The American Solution

Abstract

This chapter re-examines the American conflict over its world role after World War I and reinterprets the evolution of ideas on the purpose of the League of Nations in both Britain and the United States. It explains how Wilson’s attempt to offer a solution to the Armenian question through an American mandate became entangled in a wider debate over America’s future world role. It reveals why leading British statesman also looked to the United States to solve the Armenian question through assuming mandates for Armenia and the municipal district of Constantinople. And it reveals how Turkish and Armenian leaders influenced the mandate debate, forcing Americans to confront the complexities of pacifying the post-Ottoman Near East.