Book contents
- The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations
- Series page
- The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations
- Copyright page
- Contents
- List of Maps
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Preface
- 1 The Age of European Domination
- 2 The Great War and American Neutrality
- 3 The United States at War
- 4 The Versailles Peace
- 5 The 1920s – The Security Aspect
- 6 The 1920s – The Economic Aspect
- 7 The 1920s – The Cultural Aspect
- 8 The Collapse of International Order
- 9 Totalitarianism and the Survival of Democracy
- 10 The Emergence of Geopolitics
- 11 The Road to Pearl Harbor
- 12 The Global Conflict
- Bibliographic Essay
- Index
4 - The Versailles Peace
The New Peace
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2013
Book contents
- The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations
- Series page
- The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations
- Copyright page
- Contents
- List of Maps
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Preface
- 1 The Age of European Domination
- 2 The Great War and American Neutrality
- 3 The United States at War
- 4 The Versailles Peace
- 5 The 1920s – The Security Aspect
- 6 The 1920s – The Economic Aspect
- 7 The 1920s – The Cultural Aspect
- 8 The Collapse of International Order
- 9 Totalitarianism and the Survival of Democracy
- 10 The Emergence of Geopolitics
- 11 The Road to Pearl Harbor
- 12 The Global Conflict
- Bibliographic Essay
- Index
Summary
The Paris peace conference was convened on January 18, 1919, and lasted until June 28, when a peace treaty with Germany was signed at the Versailles palace. Aspects of the peace were extremely harsh toward Germany, but some of the arrangements for the postwar world reflected the Wilsonian vision. It is not strange that, even given Wilson's well-known interest in the economic foundations of world order, he gave so little thought to this aspect of the Versailles peace. Perhaps he was too preoccupied with the more immediate political and military issues to give due attention to the question of transnational migration raised by China and Japan. Because the globalizing of America has been a major historical event of the past several decades, Wilsonianism should be seen not as a transient phenomenon, a reflection of some abstract idealism, but as a potent definer of contemporary history.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations , pp. 58 - 73Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013