This fascinating book is a study of how the US came to dominate the world. The book covers the decade-and-half from the time the US entered the world stage with its entry into WW1 up until it became the last country to fall to the Great Depression. It is a thoughtful, considerate, and wide-ranging academic treatise. "Mapping the emergence of this new order of power is the central aim of this book." It also addresses how the liberal world order established in the early 1920's came apart, and how the imminent dominance of the US impelled Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini and Hirohito to take such radical steps to establish themselves before they lost all room to maneuver. "By common agreement, the new world order had three major facets - moral authority backed by military power and economic supremacy." By preaching the moral supremacy of democracy, Wilson broke down the firewall between domestic politics and foreign affairs, thus revolutionizing the balance of power politics of previous centuries. "If the idea of reordering the world around a single power bloc and a common set of liberal, 'Western' values seemed like a radical historical departure, this is precisely what made the outcome of WW1 so dramatic." He contends that the Western Powers lost their grip in the 20's because the US failed to cooperate with the British, French, Germans and Japanese to stabilize the world economy and assure the collective security.
Although Wall Street had financed the Entente from the beginning, Wilson was firmly neutral and as opposed to Britain's naval reach and continuing imperial aspirations as he was of German aggression. He hoped for a negotiated peace without a winner, but with the US as the acknowledged indispensable power and world leader. In a January 1917 speech, he spoke directly to the people of Europe in a plea for peace, and in response, an increasingly desperate German high command unleashed unlimited submarine warfare. With no other choice, the US joined the Allies, but only as an 'associate'. Throughout 1917, significant changes took place in Europe. Russia revolted and withdrew from the war. In Germany, opposition to the war led to a breakdown of the Empire's political structure as the Reichstag and the military government were in constant opposition. The Entente powers prevailed in 1918 as Germany collapsed because of Americas economic muscle and their political cohesiveness. In Britain and France, the political class offered expanded democratic opportunities to their people in exchange for their popular support. Lloyd George loosened the strings, gave a seat at the table to the major commonwealth nations and "secured the foundations of the empire as a key pillar in the emerging, world order." In the final months of the war and into the winter of 1918-19, Wilson was more concerned about the French and British empires interfering with his vision of the future than he was about the fine points of finishing off the Germans. He was desirous of a League of Nations in which the US would stand astride the world as its acknowledged financier, conscience and leader. With his 14 Points encapsulated in the Armistice and praise from all over the world, he expected to succeed in Paris.
As we well know, he did not, as Clemenceau was intent to exact his revenge and he did. Germany was disarmed, it's forces pushed back from the French border, the Rhineland demilitarized and occupied and the Saar's coal committed to France under a complex League of Nations administration. War guilt was assigned to the Germans and the reparations came in much higher than Germany anticipated or could pay. The author points out that there was a theoretical possibility of a restoration of the pre-world order if, as Keynes suggested, the reparations were manageable and America cancelled it's debts. Lloyd George upped the reparations and Wilson wouldn't dream of forgiveness. Realistically, it took a second and more massive conflagration before statesmen became that forward thinking. Wilson, characterized here as fickle, arrogant, inflexible and inconsistent, would not compromise with the Senate on Article X of the treaty on collective security. Felled by a stroke as the nation faced a red scare, violent union-management relations, inflation followed by deflation and recession, Wilson and America left the world stage.
"Layer by layer, piece by piece, issue by issue, the Entente coalition had disintegrated. The price that the collapse of this great democratic alliance would exact defies estimation." The author asserts that our return to ongoing involvement in the daily affairs of the world would have surprised Wilson, whose view was much more conservative than the worldview FDR/Truman/Ike implemented. He also makes the case that our involvement is a must - that disengagement is not an option for the USA.
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