Gauge the moods of the European people and statesmen as Woodrow Wilson arrived to forge an end to World War I
The Versailles Peace Conference.
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Transcript
NARRATOR: Wilson arrived in France in December, 1918. There he was besieged by the people, whose hearts he had stirred.
WILSON: There is a great tide running in the hearts of men. The hearts of men have never beaten so singularly in unison before . . . Men have never been so conscious of their brotherhood.
NARRATOR: Before the peace conference, Wilson visited England and Italy. Everywhere he was hailed by vast crowds. He, and the democracy of which he was president, had become a symbol of hope to Europe's people. A ground-swell rose among the people of the world, as the leaders of the great powers gathered at Versailles for the peace conference. With his capacity to interpret the aspirations of people throughout the world, Wilson was the acknowledged leader of this conference. Its working chairman was the French statesman, Clemenceau.
The main responsibility for setting the terms of the peace was borne by the Council of Four. Here, next to Wilson, stands Clemenceau. Beside him is Orlando of Italy and next to him the British war leader, David Lloyd George. These three men had spent their lives dealing with the kinds of pressures and interests that had brought on the war, and they were not ready to accept the views of Woodrow Wilson, president of a nation with no territorial ambitions.
WILSON: We are here to see that the very foundations of this war are swept away. Those foundations were the private choice of a small coterie of civil rulers and military staffs . . . the aggression of great powers upon the small . . . the holding together of empires of unwilling subjects by the duress of arms . . .
WILSON: There is a great tide running in the hearts of men. The hearts of men have never beaten so singularly in unison before . . . Men have never been so conscious of their brotherhood.
NARRATOR: Before the peace conference, Wilson visited England and Italy. Everywhere he was hailed by vast crowds. He, and the democracy of which he was president, had become a symbol of hope to Europe's people. A ground-swell rose among the people of the world, as the leaders of the great powers gathered at Versailles for the peace conference. With his capacity to interpret the aspirations of people throughout the world, Wilson was the acknowledged leader of this conference. Its working chairman was the French statesman, Clemenceau.
The main responsibility for setting the terms of the peace was borne by the Council of Four. Here, next to Wilson, stands Clemenceau. Beside him is Orlando of Italy and next to him the British war leader, David Lloyd George. These three men had spent their lives dealing with the kinds of pressures and interests that had brought on the war, and they were not ready to accept the views of Woodrow Wilson, president of a nation with no territorial ambitions.
WILSON: We are here to see that the very foundations of this war are swept away. Those foundations were the private choice of a small coterie of civil rulers and military staffs . . . the aggression of great powers upon the small . . . the holding together of empires of unwilling subjects by the duress of arms . . .