Versailles 1919
Copyright © 2005-6, Henry J. Sage
The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, and the Treaty of Versailles
When the Germans surrendered, President made a fateful decision—he himself would go to Versailles to help write the terms of peace. (He had earlier declared it unthinkable that America should have no role in that great enterprise.) He wanted a “peace without victory,” a generous peace, but the allied leaders who had suffered so fearfully would have none of it. Wilson’s goals, outlined in his Fourteen Points, called for a lasting peace based on national self-determination among the nations and a League of Nations, and that was partially realized. Wilson was unable, however, to prevent the victors from saddling Germany with enormous reparations and restrictions which in retrospect can be called at best unfair.
Wilson took no Senators with him to Paris, nor any Republican leaders, a serious flaw in his desire to achieve his goals, as the United States Senate was controlled by the Republican Party. Thus while Wilson was in Europe for the best part of six months, having been greeted by the European people as a conquering hero, if not a modern Messiah, Republican leaders in the Senate fretted and stewed and awaited his return with bated breath.
Woodrow Wilson and the other negotiators arrived at the great palace of Versailles outside Paris amid great fanfare. all the warring powers were represented and hundreds of diplomats and their staffs crowded into the great hall of mirrors as the press hovered outside. the negotiations last in almost 6 months; about halfway through President Wilson had to travel back to the United States to take care of presidential business, but he returned to France as soon as he was able.Wilson flied diligently for the principles in which he believed and tried his best to steer the delegates in the direction of what he would've considered a lasting peace. Negotiating by day, and in the evening working diligently on his draft for the plans of the league of Nations Wilson worked himself nearly to exhaustion. His 14 points gradually slipped away, and following his brief absence back in United States, he found that even more had eroded upon his return.
On the day when the treaty was signed, the 28th of June 1919, the mood was somber. Harold Nicholson described the scene:
We enter the Galerie des Glaces [Hall of Mirrors.] It is divided into three sections. At the far end are the press already thickly installed. In the middle there is a horseshoe table for the plenipotentiaries. In the front of that, like a guillotine, is the table for the signatures ... There must be seats for over a thousand persons. This robs the ceremony of all privilege and therefore of all dignity. ...
The delegates arrive in little bunches and push up the central aisle slowly. Wilson and Lloyd George are among the last. They take their seats at the central table. The table is at last full. Clemenceau glances to right and left. People sit down upon their escabeaux but continue chattering. Clemenceau makes a sign to the ushers. They say 'Ssh! Ssh! Ssh!' There is then an absolute hush, followed by a sharp military order. The Gardes Republicains at the doorway flash their swords into their scabbards with a loud click. “Faites entrer les Allemands,” says Clemenceau in the ensuing silence. His voice is distant but harshly penetrating. A hush follows.
Through the door at the end appear two huissiers with silver chains. They march in single file. After them come four officers of France, Great Britain, America and Italy. And then, isolated and pitiable, come the two German delegates. Dr. Mueller, Dr. Bell. The silence is terrifying. Their feet upon a strip of parquet between the savonnerie carpets echo hollow and duplicate. They keep their eyes fixed away from those two thousand staring eyes, fixed upon the ceiling. They are deathly pale. They do not appear as representatives of a brutal militarism. The one is thin and pink-eyelidded: the second fiddle in a Brunswick orchestra. The other is moon-faced and suffering: a privat-dozent. It is all most painful.
They are conducted to their chairs. Clemenceau at once breaks the silence. “Messieurs,” he rasps, “la seance est ouverte.” He adds a few ill-chosen words. “We are here to sign a treaty of peace.” Then St. Quentin advances towards the Germans and with the utmost dignity leads them to the little table on which the treaty is expanded. There is general tension. They sign. There is a general relaxation. Conversation hums again in an undertone. The delegates stand up one by one and pass onwards to the queue which awaits them by the signature table. It goes quickly.
Suddenly from outside comes the crash of guns thundering a salute. It announces to Paris that the second Treaty of Versailles has been signed by Dr. Mueller and Dr. Belll. Through the few open windows comes the sound of distant crowds cheering hoarsely. And still the signature goes on. ... There was a final hush. “La seance est levee,” rasped Clemenceau. Not a word more or less.
We kept our seats while the Germans were conducted like prisoners from the dock, their eyes still fixed upon some distant point of the horizon.
The Treaty itself, as it turned out, was no peace treaty. It was an indictment of Germany that not only blamed her for having caused the war, in article 231; its stripped her of many of her possessions, limited the German army to 100, 000, internationalized German rivers and provided for the delivery of capital goods and raw materials to the Allies, in addition to enacting huge financial operations. the tree he was bound to cause resentment and invite retribution, and all that came to pass.
The treaty did include what Woodrow Wilson had worked hard for, namely, the inclusion of the League of Nations, an organization designed to prevent another calamity like the Great War.In the end, the world was not ready for a League of Nations with teeth, Despite the fact that it attempted to calm the turmoil which began in the decade following the war, when nations refused to obey its restrictions, the League had no power to act. The United States never joined the League of Nations.
When Wilson presented the Treaty of Versailles to the Senate, they balked. Wilson was tired and in poor health from his exertions in Europe, and was in no mood to compromise. Neither was Senate later Henry Cabot Lodge. It soon became apparent that Wilson would not accept the treaty with the reservations which the Senate proposed, and the Senate would not ratify the treaty as presented to them, and thus a standoff existed. Wilson decided, unwisely as it turned out, to take his show on the road. He set off on a train trip around United States designed to take his case to the American people in the hope that they would pressure the Senators to accept this treaty without reservations. While on the trip, Wilson became ill and was rushed back to Washington, where he suffered a serious stroke. For weeks Wilson was unable to conduct his business, and for several months, his wife, Edith Galt Wilson, became for all practical purposes the acting president of the United States. She controlled access to her husband, told him what to read and what to sign, and delivered all communications to and from the ailing President.
In the end, the United States never ratified the treaty of Versailles and concluded a separate peace with Germany in 1921.