Wilson and the End of the First World War

Wilson brought America into WWI with the idea that they would make the world safe for democracy, achieve a peace without victory, and fight a war to end all wars. These ideas accumulated into the 14 points. In the 14 points Wilson sought to create laws that nations must abide by to maintain peace, asserted the idea of self-determination, and establish the League of Nations. Unfortunately for Wilson the leaders of the other belligerents had different ideas for a peace treaty. France had been ravaged by the German invasion, and wanted permanently cripple Germany's ability to wage war and for Germany to pay for the damage done to France. Britain had also lost a generation of men and for the most part agreed with France, except for Britain's desire to keep Germany strong enough to resist communism and for Germany to be wealthy enough to be a trade partner with Britain. Italy, Japan, and the other lesser nations which aided the Allied war effort had no interest in self-determination or international laws, and merely wanted the land they had hoped to have gained for participating in the war. Overall the Versailles treaty did not reflect Wilson's ideas which outraged the Germans (especially the reparations and article 231 which blamed the Germans for the war) because they had expected the treaty to be more aligned with Wilson's Fourteen Points. However, due to the threat of invasion, the Wiemar Republic reluctantly agreed to the terms which made the German citizens bitter with the Allies, the treaty, and their government. This resentment along with later factors paved the way for rise of the National Socialist German Worker's Party lead by Adolf Hitler. Wilson did succeed in forming the League of Nations, but the league was doomed to fail because while Wilson had an internationalist vision for America, the republicans at home and many Americans believed they had lost 300,000 soldiers too many and that America needed to focus on its domestic affairs and return to isolationism. Between the withdrawal of American involvement and weak collective security, the League of Nations was able to act on social problems (such as the League's successful crack down on human trafficking) but did not have the power to stop the actions of a revitalized German military.