League Of Nations Essay, Research Paper

The Versaille Treaty, an agreement for peaceful terms among the warring

nations of World War I, was extinguished by the insatiable desires of all

parties involved. Woodrow Wilson, an inflexible, idealistic, righteous President

was up against the vengeful Allies. Each with their own imperialistic views,

conflicted as peace negotiations began. Wilson wanting to ?make the world safe

for Democracy? swooped into Paris to negotiate his Fourteen Points, leaving

the Republicans impotent state back in the United States. Thus, Wilson?s ideas

faced great opposition by the Big Business Republican Party fearful he was going

to run for reelection and by the Allies whom were looking to occupy German

territory. It became apparent that the Allies were far more concerned with

imperialism than the idealism Wilson pushed for in the League of Nations. This

League leads to the basic understanding to the failure of the Versaille Treaty.

The League of Nations faced great resistance first by the Allies and later the

Republicans, which led to the Wilson -Lodge feud, the ultimate cause of

destruction. Woodrow Wilson was thought to have a Messiah complex due to his

desire to dictate peace and his unwillingness to compromise. At the end of World

War I he compiled Fourteen Points, ultimately as propaganda. His main goal was

to ?make the world safe for Democracy,? in other words, extend America?s

power and ideals through foreign nations. Of these Fourteen Points the most

important was the League of Nations, an attempt to reorder the world. However, a

great opponent of this ?Wilsonian League? was Henry Cabot Lodge, a

Republican opponent. Ultimately, many of the obstacles Wilson faced could have

been over come had he publicly admitted he was not running for reelection once

his prominence grew if the League was authorized. He also would have avoided

defeat if he had been more willing to compromise with the republicans and added

on a few revisions. Once the treaty was fabricated it met Republican opposition.

In 1918 Wilson had appealed for a Democratic Congress to support his policy,

however, due to issues at home the voters did the opposite. With Republicans in

Control of both houses opposition was immense. Once the Senate denied the

League, Wilson returned to Paris for modifications, but once again he faced

resistance. France was looking to obtain the German Rhineland; likewise France

and Japan were looking to gain territory. The outcome was the sacrifice of many

of Wilson?s Fourteen Points to establish a stronghold for the League of

Nation. However, the modified treaty was undermined by the return of soldiers

when it was apparent that ?wartime idealism? had plummeted and the war for

democracy had failed seeing that the Allies ?greedy Imperialists.? The

illibreals, foreign groups and anti-British all had different views of the

treaty, but ultimately it didn?t matter because it only brought more attention

to an immerging ?problem.? Republicans felt they had the right to revise the

treaty when it returned from Paris because they had had no representative in at

Peace Conference in France due to Wilson and also because their soldiers had

fought in the war. This sort of division was what defeated the Treaty, American

soldiers had not fought, Republican and Democrat soldiers had. Thus Lodge

delayed the treaty by holding hearings in which foreign representatives sighted

their objections to the pact. Lodge then began to tact reservations on the

treaty. However not all approved, many mild reservationists felt that Lodge?s

reservation were too strong. They could have been persuaded by the Wilson to

join the Democratic side, but he didn?t defer to them. In an attempt to fight

Lodge?s reservations, Wilson toured across the country, however this is what

brought the ultimate demise of the Versaille Treaty. After a powerful speech on

the behalf of the League of Nations, Wilson suffered a stroke. With no Leader in

the Senate to replace him, Lodge had control. Once Wilson was even capable of

making decisions, he refused to compromise his beliefs to Lodge. However, public

opinion still favored the treaty (with some reservations) and when the Senate

voted it down, they were forced to revote by the public. Lodge then entered into

secret negotiations with the Democrats, which landed him in an accusation of

treachery, and Lodge eventually dropped these negotiations. Wilson then directed

his democratic following to reject the treaty, but they felt the pact could no

longer be ratified, thus many vote in favor of it. The public never being able

to directly express their views of the treaty gained the opportunity when

Harding ran for president, whom was anti-League. This outcome was the end all to

the Varsaille Treaty. Ultimately, many factors led to the demise of the

Versialle Treaty. Had Wilson not been so hard headed and willing to compromise

the treaty might have survived. Had he involved the Republicans in the original

peace conference the treaty may have serviced and Lodge may have not pushed him

into a corner. With two different concerns, Wilson?s being the League of

Nations and Lodge?s being and avoidance of division within the Republican

Party, the two refused to negotiate with each other. And ultimately Republicans

had little to gain through a Democratic treaty, designed to ?make the world

safe for Democracy.? Wilson?s stroke intensified the odds against the treaty

and with the public still in favor of isolation its failure was inevitable.