1. Wilson Fights for Peace
The Peace Process for World War I

2. Timeline of Events
• 1918- Wilson delivers Fourteen Points speech
to Congress
• 1919- Treaty of Versailles is signed
• 1920- Senate rejects Treaty of Versailles
• 1921- Senate again rejects Treaty of Versailles
• 1921- U.S. signs separate treaty with Germany

3. What were Wilson’s Points?
• 1. Open treaties
• 2. Freedom of the seas
• 3. Tariffs lowered or
abolished to encourage free
trade.
• 4. Arms reduction.
• 5. Consideration of the
interests of colonial peoples
• 6-13. Boundary changes and
self-determination of
ethnic/national groups
• 14. League of Nations

4. Terms of the treaty specifically
effected Germany
• Demilitarization
• Return of Alsace-
Lorraine to France
• $33 billion in
reparations
• War-guilt clause

5. Weaknesses of the Treaty
• Humiliated Germany
– Set Germans against the
treaty
• Set Reparations
– Germany couldn’t possible
pay
• Ignored sacrifices and
desires of Russia
• Stripped Germany of
colonies it needed to pay
reparations
• Ignored claims of colonized
people for self-
determination

6. Henry Cabot Lodge Objects to Treaty
• Suspicious of provision
for joint action against
aggression
• Wanted treaty to
declare the
constitutional right of
Congress to declare war

7. Wilson Helps Bring About the Senate’s
Rejection of Treaty
• Chose an American
delegation that failed to
include enough
Republicans and
senators
• Refused compromise
with Lodge

8. The Fight for the Treaty 2:59

9. Circumstances that lead many
Germans to support Adolf Hitler
• Political instability
and violence
• Resentment over
Germany’s treatment
by the Allies