History That Doesn't Suck - 147: Peacemaking in Paris: The Treaty of Versailles

Episode Date: November 20, 2023

“A Peace which cannot be defended in the name of justice before the whole world would continually call forth fresh resistance” This is the story of peacemaking in 1919–a fraught peacemaking. With the Armistice signed, some 30 nations (led by the major Allied Powers) are gathering in Paris, France, to deliberate on the terms they’ll give to Germany. But the conference is beset with conflicting views. Not only do these various nations and other unofficial representatives have conflicting views, but the three most powerful Allies–France, the UK, and the US, a.ka., The Big Three–aren't always on the same page. That’s especially true of the American President Woodrow Wilson, who’s pushing hard for his 14 points, particularly, for the creation of his League of Nations; he’s clashing with France’s Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau who’s far more interested in ensuring France’s security against German aggression than any idealistic (or as he sees it, unrealistic) notions of a world at perpetual peace. Filled with shouting matches, disagreements, and voices from across the globe, this Conference will create a League of Nations. It will also redraw some of the map of Europe, lay the foundation for a new map of the Middle East, and lay severe penalties on Germany's shoulders. They’re trying their best–but are they creating a better world? Or laying the seeds of future conflicts? And will the US Senate approve this Treaty of Versailles? We shall see. ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com and go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations join discussions in our Facebook community get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette  come see a live show get HTDS merch or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Interior Chinatown is an all-new series based on the best-selling novel by Charles Yu about a struggling Asian actor who gets a bigger part than he expected when he witnesses a crime in Chinatown. Streaming November 19th only on Disney+. What did it take to survive an ancient siege? Why was the cult of Dionysus behind so many slave revolts in ancient Rome? What's the tragic history and mythology behind Japan's most haunted ancient forest? We're Jen and Jenny from Ancient History Fangirl. Join us to explore

ancient history and mythology from a fun, sometimes tipsy, perspective. Find us at ancienthistoryfangirl.com or wherever you get your podcasts. receive ad-free episodes, bonus content, and other exclusive perks, I invite you to join the HTDS membership program. Sign up for a seven-day free trial today at htdspodcast.com slash membership, or click the link in the episode notes. It's a dark, cold night, October 13th, 1918. The 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry is currently holding a line of trenches amid the fields and hills of Flanders that lie 10 miles or so to the southeast of Ypres, not far from Werfink, Belgium.

What each of the soldiers are doing, I can't say. But this is a seasoned unit, filled with several men who've seen plenty of death and multiple battles. Many are likely smoking. Perhaps a few are catching a little shut-eye. Some are likely chatting. Do they long for home? Maybe they're discussing the recent setbacks in the war. However they're passing the time, it's interrupted around midnight by the sound of allied artillery. And soon after the first shell strikes, a sweet yet spicy scent and yellow cloud descends upon them. Throughout the line, the call goes out.

Gas! Immediately, gray-clad men drop to the ground, fumbling in the dark with their masks. Once secured and sealed on their heads, they breathe in hot, uncomfortable, but filtered air. Hours pass. The British mustard gas is unrelenting. Yet, despite the ongoing bombardment, one of the regiment's more recent arrivals has hit his breaking point. The young German rips off his mask, desperate for the cool night's air, and inhales. His screams turn to gags as the yellow gas burns his eyes, blisters his skin, then fills his lungs. Soon enough, he succumbs and dies.

The bombardment breaks around 7 a.m. The men tear off their masks and gulp down the morning's clean air. But they only get a taste before their British foe renews the attack. Already exhausted from the last seven hours, some fail to get their masks back on in time. They cough, wheeze, and die. Yet, even those who succeeded at remasking are blinded by this point. And so, one soldier, with some remaining if faint eyesight, calls for the others to form a human chain. Each blind man clings to the coat in front of him as their almost blind comrade stumbles along, leading them backward through the trenches to a first aid station. Short while later, the gassed soldiers are on a hospital train traveling east, away from the deadly Western Front, back toward the safety of Germany.

It's a train full of bloated faces and red, swollen, blinded eyes. Nurses tend to the suffering soldiers as best they can, but many turn these caregivers away. The doctors claim that this blindness is temporary, but the men refuse to believe them. Just more lies. God, how this army has lied to them. Many welcome the thought of death, but they're wrong to believe them. Just more lies. God, how this army has lied to them. Many welcome the thought of death, but they're wrong to disbelieve. Relief is coming, in the form of a medical hospital in the eastern town of Paso Vecchio.

Days pass. As they do, the swelling in the soldiers' faces and eyes recedes. Bit by bit, light, shapes, and colors return. The improvement is slow, but certain. Days become weeks. October turns to November. During this time, the recuperating soldiers hear talk of some kind of revolt.

Perhaps a revolution, even. Who knows? The details are vague, and after all, rumors are just that. Rumors. It's now November 10th. Several of the recovering troops have gathered in a small meeting room. They're here to listen to a local pastor speak. Walking in, this aging man of the cloth can't hide the hurt he's feeling inside from showing on his face.

Somberly, the pro-Kaiser pastor announces to the gathered soldiers that Imperial Germany is no more, that the Second Reich has fallen and a republic has risen in its place. Tears well up in the eyes of the many Kaiser loyal soldiers as they listen to this news. Meanwhile, the pastor continues on, expressing his gratitude to the royal house of Hohenzollern and all it did for the Prussian and larger German people. But then the clergyman's expression turns even more crestfallen as he shares the other hard piece of news. Germany has lost the war. The army is surrendering, effective tomorrow. And with that, the pastor hits his breaking point. He begins to weep. So do the soldiers. The meeting ends. Overcome with sorrow, minds turn to fallen comrades, to their two million brothers in arms, once young and hopeful

men with dreams, ambitions, and loved ones, now dead. What was all this death for, they wonder? And how could they have lost? Not only lost the war, but lost imperial Germany. How could this second hike fall? Or at least one soldier wonders all of this. One who, in the years to come, will devote himself to politics, gain immense political power within this new German republic,

and ultimately end this short-lived representative government as he fashions a new regime that will commit unfathomable atrocities, including ethnic cleansing and a holocaust against the Jewish people. His will be another authoritarian and this time genocidal Reich. A third Reich. That soldier is Corporal Adolf Hitler. Welcome to History That Doesn't Suck. I'm your professor, Greg Jackson, and I'd like to tell you a story. Adolf Hitler was among the 16th Bavarian Reserve soldiers in the hospital, but it's questionable if he was gassed. In 2011, historian Thomas Weber found a note by young

