100 ChaPter 2
Bolsheviks wanted to attack the power of the Russian church, which was a
partner with the tsar’s government. It rejected Capitalism, the open door, and
private enterprise. Americans described the Bolsheviks in theological terms,
calling them “devils”... and not allowing them to attend the conference at
Versailles. So the absence of the Russian government, along with Wilson’s
badly-planned invasion into Siberia by American troops, meant that the U.S.
and Russia were, and would continue to be, major enemies, and this led
directly to the dominant international problem of the century—the Cold War,
which would become especially intense after the Second World War.
Germany was an even bigger problem, the dominant issue for all of Europe.
The British and especially the French wanted to punish Germany harshly, as
victors in war usually did. They insisted that Germany sign a “war guilt clause,”
accepting full responsibility for the causes of and damages in the war, and that
the Germans give up most of their army and navy equipment and even com-
mercial ships. More importantly, they expected Germany to make huge repara-
tions payments, money to be sent to the countries to rebuild from all the
destruction the Germans caused and to deter them from invading again, as they
had in 1871 and 1914. Even though Germany too was terribly damaged by
the war, the Allies wanted it to pay $33 billion in reparations, a huge sum.
Wilson, whose country was not hurt by a war fought across the ocean, opposed
the reparations numbers, angering the Europeans, and instead sought reintegra-
tion. Reintegration simply meant that Germany should be able to rebuild so
it could once again be an economic partner in Europe. If Germany’s economy
could get strong again, it could trade and invest with Britain and France, and
they would be able to rebuild. In turn, all of those European nations, once on
the rebound, could have economic relations with the United States—so every
country would benefit. To Wilson, German reparations should be much lower,
in the range of $6-8 billion dollars, a figure established by John Maynard
Keynes, the brilliant British economist who headed the reparations committee.
But the Europeans held out and Germany was punished harshly, so its own
economic recovery would be impossible, the economies of other countries
would not get rebuilt, and in Germany, the most reactionary groups, especially
the National Socialists, would exploit the depression that resulted from the
Versailles treaty to come to power, creating a direct link to World War II.
The third issue, and probably Wilson’s most painful failure, was the attempt
to create a League of Nations, to manage and enforce collective security. The