Special Providence_ American Foreign Policy and How It Changed World - Walter Russell Mead

TheAmericanForeignPolicyTradition 9

mockedtheUnitedStatesanditsdemocraticpretensionshavevanished
fromtheearth.
FashionablethoughithaslongbeentoscorntheTreatyofVersailles,
andflawedthoughthatinstrumentundoubtedlywas,onemustnotethat
Wilson'sprinciplessurvivedtheeclipseoftheVersaillessystemandthat
theystillguideEuropeanpoliticstoday:self-determination,democratic
government,collectivesecurity,internationallaw,anda leagueofnations.
WilsonmaynothavegotteneverythinghewantedatVersailles,andhis
treatywasneverratifiedbytheSenate,buthisvisionandhisdiplomacy,
forbetterorworse,setthetoneforthetwentiethcentury.France,Ger-
many,Italy,andBritainmayhavesneeredatWilson,buteveryoneof
thesepowerstodayconductsitsEuropeanpolicyalongWilsonianlines.
Whatwasoncedismissedasvisionaryisnowacceptedasfundamental.
Thiswasnomeanachievement,andnoEuropeanstatesmanofthetwen-
tiethcenturyhashadaslasting,asbenign,oraswidespreadaninfluence.
Evenintheshortterm,thestatesmenwhosneeredatWilsondidno
betterthanhedid.TheleadersofFrance,Britain,andItaly-Georges
Clemenceau,DavidLloydGeorge,andVittorioOrlando--didnotdo
verywellatVersailles;noneofthemgainedanythingofrealorlasting
valuebythepeace.TheUnitedStateswastheonlytruewinnerofWorld
WarI,asithadbeentherealwinneroftheNapoleonicconflictsofthe
previouscentury.
WorldWarI madetheUnitedStatestheworld'sgreatestfinancial
power, crushed Germany--economically, America's most dangerous
rival-andreducedbothBritainandFrancetoa statuswhereneither
countrycouldmountaneffectiveoppositiontoAmericandesignsany-
whereintheworld.IntheaftermathofthewarBritainconcededtothe
UnitedStatessomethingithadwithheldfromallitsrivalsintwocen-
turiesofwarfare:BritainacceptedtheUnitedStatesasco-monarchofthe
seas,formallyrecognizingtherightoftheUnitedStatestomaintaina
navyequaltoitsown. WilsonandWarrenHardingsucceededwhere
NapoleonandWilhelmIIhadfailed,andtheydiditwithouta warwith
GreatBritain.AnAmericandiplomacythatassertedAmericaninterests
whileemphasizingthecommunityofvaluesbetweenthetwoprincipal
English-speaking nations induced GreatBritaintoaccept peacefully
whatnopreviousrivalhadextractedbyforceY
TheresultofWorldWarIIwasmoreofthesame.TheUnitedStates
enteredthewarlaterthananyothergreatpower,lostlessbloodinthe
fighting,andrealizedgreatergainsfromthesettlementthananyother