Adolf's physician diagnosing the future Führer with hysterical amblyopia. In other words, Adolf, who, as a courier, wasn't manning the front lines, may have experienced psychologically induced blindness. Hence his rapid and full recovery. Whether Adolf convinced himself he was gassed or lied to look like a war hero, just as he later lied that it was during this hospital stay that he felt called to politics, we'll never know. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Hitler's infamy is a story for a much, much later day. Today is a story of peacemaking, particularly of 1919's six-month Paris Peace Conference

culminating in the Allied Powers Treaty with Germany, the Treaty of Versailles. And it has a lot of moving pieces. We'll start with the U.S. midterm elections of 1918, which could impact the Senate's future choice to ratify this treaty or not. From there, we'll join Woodrow Wilson, who's personally representing the U.S. at the conference, to push his 14 points, especially his League of Nations. But can the idealist American out-navigate Georges Clemenceau, who wants to punish Germany and dismantle its military capabilities? What about the smooth-operating Welsh wizard, Britain's David Lloyd George?

We'll find out as we hear what their conflicting values and goals yield amid talks of a League of Nations assigning quote-unquote mandates in the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific, as Georges and Woodrow's tempers flare over German and French territory, and of course, as we learn what this conference ultimately asks, sorry, demands, that the Germans sign in the Palace of Versailles Hall of Mirrors. A final note, we have a few big terms to keep track of, so let me tell you now that this conference will be dominated by the Big Three, France, Britain, and the United States, less dominated by the Big Four,

which adds Italy, and slightly less still by the Big Five, which adds Japan. The Big Five also compromises the Supreme Council, also known as the Council of Ten, since each of the five countries has two people serving on it. You'll also hear me mention several other Great War ending treaties, apart from the Treaty of Versailles. While Versailles deals with Germany, these others handle the other central powers, the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires. The U.S. isn't a signatory on those treaties, so as a U.S. history podcast, we'll tread lightly, but I'll still give you the highlights, particularly those dealing with the post-Ottoman Middle East, since those impactful decisions, as you'll see,

start at the Paris Peace Conference. So much important, stage-setting, 20th century diplomatic history, so little time. So let's dive in, beginning with the United States going to the polls in 1918. Rewind. Going into the midterm congressional elections of 1918, President Woodrow Wilson's Democrats control Congress. They hold an outright majority in the Senate, and although the Republicans outnumber them in the House, third-party reps caucusing with the Democrats let them call the shots there as well. A great situation for the Democratic professorial president, but the Republicans aren't about to just roll over and accept that, especially not Theodore Roosevelt.

Just before the election, in October, 1918, the former trust-busting president and Bull Moose 1912 presidential candidate turned repentant Republican travels the West, urging Americans to vote in a Republican Senate. And why? Because of the coming peace talks. TR assails the vagueness of Woodrow's 14 points, calling them the conditional surrender of the United States.

The Rough Rider Colonel also rails against Woodrow's League of Nations, doubting its ability to keep peace and expressing concerns that it may meddle with the United States' sovereignty. TR is joining his dissent with that of his dear friend, the U.S. Senator most easily mistaken as a just-for-men touch-of-gray model, Massachusetts man, Henry Cabot Lodge. Woodrow intended to stay out of this election, to keep his focus on the war

and negotiating peace with Germany. But fearful that Teddy might cost him and his Democrats control in Congress, the president responds, telling the American people that electing Republicans would leave him quote-unquote seriously impaired in his negotiations through the end of the war. Wrong move. The president comes across as petty, like he's dismissing the bipartisan support he's enjoyed from Republicans,

likewise doing their wartime patriotic duty. While significantly fewer Americans dare to vote as the great influenza epidemic, aka the Spanish flu, sends some 25% of the population to their sickbeds and half a million to their graves, the masked and unmasked voters who do go to the polls on November 5th send a Republican majority to both houses of Congress for the first time in eight years. It's a blow to Woodrow's cause, but he's absolutely determined to hold the line on his 14 points. In fact, Woodrow's so determined that, as the armistice takes effect on November 11th and peace talks for a war-ending treaty are planned for Paris in January, the

square-jawed president uses his sixth annual message on December 2nd, 1918, to announce to Congress that he'll personally attend and participate in these negotiations. Already displeased with his partisan words before the election, many in Congress are all the more disappointed by this. Honestly, it's a bit odd that Woodrow's going. For one, he'll be absent from the White House for six months. And further, none of the other heads of state, like Britain's King George V, or French President Raymond Poincaré,

are going as negotiators. And frankly, Woodrow's buddy and fellow U.S. negotiator, Colonel Edward House, or just the Colonel, as he's called, can't help feeling like the president's stepping on his toes. But to Woodrow, the coming peace is based on his 14 points, so he must ensure that the Paris Peace Conference builds his League of Nations. Thus, in his mind, it's exactly as his physician, Dr. Kerry Grayson, puts it. He must go. And Woodrow will hope that the now Republican-dominated Senate will later ratify his work. On December 4th, 1918, Woodrow Wilson boards the USS George Washington.

He reaches France a little more than a week later, on December 13th. Once there, the professorial president continues tinkering with his plans for a League of Nations. But as more and more delegates arrive in Paris, the hour is upon him. Let the Paris Peace Conference begin. It's 2.50 in the chilly afternoon, Saturday, January 18th, 1919. A crowd of 2,000 or so cheers as limousines, decorated with miniature national flags or colorful buntings, drop off international delegates at 37 Quai d'Orsay in Paris, France.

Before them stands a pillared two-story stone building with several windows that scream Second Empire elegance. L'Hôtel du ministre des affaires étrangères, that is, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Cheers fill the street as the American president, Woodrow Wilson, arrives, and the French crowd grows louder still at the sight of their own president, Raymond Poincaré. Sorry, Woodrow, but he does have the home field advantage.

