on the other were the less emotionally
and physically scarred Americans. The ravages of war created a European populace that desired
the blood of those they believed had harmed them. European diplomats and politicians seeking to
capitalize and quell this frustration in their populace proposed a plan of how to achieve peace. Its
origin as a method to calm a vengeful public meant that the plan was designed to inflict harm on
the alleged instigators of the war, Germany. Allied negotiators limited the size of the German
military, which would have been fine if all European countries made equal armament reductions,
required Germany to pay reparations for war damages, redrew German borders, and blamed
them for starting the war. The Treaty of Versailles managed to eliminate feelings of resentment
within Allied countries, but shifted the resentment to Germany, where right wing terrorist groups,
feeling betrayed, launched attacks against the government, perceived as traitors for signing the
treaty (History Channel). German outrage at the economic consequences of the Treaty of
Versailles led to the rise of the Nazis, who like many right wing groups stood in opposition to it.
The disastrous outcome of the Europeans plan for peace is visible, because of its role in
causing WWII, but it is more difficult to see the implications of Wilsons Fourteen Points as they
were implemented on a limited scale. It is plausible to think that the Fourteen Points might have
brought peace to Europe, as it veered in the opposite direction of Americas European allies
vision for peace. Americas avoidance of most of the Wars horrors made a populace that didnt
have a bloodlust of their enemies. Lack of a strong hatred for the Germans allowed Wilson to

propose a peace plan which would weed out the wars roots by creating a transparent
environment for foreign relations. This transparent world would be built on a base of dialogue
between nations through the League of Nations, free trade, freedom of the seas, public treaties,
self determination, and demilitarization (State Department). That idealistic vision of world peace
had dark roots in Wilsons southern upbringing, which resulted in him being a loyal son of the
Old South (Washington Post). His loyalty resulted in his reversal of Reconstruction era policies
that integrated the Federal Government, as Wilson believed, segregation [was] not humiliating,
but a benefit (Washington Post). The willingness to turn back the clock in regards to domestic
policy shows that the main motivation for the Fourteen Points, or a secondary one, was that it
was his idea of how the South should have been treated after the Civil War.
Wilsons attempt to give Germany the Reconstruction he wanted for the South was,
although misguided in origin, but it could have prevented the rise of the Nazis by creating a
world of law and transparency, rather than one of revenge.

Works Cited
Barnett, Randy. Expunging Woodrow Wilson from Official Places of Honor. The Guardian.
The Guardian, 25 June 2015. Web. 15 May 2016.