Woodrow Wilson killed by Spanish Flu (user search)
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  Woodrow Wilson killed by Spanish Flu (search mode)
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Author Topic: Woodrow Wilson killed by Spanish Flu  (Read 973 times)
True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
Ernest
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« on: October 11, 2021, 06:45:32 PM »

Assuming Wilson contracts the flu that kills him at the same point he probably contracted it real life*, then I can't see President Marshall heading to Versailles to replace Wilson at the head of the American delegation. So Secretary of State Lansing would be leading the American delegation there. Lansing was skeptical about the League of Nations, so it's possible that it wouldn't be included in the treaty and even if it were, it would be a weaker organization. In either case, it becomes more likely the eventual treaty is ratified by the United States Senate.

One side effect in either case is that the hypocrisy of the mandate system would be avoided and the former German and Ottoman territory that became mandates would instead be Allied colonies de jure instead of just de facto. It's hard to see how the terms could have been made much harsher against the Central Powers. Indeed, with Wilson gone and thus little hope of his moderating the terms, the Germans might have responded favorably to the officially unofficial approach made by René Massigli about France supporting milder terms in exchange for a Franco-German collaboration against the Anglo-Saxon powers. (Not likely, but not impossible.)

* Wilson was ill during Versailles and while it is generally believed it was due to the Spanish flu, it is not known for sure as like with his later stroke, Wilson kept information on his health private.
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
Ernest
Moderators
Atlas Legend
*****
Posts: 42,157
United States


« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2021, 01:16:06 AM »

Assuming Wilson contracts the flu that kills him at the same point he probably contracted it real life*, then I can't see President Marshall heading to Versailles to replace Wilson at the head of the American delegation. So Secretary of State Lansing would be leading the American delegation there. Lansing was skeptical about the League of Nations, so it's possible that it wouldn't be included in the treaty and even if it were, it would be a weaker organization. In either case, it becomes more likely the eventual treaty is ratified by the United States Senate.

One side effect in either case is that the hypocrisy of the mandate system would be avoided and the former German and Ottoman territory that became mandates would instead be Allied colonies de jure instead of just de facto. It's hard to see how the terms could have been made much harsher against the Central Powers. Indeed, with Wilson gone and thus little hope of his moderating the terms, the Germans might have responded favorably to the officially unofficial approach made by René Massigli about France supporting milder terms in exchange for a Franco-German collaboration against the Anglo-Saxon powers. (Not likely, but not impossible.)

* Wilson was ill during Versailles and while it is generally believed it was due to the Spanish flu, it is not known for sure as like with his later stroke, Wilson kept information on his health private.
How would ratification change U.S. foreign policy?
Not much, since I'm presuming either a weaker League of Nations or no League of Nations. It would be British and/or French foreign policy that would likely see the most change as it wouldn't be based upon the misguided assumption that the League could solve issues for them for little effort. With no League at all Memel, Danzig, and the Saar likely would be directly administered by or annexed to Lithuania, Poland, and France respectively rather than an international body like the League. With a weaker League, their governance would likely be as it was in real life.

Also, with no League, the territorial ambitions of Italy and Japan would likely not lead to their estrangement from Britain and France, or at least not as strongly.
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