The delegates file into an ornate white and gold covered room filled with statues ranging from cherubic figures to a female personification of France. She stands over the fireplace and just at her feet, mounted on the mantle, is an exquisite clock. Hence this is called the salon de l'horloge or the clock salon. Although, during these treaty deliberations, they're calling this la salle de la paix, or the hall of peace. The men sit in crimson leather chairs at a large U-shaped green felt-covered table. Our old acquaintance, the rotund walrus mustache,

and, for today, bowler hat wearing, French Prime Minister Georges the Tiger Clemenceau, sits at the head. On his right is Woodrow Wilson and to his left is British Prime Minister David Lloyd George. This is the big three, though they don't all love each other. Georges finds both men annoying. David for his slick maneuvering that's earned him the title of the Welsh wizard, and even more so, Woodrow for his holier-than-thou idealism. The table then rounds to seat some 70 delegates

hailing from some 30 different countries. If these gentlemen didn't know the pecking order before today, surely that's dawning on them as they find their seats. French President Raymond Poincaré opens the proceedings with a brief welcome speech. But not being a delegate, he then leaves as the group moves to naming a conference chairman. Our American president nominates

French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau. Britain's Welsh wizard seconds the motion, and further down the table, Baron Sunino of Italy follows suit. The motion passes unanimously. Now the chairman, Georges the Tiger Clemenceau, rises to address the room. He doesn't waste this opportunity, quickly laying ground for reparations, which, though not said now, he wants Germany to pay to France. He then pivots to placating flattery for Woodrow. The proof of friendship has touched me deeply, because I see in it a new strength for all three of us, which will allow us to carry through, with the help of

the whole conference, the arduous work entrusted to us. We have come here as friends. We must leave this room as brothers. That is the first thought which I wish to express. Everything must yield to the necessity of a closer and closer union among the peoples who have taken part in this great war. The League of Nations is here. It is in yourselves. It is for you to make it live. And for that, it must be in our hearts. As I have said to President Wilson, there must be no sacrifice which we are not ready to accept.

With these politically deft words of brotherhood that seem to both accept and perhaps dismiss Woodrow's League of Nations, the Tiger then asks delegates to prepare memorandums on the responsibilities of the authors of the war, penalties for crimes committed during the war, and new international legislation on labor. He then adjourns this first session at 4.35 p.m. So the Paris Peace Conference has officially begun. But as we saw in the seating setup, few in attendance are real decision makers. Instead, a supreme council, or council of ten, made up of the heads of government and foreign ministers of the five most powerful allied nations—France, the United Kingdom, the U.S., Italy, and Japan,

is calling the shots. This council faces a thousand questions and competing priorities. Woodrow Wilson keeps pushing his League of Nations. Georges Clemenceau is far more concerned about creating barriers between France and Germany, and well, making Germany pay. David Lloyd George is all about Germany paying the bill for this war, but impressively, he seems able to thread the needle between the American and the Frenchman. Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando is really just there to make sure Italy gets its slice of the pie, while Japan wants to ensure that its empire is respected as a world power, which includes territorial gains. Yet, powerful as the Council of Ten is, this

conference is flooded with representatives interested in one of Woodrow's 14 points. Self-determination, that is, the idea that a given people have the right to exercise their own sovereignty. A lofty idea in this world of empires. It'll play out decently for many European peoples, which will be impacted by this treaty, as well as the Allies' two treaties with the coming-to-par Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and the Treaty of Trianon, and with Bulgaria, the Treaty of Nuit-sur-Seine. But the idea is also drawing interest from those hailing from other parts of

the globe, even those not officially recognized as representatives. One is a 29-year-old from France's Southeast Asian colony of French Indochina who's asserting his homeland should have independence. His bid won't go anywhere, but we'll give a passing nod to this fellow, later to be known as Ho Chi Minh, and save his story for a much later day. Realizing that they can't ignore Woodrow Wilson's League of Nations after his impassioned speech on January 25th, seriously, this idealist American won't drop it, the council looks at wrapping the League and the self-determination issue together. They'll create his League of Nations, and it, in turn, will assign a great power nation to tutor and guide the former German colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, and the Ottoman territories in the Middle East as these developing regions learn to exercise sovereignty and self-governance. They'll call these embryonic nations mandates.

But is this really about helping these new mandates? Can the League of Nations truly ensure no or little abuse occurs? Or are the Supreme Council's British, French, and Japanese members just setting up colonialism light under a better sounding name as they divvy up some of the former holdings of the defeated central powers among themselves? I'll let you ponder that as the Supreme Council meets with two men who've traveled to Paris from the Middle East. It's about three in the afternoon, February 6th, 1919. The Supreme Council is gathered at 37 Quai d'Orsay

in the ornate wood-paneled office of French Foreign Minister Stéphane Pichon. Even here, the seating arrangements reflect the power dynamics. French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau rests in a gilded armchair at the head of the table just before the fireplace. The British and American delegates, including Prime Minister David Lloyd George and President Woodrow Wilson, are seated next to each other, while the Japanese and Italians are at a table in the corner. With the Council wrapping up a discussion about destroying German U-boats,

conference chairman Georges Clemenceau calls for today's invited guests to enter. The Arab revolt's leader, Emir Faisal of the Hashemite kingdom of Hejaz. Okay, time out. Here's a bit of background as Faisal enters. Through an exchange of letters between 1915 and 1916, Faisal's father, the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali al-Hashimi, and Britain's high commissioner to Egypt, Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry McMahon, plotted the Arab revolt. The deal was that the Sharif would raise an Arab army to fight against his Ottoman rulers, and in return, Britain would fund it,

and crucially, recognize his independent Hashemite kingdom. Ah, but the boundaries of this kingdom were ambiguously defined, and that may have been intentional. More complicated still, Britain and France concluded a secret agreement in 1916, the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which divided much of the Ottoman Middle East between them them while conflicting with some of the ambiguities of the McMahon-Hussein letters. Now, the Sykes-Picot Agreement was scrapped as Russia made it public in 1917, yet the Supreme Council is now entertaining League of Nations mandates run by Britain and France that align with some of its thinking. And as if those two layers aren't complicated enough, here's a third. In 1917, British Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour issued a formal declaration designating Palestine

as a homeland for the Jewish people. Future historians will argue over the incompetency, duplicity, short-sightedness, or mixture of all three that led the British to make these conflicting promises for a post-Ottoman Middle East. But it's in that context that Faisal appears before the council to fight for what he understands to be his promised Arab kingdom. Dressed in gold-embroidered white robes and wearing a jewel-encrusted revolver and gold-handled scimitar at his waist, Emir Faisal looks every part the hero of the Arab revolt as he steps into the room.

