Woodrow Wilson was the
President of the United States through its involvement in
World War I. Because the
US did not suffer the horrible
destruction comparable to that of the
European victors,
Wilson was very
idealistic in his perspectives and was
optimistic concerning the prospect of
peace.
Wilson correctly believed that the actions necessary for European peace included helping Germany form a democracy, thereby rebuilding rather than crushing it as the Allies wanted to do. Unfortunately, the fact that the European victors had lost so much gave them more political sway. In the end, Wilsonian idealism caved in to the guilt clause.
Wilson presented his plan for European peace as the Fourteen Points for reconciliation. Instead, the Allies signed an overly harsh treaty at Versailles.
In response to
Great_Neb:
Great_Neb is right on about
Lloyd George. I didn't mean to elaborate on
Treaty of Versailles politics hear, but I'll write some on the issues raised by Great_Neb.
The important decisions of the Paris Peace Conference were the work of the Big Three: President Wilson, French Prime Minister Clemenceau, and British Prime Minister Lloyd George. Lloyd George was caught in the middle. He could forsee the dangers of a harsh peace, but he represented an exhausted, bankrupt country, some of whose newspapers had mounted a campaign to "hang the Kaiser." The worst clashes were between Wilson and Clemenceau, who were temperamentally far apart.
Cynical and sarcastic, Clemenceau cared for nothing but his martyred country. France had suffered, he believed, as a result of incurable German aggressiveness; in time the Germans could be expected to attack again, and only force would stop them. In the end, Wilson allowed Clemenceau to impose severe penalties on Germany in exchange for the French agreement to the establishment of the League of Nations (See League of Nations, guilt clause, and Fourteen Points).