After the end of World War I, Republicans in the US Senate were willing to support creating a peacetime defensive alliance between the US, Britain, and France through the Security Treaty:
However, US President Woodrow Wilson never actually took them up on this offer, instead preferring to focus on the League of Nations, where he ultimately failed anyway. But let's say that Wilson's late 1919 stroke kills him and that the new US President, Thomas Marshall, decides to cooperate with the Republicans in the US Senate in regards to this. So, the US now have a peacetime defensive alliance with Britain and France that protects France from unprovoked German aggression. Anyway, what happens afterwards? Is there any chance of this proto-NATO subsequently being expanded to include other countries, for instance? If so, which ones?
Thoughts on this?
Wilson, the Republicans, and French Security after World War I on JSTOR
Lloyd E. Ambrosius, Wilson, the Republicans, and French Security after World War I, The Journal of American History, Vol. 59, No. 2 (Sep., 1972), pp. 341-352
www.jstor.org
However, US President Woodrow Wilson never actually took them up on this offer, instead preferring to focus on the League of Nations, where he ultimately failed anyway. But let's say that Wilson's late 1919 stroke kills him and that the new US President, Thomas Marshall, decides to cooperate with the Republicans in the US Senate in regards to this. So, the US now have a peacetime defensive alliance with Britain and France that protects France from unprovoked German aggression. Anyway, what happens afterwards? Is there any chance of this proto-NATO subsequently being expanded to include other countries, for instance? If so, which ones?
Thoughts on this?