At the prince's side and forced out of his own white robes and into his old British officer's uniform is his ally and, for today, interpreter, Colonel T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. Georges Clemenceau bellows out, The floor belongs to Prince Faisal. The prince and Lawrence both rise. Faisal speaks as Lawrence translates, I am pleased to be in this company that includes the great leaders of the world and I believe that this higher forum will treat the Arab nation equitably as they seek to

defend their natural rights. Faisal presents 11 reasons for his independent Arab kingdom, including that 20,000 Arabs died fighting for the Allies, that the British promised them independence, and that this is in accordance with President Woodrow Wilson's principles of self-determination. The American president nods in agreement with each point. In stark contrast, Georges Clemenceau and Stéphane Péchon, whose French government is looking to run a mandate for Syria that conflicts with Faisal's vision, glower. With Lawrence still translating, the prince continues, The Allies promised the Arab nation its freedom and independence. Now they have emerged from the war victorious, it is necessary they abide by their promises.

I am confident that the great powers will be more interested in the welfare of the Arab people than in their own material interests. Faisal and Lawrence take their seats. Georges asks questions. Woodrow has one. Seeing that the plan of mandatories on behalf of the League of Nations has been adopted, would you prefer for your people a single mandatory or several?" At first, Faisal skirts the question, saying that the exact divisions are a question for the Arab people. But Woodrow pushes, I understand perfectly, but I would like to know

the Emir's personal opinion. Again, he answers with Lawrence translating, My principle is Arab unity. It was for this that the Arabs have fought. My nation has a great civilizational legacy, and when it was at its height of civilization, the nations that you represent were in a state of chaos and barbarism. For 400 years, the Arabs have suffered under a violent military oppression, and as long as life remains in them, they mean never to return to it.

The room again falls silent. Faisal and Lawrence then rise, shake hands with Georges Clémenceau, and leave. Napoleon Bonaparte rose from obscurity to become the most powerful and significant figure in modern history. Over 200 years after his death, people are still debating his legacy. He was a man of contradictions, a tyrant and a reformer, a liberator and an oppressor, a revolutionary and a reactionary. His biography reads like a novel, and his influence is almost beyond measure.

I'm Everett Rummage, host of the Age of Napoleon podcast, and every month I delve into the turbulent life and times of one of the greatest characters in history, and explore the world that shaped him in all its glory and tragedy. It's a story of great battles and campaigns, political intrigue, and massive social and economic change, but it's also a story about people, populated with remarkable characters. I hope you'll join me as I examine this fascinating era of history. Find The Age of Napoleon wherever you get your podcasts. Ever wondered what it's like to be in the room with top al-Qaeda terrorists plotting their next

move? Do you want to know how the history of Islamic fundamentalist thought informs the way the world works today? Well then, dear listener, Conflicted is the podcast for you. I trace the epic battles between Muslims and the West. What are the Houthis' objectives in the Red Sea? It's a lesson to the rest of the Muslim world and the Arab world. Do not trust the Islamists. Hosted by me, Thomas Small, an author and filmmaker, and my good friend, Eamon Dean, an ex-Al-Qaeda jihadi turned MI6 spy, Conflicted tells stories of the Islamic past and present to help you make sense of the world today. And now Conflicted Season 5 is being cooked up,

coming to you very soon. And in the meantime, you can sign up to our Conflicted Season 5 is being cooked up, coming to you very soon. And in the meantime, you can sign up to our Conflicted community to give you bonus episodes and access to our community hub on Discord. Subscribe to Conflicted wherever you get your podcasts. We know that the Treaty of Versailles focused on Germany, not the Ottoman Empire. But Faisal speaking to the Supreme Council in Paris made sense because this treaty will include the League of Nations Covenant, that is, the League's charter, and as such, will address the post-Ottoman Middle East in Article 22. It will state that certain communities of the Ottoman Empire are ready for quote-unquote provisional independence, but need the League of Nations advice and assistance through the mandate system. We want to keep our focus on the peace with Germany, but briefly, let me explain what Article 22 ultimately unfolds as treaties with the Ottomans and

later conferences rely on the mandate system to redraw the map of the Middle East. Next year, in April 1920, the U.S. will be an observer only as the other four major allied powers sort out the Middle East mandates at the San Remo Conference. A few months later, the Ottomans will surrender that territory in the Treaty of Sèvres. After more war and revolution, leading to the death of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of the Turkish Republic, this will be further clarified in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. As for the mandates, they go as follows. The French will get the mandate for Syria and Lebanon, the latter of which France will treat as a separate entity for Middle Eastern Christians. The Brits' mandated territory will include Iraq

and an initially sizable Transjordan including Palestine. In administering Palestine, the British will hold to the Balfour Declaration, designating it as a, but not the, Jewish homeland, by which they mean a Jewish homeland not to infringe on the rights of Muslims and Christians already living there. Jews and Muslims could not interpret this more differently. For Jews the world over, this is a welcome reprieve

from centuries of ardent, often deadly, antisemitism. Jewish nationalists, known as Zionists, see it as a return to their ancestral home, as described in the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. But to most Arabs, this is rampant and unchecked immigration, sanctioned by the British at the expense of Palestine's predominantly Muslim population. As for the Hashemites, they won't be out of the picture but will feel betrayed. The Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali, will refuse to sign any of the Great War Ending Treaties. In a few years, his short-lived Arabian Peninsula Kingdom of Hejaz will fall to the House of Saud. As for Faisal, he will attempt to rule Syria only to be chased off by French

forces under the new mandate. The British will do nothing at first, until Faisal's brother, Abdullah, responds by marching an army from Mecca toward French Syria. This, in turn, will lead the Brits to place Faisal on the throne of the British mandate for Iraq, and to split their mandate for Palestine in half, dubbing the eastern section Transjordan and making Abdullah its king. Thus, these two Hashemite brothers will reign in their respective realms but under British supervision, not as rulers of independent Arab nations. And Arab nationalists

will never forget this. But all of this is yet to come, and their subsequent events are stories for another day. Right now, in mid-February 1919, as the Supreme Council is thinking through the mandates, be they in the former Ottoman Empire or German colonial empire, Woodrow is excitedly presenting a proposed Covenant of the League of Nations to the Peace Conference. It goes well. Convinced his league is secure, Woodrow returns to the U.S. for a few weeks to, you know, be the president. Woodrow isn't the only MVP temporarily taking the sidelines. On February 19th, a would-be assassin wounds Georges Clemenceau, leaving him temporarily homebound. Pulling a Woodrow, David Lloyd George returns to the U.K. to fulfill his duties as prime minister.

Suddenly, the big three are all relying on their second string. Ah, Colonel Edward House finally gets to represent the United States. France's diplomats are delighted. The colonel is far more malleable than the American president. Meanwhile, the Japanese are trying to ensure that they have an equal seat in the League of Nations.

