John Wilson - Failed Hope. The Story of the Lost Peace

The 28th Battalion establishing a signalling HQ during the First World War.
Department of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada, PA-001096.

What we demand in this war is that the world be made fit and safe to live in; and that it be made safe for every peace-loving nation which wishes to be assured of justice and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world.

PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON, SPEECH TO CONGRESS, JANUARY 8, 1918

President Wilsons speech set out 14 points that he felt could provide a sound basis for lasting world peace. They included: arms reduction, freedom of the seas, self-determination for the many national groups in Europe, and the establishment of a League of Nations (an early version of todays United Nations) to guarantee political independence for everyone.

One thing Versailles did produce was a host of new countries. Where the old Ottoman Empire had been in the Middle East, new artificial borders were created that bore little relation to the inhabitants wishes, or their religious or cultural identities. The world is still paying the price for this today.

In Europe, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, and Yugoslavia rose from the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and from territories taken from Germany.

This was a brave attempt at President Wilsons idea of national determination, supported by the new League of Nations. Unfortunately, many of the new nations were threatened by powerful neighbours and internal disputes and, to Wilsons deep regret, his own country rejected the treaty and refused to join the League of Nations.

With extraordinary foresight, and seeing the seeds of a coming war embedded in the Treaty, French Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch declared, This is not peace. It is an armistice for 20 years.

As commendable as Wilsons ideas were, they were not shared by the victorious European powers. The French were determined to see Germany take responsibility and pay for the war. They hoped to place so many military restrictions on Germany that it could never again threaten Europe with war.

The British were less hardline, but agreed that Germany should pay reparations for the war and were, as a major imperial power, not keen on Wilsons idea of self-determination for small nations. Even back in the United States, Wilsons own Congress wanted little to do with European affairs and only grudgingly supported the president.

The negotiations on the Treaty of Versailles got under way on January 18, 1919, in the Salle dHorloge in Paris. The meetings of 70 delegates from 27 countries were supposed to resolve the conflicts of the Great War and provide a basis for a lasting peace. However, not everyone was in Paris. The defeated nations Germany, Austria, and Hungary were not invited. Neither was Russia, which had concluded a separate peace with Germany after the revolution. Instead of a rational attempt to create a peaceful world based on Wilsons 14 points, Versailles became more of a squabble among the victors as they each pursued their own agendas.