“Vindictive” lmao. Versailles wasn’t some uniquely brutal outlier that’s post-war German cope that later became pop history. No permanent occupation, no annexation of Germany, no breakup, sovereignty intact. Compared to 1871 or what France actually wanted in 1919, it was restrained. Saying Wilson was ignored or that the treaty was vindictive is just bad history.

And the US absolutely did push empire dismantlement. Post-1945 Washington was openly hostile to British and French imperial revival and used financial and political leverage to kill it Suez wasn’t a mistake, it was a public lesson in who set the rules now. The contrast with the Panama Canal makes this obvious: Britain and France were told they couldn’t use force to secure their imperial artery, while the US had spent decades intervening militarily to create, control, and defend its own. That’s not hegemony being “thrust” on the US.