They introduce an amendment to the League's covenant that would exclude racial prejudice. The London, born and raised Australian Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, pushes back. No government could live for a day in Australia if it's hampered with a white Australia. But that question, like so many, gets tabled, and back in the States, Woodrow is terrified to learn of all the compromises that his best friend, the colonel, is making. So, the square-jawed, bespectacled president hightails it back to Paris. To Woodrow, these aren't compromises, but sacrifices of principles.

And he won't surrender his vision for a better world. Woodrow isn't the only one who can stand his ground, though. They don't call the now-gunned-down, yet-recover recovering French prime minister and conference chairman, Georges Clemenceau, the tiger for nothing. And he is determined to protect France from future German aggression,

as well as make Germany pay. Woodrow can oppose him, but beware, this roaring tiger has claws. It's just past 4 p.m., Friday, March 28, 1919. The Big Four has gathered once again in the office of French Foreign Minister Stéphane Pichon. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George is the last to shuffle in. I apologize for being late. Woodrow Wilson smirks and answers.

I would hate to use the term the late Mr. Lloyd George. A quality dad joke. The two statesmen chuckle together. David sits as the Tigers' lieutenant. André Tardieu reports on the Coleridge territory of the Saar Basin, which sits between France and Germany. André's position is clear. It should join France. Georges Clemenceau

smiles. Woodrow looks concerned. Turning to Georges, the American president counters. If we do not wish to place ourselves in the wrong and break our word, we must not interpret our own principles too generously to our benefit. I say this solemnly. Let us avoid acting in a manner which would risk creating sympathies for Germany. The tiger's smile is gone. He's ready to pounce. I will keep in mind the words and excellent intentions of President Wilson. He eliminates sentiment and memory. The President of the United States disregards the depths of human nature. The fact of the war cannot be forgotten. America did not see this war at a close distance for its first three years. During this time, we lost a million and a half men.

You seek to do justice to the Germans. Do not believe that they will ever forgive us. They only seek the opportunity for revenge. The history of the United States is a glorious history, but short. A century for you is a very long period. For us, it is a little thing. I have known men who saw Napoleon with their own eyes. I simply ask you to think about what I have just said when you are alone and to ask yourself in conscience if that does not contain a part of the truth. Ever the idealist, Woodrow answers.

It is painful for me to oppose you. I could not do otherwise without shirking my duty. One cannot satisfy everyone. By seeking general satisfaction, you run the risk of sowing the seed of general discontent. Britain's Welsh wizard chimes in. I agree with the declaration of principle so forcefully presented by President Wilson. There are cases in which equally respectable principles are in conflict. To reconcile them, each side must consent to some sacrifice. Italy's white-haired and dark-mustached prime minister, Vittorio Orlando, now enters the fray. He suggests that the historical argument in and of itself must be excluded. Otherwise, Italy could, if she wished, claim all the former territories of the Roman Empire.

That gets a hearty laugh out of Woodrow and David, but Georges is as stone-faced as ever. The Frenchman says that Woodrow is favoring the Germans over the French and declares that if France does not receive the Saar Valley, he won't sign the Treaty of Peace. That does it for Woodrow. He shouts at the tiger, then if France does not get what she wishes, she will refuse to act with us. In that event, do you wish me to return home? Georges shouts back, I do not wish you to go home,

but I intend to do so myself. And with that, the French prime minister storms out of the room. Hearing about this tense exchange between the Tiger and his president, U.S. Secretary of State Robert Lansing quips, Knowing the president as I do, I am sure that he will not forgive, much less forget, this affair. The president is a wonderful hater. Robert's right. Things only get worse.

The president's close friend and press secretary, Ray Standard Baker, calls this the dark period as Woodrow and George grind this conference to a near stop on almost every issue. Meanwhile, Woodrow complains to the colonel about the Tiger's stubbornness and that it seems the other council members just want him to shut up now that they've given him his League of Nations. Entering the month of April, Woodrow suffers from exhaustion and fever. Perhaps a nasty cold, but perhaps symptoms that, along with his decreasing patience and increasingly spotty memory, point to something more. Something in the brain. Whatever it is, David Lloyd George and Georges Clemenceau

are happy to use their Woodrow-free moment to talk about Germany paying reparations. Learning of this, Woodrow fumes. Still ill, on April 6th, he nonetheless threatens to leave the peace conference. But even as the American president talks of taking his ball and going home over reparations and various national borders, he knows he can't. Until this treaty is finalized, his baby, the League of Nations, is at risk. So, Woodrow swallows his idealism and compromises all through April. The only point the American president stays firm on is opposing Japan's racial equality clause in the League of Nations Covenant. Japan agrees to water down its language to the principle of equality of nations and just treatment of their nationals, but Woodrow's still not on board. See, he needs the U.S. Senate to

ratify the treaty, and he knows that Southern senators and increasingly anti-Japanese West Coast senators would never approve of this. So when the Japanese put it to a vote and win the majority, the professorial president plays dirty politics. Woodrow says it can't pass anyway, not while there are still strong objections. Though upset, the Japanese pivot. They will look past this in exchange for more Chinese territory. Woodrow accepts. Other nations are feeling stepped on as well. Even the big four is Italy. On April 23, 1919, with only days until the Germans are said to arrive and receive this still-not-finished peace treaty, Woodrow Wilson and Georges Clemenceau find common ground, opposing Italy taking the territory of Fiume. Italy's Vittorio Orlando is sick of this

American's hypocrisy. The Italian leader announces that he's leaving and further complains that now President Wilson, after ignoring and violating his own 14 points, wants to restore their virginity by applying them vigorously where they refer to Italy. And if we're honest, he's right. Woodrow stands firm on self-determination when it comes to Fiume or the Yugoslavs, but is willing to compromise on an independent Arab nation, Germany's former colonies, or other issues important to his closest allies. Indeed, Woodrow is firmly beside David Lloyd George in ignoring pleas from India and Ireland to cast off British rule and become independent nations.

Why is that? Perhaps the answer is best illustrated by Woodrow's question to Ray Baker amid concerns that Japan might leave. If Italy remains and Japan goes home, what becomes of the League of Nations? Ah, yes. For Woodrow, this whole conference boils down to the League. As he sees it, any failures on nationalities or borders made now, the League of Nations can sort out in the future. The League's creation then is paramount, even if the idealistic president has to roll in the mud to get it. The text of the treaty comes together much like my students' term papers, just hours before the deadline.

