There were two major reasons why Woodrow Wilson was unable
to get the Paris Peace Conference to implement his vision of what the peace treaty
should look like. First, Wilson himself had an attitude that annoyed his fellow leaders
and made them want to resist him. Second, the other countries (particularly England and
France) did not share Wilson's idealistic goals for the
treaty.
The first problem had to do with Wilson's
personality. He seemed too arrogant and preachy to the other leaders. An example of
this can be seen in the following quote from the French leader Georges Clemenceau (found
in the link below):
readability="6">How can I talk to a fellow who thinks himself the
first man for two thousand years who has known anything about peace on
earth?By making his fellow
leaders dislike him, Wilson made it harder to achieve his
goals.Second, the other leaders were not nearly as
interested as Wilson in creating an ideal world. Their countries had been hit much
harder by the war than the US had. They wanted a treaty that would either A) compensate
them for the damages and expenses they had suffered, B) make sure Germany would not be
able to make trouble again any time soon, or C) both. These desires made them oppose
Wilson's goals.For these reasons, most of Wilson's 14
Points, with the exception of the League of Nations, did not make it into the Treaty of
Versailes.
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