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.Beset with political difficulties at home that forced him to leave the peace confer-ence temporarily in February and exhausted by the sheer length of the negotiations,Wilson lost many key battles during the peace negotiations.In the end, the VersaillesTreaty required that Germany admit guilt for starting the war, pay reparations to theAllies, and disarm.Germany also lost its colonies, the territory ceded by Russia, as wellas Alsace and Lorraine (two French provinces taken by Germany during the Franco-German War in 1870).When Foch read the treaty, he exclaimed, this isn t a peace, it sa twenty year truce. 41Although the treaty s excessive harshness dismayed Wilson, he remained hopefulthat the provision to establish a League of Nation would usher in a new chapter in worldhistory.Once war passions cooled, Wilson believed that the League could modify someof the treaty s more egregious features.He also expected the pledge that membernations made to aid one another in the event of an attack to provide a powerful deter-rent against war.Wilson, however, encountered some opposition at home over thisdream of a powerful League of Nations constructing and implementing a system of col-lective security.Skeptics in Congress noted that Wilson had proposed a dramaticrealignment in the nation s foreign policy, which until this point had avoided formalalliances or international commitments.Isolationists who preferred no ongoing involve-ment in world affairs joined forces with advocates of the traditional balance-of-powerapproach to maintaining peace in Europe.Both factions questioned whether joining theLeague of Nations deprived Congress of its power to declare war.The pledge thatmember nations made to defend each other if attacked, which Wilson saw as essentialto creating a more peaceful world, League critics feared gave the League too muchpower to control American foreign policy. Are you ready to put your soldiers and yoursailors at the disposition of other nations?, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, the leadingRepublican opponent of the treaty, asked the American people.42 To resolve thisimpasse, Lodge proposed adding fourteen American reservations to the treaty.The mostimportant one explicitly stated that the United States assumes no obligation to preservethe territorial integrity or political independence of any other country or to interfere incontroversies between nations unless Congress gave explicit approval to sendAmerican troops overseas.43Unwilling to accept any modification that might re-open negotiations with othersignatories, Wilson refused to accept any alterations to the treaty.From the stand-point of American jurisprudence, renegotiation was only necessary if the Senatedemanded the addition of amendments rather than reservations to the treaty.Intaking this stand, Wilson somewhat willfully ignored hints from abroad that Franceand Britain would accept some American reservations if they ensured American 28 WORLD WAR IPresident Woodrow Wilson and Gen.John J.Pershing.(Courtesy of the Library of Congress)participation in implementing the provisions of the treaty.Instead of compromising,Wilson resolved to take his case directly to the American people.Over the course of three weeks, Wilson made forty speeches and traveled ten thou-sand miles before the huge crowds that thronged to hear him speak.Wilson s powerfuldefense of the treaty made an impact and public opinion began to build in support ofratification.Wilson dismissed his critics concerns as wrongheaded and impractical. If you want to stamp out the smoldering flames in some part of Central Europe, youdon t send to the United States for troops, Wilson contended.The League of Nationshad no ability to force any nation to send troops against its will, he claimed.TheLeague, he assured his audiences, would only choose the powers which are most ready,most available, most suitable, and selects them at their own consent, so the UnitedStates would in no such circumstances conceivable be drawn in unless the flames spreadto the world
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