I'll give you an overview, but not just yet. We'll let this conference present it to the Germans first. But I warn you, this isn't a pleasant experience. It's 3 p.m., May 7th, 1919. We're 10 miles west of Paris, in Versailles, France, at the Trianon Palace Hotel. The peace conference's more than 200 delegates are taking their seats at tables arranged in the same U-shaped layout used at the first session back in January. But this time, there are six new faces among them. Six German faces.

They're seated in the room's center, just below the big three. Foremost among them is Germany's toothbrush-mustache-wearing Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Ulrich Brockdorff-Ronsau. The Count shuffles two speeches in his hands. The first is a short, noncommittal response to whatever is said here today. The other is longer, mildly defiant. He still hasn't decided which one he'll use. That will depend on how things go. The gavel strikes. Georges Clemenceau opens the meeting by addressing the Germans in a cold tone. Monsieur, you see before you the accredited representatives of the allied and associated powers, both small and great, which have waged without intermission for more than four years the pitiless war which was imposed on them. You ask for peace. We are disposed to grant it to you. This volume, which the SecretaryGeneral of the Conference will shortly hand to you,

will tell you the conditions which we have fixed. The 413-page volume makes a dull thud as it lands on the Germans' table. Georges lays out the treaty's broad strokes, like Germany's loss of its colonies, some European territory, reparation payments, as well as an explicit assertion that Germany is entirely at fault for the war, and tells them they have 15 days to submit any questions in writing. With that, he asks if anyone present would like to speak. The Count raises his hand. Georges accepts. The distinguished German picks up his long speech. Defiant it is then, and it feels all the more defiant as the count refuses to stand and delivers the message in his gravelly voice.

We cherish no illusions as to the extent of our defeat. We know the force of the hatred which confronts us here. And we have heard the passionate demands that the victors should both make us pay as vanquished and punish us as guilty. We are required to admit that we alone are all guilty. Such an admission on my lips would be a lie. We are far from seeking to exonerate, but we emphatically combat the idea that Germany, whose people were convinced that they were waging a defensive war, should alone be laden with the guilt. A peace which cannot be defended in the name of justice before the whole world

would continually call forth fresh resistance. We will examine the documents submitted to us with all good will and in the hope that the final result of our meeting can be subscribed by us all. David Lloyd George snaps his ivory paper knife in two. Fuming, George swings down the gavel once more. Meeting adjourned. As they walk out, Woodrow turns to David and says, this is the most tactless speech I have ever heard. The Germans are really a stupid people. They always do the wrong thing. The Welsh wizard answers in agreement.

It was deplorable that we let him talk. At this same moment, the German count is stepping outside. He lights up a cigarette on the steps of the palace. From a distance, he casts an air of strength and defiance. It's only the people close by that can see. His lips are trembling. to the Compromise of 1877, from Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, to Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, the Civil War and Reconstruction was a pivotal era in American history. I'm Rich, and I'm Tracy, and we're the hosts of a podcast that takes a deep dive into that era, when a war was

fought to save the Union and to free the slaves. And when the work to rebuild the nation after that war was over turned into a struggle to guarantee liberty and justice for all Americans. Look for The Civil War and Reconstruction wherever you find your podcasts. Want to learn how you can make smarter decisions with your money? Well, I've got the podcast for you. I'm Sean Piles, and I host NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast. On our show, we help listeners like you make the most of your finances.

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events. And you'll walk away with the confidence you need to ensure that your money is always working as hard as you are. So turn to the nerds to answer your real world money questions and get insights that can help you make the smartest financial decisions for your life. Listen to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. With no time to lose, the Germans dive into the treaty. They're appalled at what they find in the 15-section, 440-article, 413-page tome. It opens with the covenant creating Woodrow Wilson's pride and joy, the League of Nations, which Germany is not allowed to join.

Germany is also to surrender about 10% of its population and territory. Those losses include the Saar Basin and the port city of Danzig, both of which the League of Nations will watch over. West Prussia and Posen, going to a reconstituted and independent Poland. Further territory is going to Belgium, Denmark, and the new state of Czechoslovakia. And of course, Alsace-Lorraine, which France has longed to take back since losing the region five decades ago in the Franco-Prussian War. Also, Germany's overseas colonies are becoming League of Nations mandates.

As for reparations, Germany will pay. A commission will yet calculate the cost, but that will come to the equivalent of 33 billion US dollars. It's an astronomical figure for the era, one that any experts worth their salt know that Germany can't pay without upsetting the global economy itself.

Georges Clemenceau wanted Germany's military neutered. He got it. Germany's navy may not exceed 15,000 sailors and no submarines. The army may not exceed 100,000 men. Various arms are forbidden and Germany may not send its own military into its French-bordering Rhineland, which the Allies will also occupy temporarily. Then there's the insult to injury. One is where this treaty is being signed, the Palace of Versailles. As we know from episode 128, this is where the Germans proclaimed the Second Reich.

The Germans insulted France by creating their empire in this symbolic place of French power, and now France will debase the Germans in the symbolic place of French power, and now France will debase the Germans in the same place. I mean, karma? But damn. The other deep cut is Article 231, dubbed the War Guilt Clause. With this article, Germany is forced to accept total responsibility for starting the war. Period. The German delegates are floored. Reading through this and more in the 413-page treaty, Count Ulrich Brockdorfer-Rantzau declares, This fat volume was quite unnecessary. They could have expressed the whole thing more simply in one clause. Germany surrenders all claims to its existence. The Count and his colleagues prepare

their objections and counter proposals by the end of May. In brief, they denounce the treaty as a violation of the 14 points. While the French are happy to say, sucks to suck, there are many who agree with the Germans. These include the American Relief Administrator, Herbert Hoover, and Secretary of State, Robert Lansing. All the same, the Big Three only allow small changes, and by June 16, 1919, the Germans are told they have three days to sign or resume the war. They're then given three extra days, until 7 p.m. on the 23rd, to get authorization from the German government. Germany's Armistice Commissioner, Matthias Oetzberger,

whom we met in the last episode as he tearfully signed the armistice in the Kampien Forest, favors signing. He fears Germany won't survive if war resumes. All but broken, the German army feels the same way. Given that, Germany's National Assembly assents. The assembly's despondent chairman declares, We commend our unhappy country to the care of a merciful God. At 5.40 p.m., just over an hour

