It was not the power of the opposition forces, liberal or conservative, of the U.S. that led to the final defeat of the Treaty of Versailles, but rather the political ignorance, inability and inflexibility of the President, Woodrow Wilson. With the surrender of Germany after WW1, it presented many different ways to create peace. Wilson in 1918 offered his plans for peace in the "Fourteen Points", the most important of which he believed was Article X, the League of Nations. One year later, Wilson led the Paris Peace Conference at Versailles to reach an international pact that included the points. However, the U.S. was never to sign the treaty or join the League of Nations Woodrow Wilson's ideas for peace were well rooted in thought, but in politically applying his ideas, he made unchangeable mistakes. In heading up the peace conference, Wilson made a serious mistake by not included
World War One introduced the terrifying new concept of total war to an unsuspecting world.
Nationalism and delusions of world conquest turned civilians into soldiers. Before the war, humans were developing technology at the fastest rate in history. After the war ended, President Wilson and the rest of the Allied leaders were responsible for the challenge of putting Europe back together the way one might piece together a jigsaw puzzle. Unfortunately, in a turn of events that would prove disastrous for the future of the world, President Wilson's ineptitude and stubbornness led to the Senate defeat of the Treaty of Versailles.
President Wilson went to Europe as an idealistic progressive. He had grand plans for the future of Europe. However, when he met with the other leaders his ideas were destroyed. Nevertheless, Wilson consented to the terms of the Treaty simply because it contained what he saw as his legacy: the...