Considering Wilson's racial views, he probably believed in social darwinism, too. He's the fellow who segregated the armed services and jailed any and all dissent during the Great War.
Wilson isn't someone I'm that familiar with. The only time he was really mentioned in my History classes was his involvement in the Treaty of Versailles. I understand that he was a major contributor in making such a hash of things and helped lay the groundwork for WW2. That's something I'll be reading about at some point....
something like "the road to good intentions leads but to the grave..." i think i've got two of them mixed up, but maybe they're inseparable in this context...
The Versailles Treaty was supposed to be based on Wilson's 14 Points speech. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/wilson14.asp It was to be the basis for peace negotiations. It's my understanding that at the beginning of the war, France and England were amenable to peace, but Germany refused. Then toward the end of the war Germany became amenable, but now England and France thought with US military, they would be able to invade Germany and take territory for themselves, so they were no longer so keen for peace. When the US said absolutely not, then negotiations began. Unfortunately the flu pandemic swept through not only the battle fields, but also through the government negotiations. The US contingent fell very ill. Wilson didn't want the war guilt clause provisions in the treaty but was too ill to participate. He nearly died of the flu, and in fact never fully recovered, his wife worked behind the scenes during the last part of his presidency, handling the duties of the presidency herself. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/woodrow-wilson-stroke/
I'm sure that I read somewhere (it might have been in the last European history book I read) that Wilson's promotion of self-determination, in all it's wishy-washy in-exactitude, caused no end of trouble in the previous superstates and empires in Central/Eastern Europe as the collapsed causing decades of political upheaval and violence finally culminating in WW2. I'll need to read more about that before I come to any conclusion...
Self-determination as in de-colonization? Yes, that was a horrendous disaster, not only in eastern Europe (former Ottoman Empire) but also in Africa and Southeast Asia. Some imperialist nations took their time pulling out of their colonies. Some took what they could and left. Other countries stepped in, like the US taking over France's Vietnam. Still others, continuing the long trend of ignoring native people and their sovereign rights, re-drew territorial maps and created new countries and ruling groups, which in turn triggered wars and genocides. I'm thinking particularly of Israel and Rwanda.
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Considering Wilson's racial views, he probably believed in social darwinism, too. He's the fellow who segregated the armed services and jailed any and all dissent during the Great War.
Boo!
Wilson isn't someone I'm that familiar with. The only time he was really mentioned in my History classes was his involvement in the Treaty of Versailles. I understand that he was a major contributor in making such a hash of things and helped lay the groundwork for WW2. That's something I'll be reading about at some point....
something like "the road to good intentions leads but to the grave..." i think i've got two of them mixed up, but maybe they're inseparable in this context...
My professional opinion of him is that he's a fink. :p
The Versailles Treaty was supposed to be based on Wilson's 14 Points speech. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/wilson14.asp
It was to be the basis for peace negotiations. It's my understanding that at the beginning of the war, France and England were amenable to peace, but Germany refused. Then toward the end of the war Germany became amenable, but now England and France thought with US military, they would be able to invade Germany and take territory for themselves, so they were no longer so keen for peace. When the US said absolutely not, then negotiations began. Unfortunately the flu pandemic swept through not only the battle fields, but also through the government negotiations. The US contingent fell very ill. Wilson didn't want the war guilt clause provisions in the treaty but was too ill to participate. He nearly died of the flu, and in fact never fully recovered, his wife worked behind the scenes during the last part of his presidency, handling the duties of the presidency herself. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/woodrow-wilson-stroke/
tx, VV; that's the scenario i remember reading a long time ago; i never did think Wilson was wrong, just unlucky...
I'm sure that I read somewhere (it might have been in the last European history book I read) that Wilson's promotion of self-determination, in all it's wishy-washy in-exactitude, caused no end of trouble in the previous superstates and empires in Central/Eastern Europe as the collapsed causing decades of political upheaval and violence finally culminating in WW2. I'll need to read more about that before I come to any conclusion...
Self-determination as in de-colonization? Yes, that was a horrendous disaster, not only in eastern Europe (former Ottoman Empire) but also in Africa and Southeast Asia. Some imperialist nations took their time pulling out of their colonies. Some took what they could and left. Other countries stepped in, like the US taking over France's Vietnam. Still others, continuing the long trend of ignoring native people and their sovereign rights, re-drew territorial maps and created new countries and ruling groups, which in turn triggered wars and genocides. I'm thinking particularly of Israel and Rwanda.
The arbitrary borders drawn in the middle east have caused no end of trouble...not to mention, of course, "Yugoslavia".
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