until the deadline, the Big Four receives a note declaring that Germany will sign. Relief fills the room as Georges Clemenceau sends word to Marshal Ferdinand Foch not to resume hostilities on Germany. The war really is over, and it will become official with German signatures in just five days. It's about three in the afternoon, June 28th, 1919. Five years to the day since the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. As symbolic as the date is our location. The palace of Versailles' Galerie des Glaces, or Hall of Mirrors. Nearly 50 years ago, German princes came here to Louis XIV's palace,

this shrine to France's glory. And in this very 80-yard-long hall, proclaimed Wilhelm as emperor of a second German Reich. And days later, pressed a humiliating peace upon the French, taking Alsace-Lorraine. It's a wound the French have never forgotten. But today, as plenipotentiaries make their way through the throngs of reporters and hundreds of chatting guests to reach the horseshoe table in the middle,

the shoe is on the other foot. Today, the French celebrate victory at Versailles. The Germans shall play the role of the vanquished. Our French Prime Minister and Peace Conference Chairman, Georges the Tiger Clemenceau, glances about as America's Woodrow Wilson and Britain's David Lloyd George take their seats. Ushers then hush the crowd, which goes silent. Standing at the door with martial splendor, the Garde Républicaine place their swords into scabbards with a loud click. The tiger now roars out his order for the Germans to enter.

Accompanied by two escorts, two Germans, Foreign Minister Hermann Müller and Colonial Minister Johann Bell, slowly walk the thin slice of the hall's parquet floor not covered by savonnerie carpets. The sound of their feet shuffling sends a haunting echo through the room. Thousands of eyes stare at the deathly pale men. Many wonder, how can these defeated souls represent Germany's brutal militarism? They look so human. Georges Clemenceau now opens the meeting. Messieurs, la séance est ouverte.

He adds a few more remarks. The escorts then, once more, lead the Germans forward. With the vacant eyes of condemned convicts approaching a guillotine, they advance to a small table on which lies the treaty. Silence and tension fill the room as the Germans stare painfully at the parchment before them. Each takes up a pen. As they sign, every stroke fills them with the weight of crushing national debt, lost lands, and a humiliating acceptance of blame. But now, it's done, and delegates representing this conference's 30-odd nations form a line to add their signatures. From outside, the sound of cannon fire fills the mostly quiet hall.

It's a celebratory salute, announcing that the Germans have indeed signed the Treaty of Versailles. And then, with surprising rapidity, the last delegate signs. It's all over. As Georges Clemenceau walks out, a man stops him to congratulate him. With tears streaming, the tiger announces joyfully, Oui, c'est une belle journée. But as British diplomat Harold Nicholson watches this exchange, he doubts if this is, in fact, a beautiful day. He shares this concern with Marie Murat as she stands by his side.

Marie doubts it too. The contrast and, frankly, foreshadowing captured in that last exchange is so powerful and terrifying. Here we have a relieved Georges Clemenceau who looks at the Treaty of Versailles as justice and righteousness. In his mind, 50 years of wrong is being set aright as France recovers Alsace-Lorraine, as those German brutes lose their military might and eat both the blame and cost of this most recent devastating war. But is he right? Or are Harold and Marie right as they look on, wondering if this evisceration of Germany hasn't gone too far? We'll hold that thought. We'll dig deeper here, but first, let's find out if, after all of Woodrow Wilson's work, the U.S. Senate will

ratify this treaty. The Republican-leaning Senate has seen notable developments as Woodrow has been working to build his idea of a better world at this six-month peace conference. Perhaps most notable is an event that occurred after Woodrow arrived in Paris, but before the first session. On January 6, 1919, the great rough rider himself, the former president and likely 1920 presidential candidate, Theodore Roosevelt, passed away in his sleep. We'll bid TR farewell properly in a later episode, but for today's tale, we will only note that he died opposing Woodrow's League of Nations, and his dear friend, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, has carried that torch in his stead.

Meanwhile, the League for the Preservation of American Independence has been questioning how the League of Nations doesn't run contrary to the wisdom of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom warned against permanent or entangling alliances. Indeed, as Woodrow puts this treaty before the Senate, concerns over American sovereignty are paramount in his opponents' minds. They ask what implications this league might have over the century-old Monroe Doctrine. How might the league impact the United States' ability to make military decisions? For a few senators, called irreconcilables, no amount of assurances can overcome their concerns. Those deemed mild reservationists, though, are open to it if Woodrow

can shore up concerns over American sovereignty. With minor revisions, then, perhaps the president can win them over, as well as the dozens of other senators who remain undecided. True to form, the idealist president will not entertain any revisions. This treaty must be ratified as is, and he will not see the League of Nations watered down. Months pass as the Senate battles, but still, Woodrow holds his ground. He decides to take the fight out of the halls of the Capitol and into the hearts of the American people. In September 1919, Woodrow boards his seven-car presidential train, the Mayflower and embarks on a national tour. He stops as often as possible,

sometimes giving two or three speeches a day, and well, you know our professorial president. None of these addresses are short. He's not feeling physically well, but it's working. Giving some 40 speeches over 21 days, he's winning over the nation's citizenry. On September 25th, Woodrow stands firm in his unwillingness to revise the treaty's League of Nations covenant, telling a crowd of 3,000 in Pueblo, Colorado,

We have got to adopt it or reject it. Woodrow returns to his train car with a terrible headache. He has a lot of those these days. Dr. Kerry Grayson recommends a walk, so the train stops about 20 miles outside of Pueblo while Woodrow strolls through the Colorado countryside. Along the road, he encounters a veteran doughboy and his family on their porch. It's a nice visit. Woodrow returns to his train, and they continue down the tracks. Late that night, Woodrow calls for his wife, Edith. Sitting in a chair, he says that the headache is back.

It's excruciating. He coughs, complains that the walls are closing in. His face twitches. His ever-faithful presidential physician, Dr. Grayson, is soon there, insisting that they cancel the rest of the tour. But Woodrow can't. He must speak to the people. He insists that he must save the League

of Nations. When the doctor tries to talk Woodrow out of continuing the tour again in the morning, the president fires back. Don't you see that if you cancel this trip, Senator Lodge and his friends will say that I am a quitter and the treaty will be lost. But even Woodrow's iron will can't overcome the frailties of being a mere mortal. Something is wrong. And finally, he relents to his wife, doctor, and others. They return to the White House. But it won't be long before things get worse. It's about 8.45 a.m., October 2nd, 1919. We're at the White House in Washington, D.C., where Edith Wilson's just waking up. Again.

The First Lady's had a rather restless night, getting up every hour or two to check on her husband over and over. Then again, it's been like that for a while. Edith thinks of last month's national tour as one long nightmare. But as she walks toward Woodrow's room this morning, she's comforted that things have been a touch better in the few days since they returned to the executive mansion. Last night, Woodrow even managed to play billiards, watch a movie, and read some scripture.

He did forget his watch going to bed, which was unusual for him, but Edith laughed it off. He's always forgetting things. But now, stepping into her husband's room, Edith is utterly unprepared for what she sees. Seated at the edge of the bed, Woodrow is desperately attempting to grab a water bottle. His left hand is completely limp.

Helpless, Woodrow addresses his wife. I have no feeling in that hand. Will you rub it? But first help me to the bathroom. Edith dutifully supports her husband as he staggers. Tara grips the First Lady as she can feel Woodrow's body spasming in pain with every step. Reaching the presidential bathroom, Edith guides, then stabilizes Woodrow. She asks him if he can handle her stepping away long enough to call for their tireless doctor and friend, Dr. Cary Grayson.

Woodrow says he can. But Edith can't use the phone in the nearby bedroom. She's heard rumors that people eavesdrop on that line, and Woodrow would never want the public to know about his current condition. With this in mind, the First Lady dashes down the hall to a private phone, answered by the presidential couple's longtime usher, Ike Hoover. Ike picks up and Edith softly but firmly instructs him, "'Please get Dr. Grayson.

"'The president is very sick.'" But before she can even hang up, Edith hears something from the bathroom. She rushes back to find her husband, the esteemed Princeton professor turned President of the United States, unconscious on the bathroom floor. Woodrow survives the stroke. It does, however, leave the president paralyzed on his left side and confined to his room. More than that, he's not the man he was before. Dr. Grayson and Edith decide to keep the full extent of his illness to themselves.

With Woodrow out of the public scene, though, the Senate is able to make changes to the treaty. The idealistic president recovers enough to push back by November and answers that he will not accept any of the Senate's amendments to the treaty. In the weeks following, Woodrow learns that, as the author of the 14 points and founder of the League of Nations, he's won the Nobel Peace Prize for 1919. Yet, ironically, it becomes clear in the following months, in March of 1920, that the U.S. Senate will not be ratifying the Treaty of Versailles. Instead, the U.S. will work out separate treaties with Germany as well as with Austria and Hungary. That's right,

after all that work to create and promote it, Woodrow will not see his own nation join his beloved League of Nations. Coming to the end of our tale, let's reflect and take in the big picture. The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 faced a truly onerous task. How do some 30 nations from across the globe create a peace after the most destructive, unparalleled war in human history? That's a tall order.

Perhaps we should be surprised that the big three managed to produce anything at all, especially with the bad blood between Georges Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson. Georges did not like Woodrow. In case I've failed to convey Georges' distaste for Woodrow, let me quote the tiger on the American president and his 14 points. What ignorance of Europe and how difficult all understandings were with him.

He believed you could do everything by formulas and his 14 points. God himself was content with 10 commandments. Wilson modestly inflicted 14 points on us. The 14 commandments are the most empty theory. Oh, biting, as was the peace conference chairman's jab at both Woodrow and David Lloyd George that made all of Paris chuckle. I find myself between Jesus Christ on the one hand and Napoleon Bonaparte on the other. As for David Lloyd George, he had his witticisms too, saying of Georges Clemenceau that he loved France but hated Frenchmen. Yet, somehow, between Woodrow's idealism, Georges' drive to safeguard France from another German attack,

and make the Germans pay, and all the complications of the British government's contradictory implications and promises in the Middle East, and the Welsh wizard somehow pragmatically riding the space between them, they produced a treaty. But a highly problematic treaty. Further conferences and other treaties will shape the post-Ottoman Middle East, but as we saw, the Treaty of Versailles' Article 22

planted its seeds with the League of Nations mandate system. From the Middle East to Africa and the Pacific, these mandates will function less as the tutoring and developmental system of which Woodrow dreamed, and more as the latest iteration of imperialism. Then we come to the heart of the treaty's focus, Germany. When I think about the soul-crushing terms that the Treaty of Versailles imposed on Germany in 1919, my mind always goes back to the last time war-torn Europe made peace at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. I told you about this brilliant peacemaking in episode 128. Let's recall that, at Vienna,

the other four great powers of Europe chose not to punish the French for Napoleon Bonaparte's conquest, nor overly fear a resurgent France. Instead, they dealt rather generously with France and established a concert system that brought the continent relative peace for a century. The Treaty of Versailles does the opposite. Frankly, between the 1918 armistice signing in Marshal Ferdinand Foch's train carriage and this treaty signing in the Hall of Mirrors, the Germans felt every intentional humiliation, not the least of which was the Versailles Treaty's Article 231 War Guilt Clause. It's hard not to wonder to what extent these harsh conditions and insults,

added to the sense of betrayal Germans felt toward their own government with the war's sudden reversal and end, as we saw in today's opening, helped pave the sinister path down which young Corporal Adolf Hitler will soon drag the world. Politicians, policy wonks, historians, and more will long debate the failures of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. For some in the 21st century, it will become the explanation for many of the worst events in the 20th century, and even our present, ranging from World War II to wars and conflicts in the Middle East. But for all the treaty's failures, I have to agree with Professor Margaret MacMillan, the brilliant author of the book Paris 1919. After acknowledging all these same failings, she reminds us that none of the

20th century's evils, even Hitler, was guaranteed or foreordained by the Treaty of Versailles. And finally, well, to quote her directly, if they could have done much better, they certainly could have done much worse. They tried, even cynical old Clemenceau, to build a better order. They could not foresee the future, and they certainly could not control it. That was up to their successors. History That Doesn't Suck is created and hosted by me, Greg Jackson. Episode researched and written by Greg Jackson and Will King. Initial research and outline by Darby Glass and Riley Neubauer.

Production by Airship. Sound design by Molly Bach. Theme music composed by Greg Jackson. Arrangement and additional composition by Lindsey Graham of Airship. Sound design by Molly Bach. Theme music composed by Greg Jackson. Arrangement and additional composition by Lindsey Graham of Airship. For bibliography of all primary and secondary sources consulted right in this episode, visit HTDSpodcast.com. HTDS is supported by premium membership fans. You can join by clicking the link in the episode description. My gratitude gratitude you kind souls

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