Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points

The Fourteen Points were distributed all over the world. On November 5, Wilson delivered the peace plan to the German government (http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1234.html). The Germans surrender November 11,1918 and expect a peace treaty under Wilson’s Fourteen Points. The war was now over. Many lives were loss because of the war. There was disease and starvation that killed ten million civilians. In addition, ten million soldiers were killed (http://www.polytechnic.org/faculty/gfeldmeth/chart.ww1.html).

Woodrow Wilson established his Fourteen Points which included "broad idealistic generalizations [that] were much less punitive than the Treaty of Versailles" (Doc B). Though many people did like Wilson's proposals, they are unpractical and only reflect his idealistic visions for a just and lasting peace. The harsh realities of life may push his Fourteen Points behind even before being brought to the eyes of citizens. While the principles were admirable, they lacked a pragmatic approach since many national ambitions and interests may conflict with the principles outlined in the Fourteen Points. According to Document B, Wilson mentions how "rather than singling out Germany for punishment, [he] argued for [an] 'open covenants of peace.'

World War I was a period when countries faced economic, political, social, and cultural problems, which threatened the survival of democracy and freedom and needed a fast and effective resolution which was presented to the world by Woodrow Wilson called the Fourteen Points. The Fourteen Points offered the world a democratic resolute, that was effective, reliable and a basis for long lasting peace, unlike the Treaty of Versailles which was a non democratic approach to the problem since it contained a war-guilt clause which forced Germany to admit sole responsibility for starting World War I, although other European nations had been guilty of provoking diplomatic crises before the war, also the treaty excluded Russia which was a major

After the end of World War I the United States entered into a period of isolationist foreign policy. On January 8, 1918, Woodrow Wilson announced the United States’ objectives through his Fourteen Points. His fourteenth point proposed a league of nations to protect international security and stability. After the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the Treaty

It had resulted in much of Europe in ruins. It was interpreted as 'the war to end all wars'. So after World War I ended, Woodrow Wilson aimed for a peace treaty based on justice and not anger. In his Fourteen Points speech to Congress in January 1918, President Woodrow Wilson brought forth peace negotiations. The text book states that, “The key provisions called for open diplomacy, free seas and free trade, disarmament, democratic self-rule, and an association of nations to guarantee collective security. It was nothing less than a new world order to end selfish nationalism, imperialism, and war” (Davison, Delay, Heyrman, Lytle, Stoff, pg.

After losing a generation of men and experiencing the hardships of war, many peace related objectives were put into place to prevent another war so destructive and disastrous. The road to peace started with the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. United States President, Woodrow Wilson, presented a drafted series of peace proposals called the Fourteen Points. The last point addressed the possibility of having a group dedicated to peace and interactions among nations no matter the size (Macmillan). This organization would stop wars like World War I from happening so that it does not become part of the culture of the Western World yet again. While the idea of the league was originally rejected, the Treaty of Versailles, the most significant treaty to come out of WWI, established the League of Nations. Eventually, the League of Nations disbanded in five years after the start of World War II and the United Nations was formed. Newton Diehl Baker, Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of War argues that the lack of such a league to keep peace in 1914 is what threw the world into the chaos of World War (Macmillan). Even Baker did not know the ramifications the war would have due to the lack of peace structure until after the war

Wilson failed to gain support from the people about aiding foreign European countries if they were in need, but refused to listen and signed the treaty on June 28,1919 nonetheless. Nationalists created “reservations” that protected the right of the U.S. to make decisions based on its own national interest. By September of 1919, the Treaty faced much opposition because a majority of the U.S. did not want to join the League. Wilson also refused to make any changes to Article X, as he felt it was the main way to prevent future wars. In the end, the Senate refused to ratify the Treaty, which crushed Wilson. Wilsonianism was the ideas of self-determination, disarmament, and the cooperation of nations in-order to create a lasting peace, which many viewed as idealistic. After 1920, many Americans returned to isolationism until the beginning of WWII. President Roosevelt identified “Four Freedoms” worth fighting for: freedom of speech, worship, want and fear. Wilsonianism is seen in many policies today such as the world’s craving for democracy, and Bush’s foreign policies of making America safer by extending

He supported women’s suffrage and social programs, and he had excellent ideas for America’s future. In this way, Wilson was a success. However, his skill with his own nation is an underscore to his failure with the nations of the world. Initially, for example, Wilson objected to American entrance into WWI; he pushed the proposal away until it was unsafe to continue to do ignore it. Only when the American people felt legitimately threatened did he ask Congress to enter the war. To his credit, however, once Wilson committed to interventionism, he did not shy back. Wilson’s Fourteen Points, which aimed to create global unity with the new League of Nations, were his children. He refused to compromise on any of the disputed sections, despite threats from the legislature to fail the bill. Perhaps Wilson’s initial lethargy was due to some vision of his future, as the grand ideas that were so successful stateside failed to translate into the global arena. His idealism and intellectualism, seemingly advantageous traits, contributed to his ultimate legacy as an unsuccessful president.

Despite Wilson’s best efforts to stay neutral during World War One, he was was not able to accomplish that task. Entering the war was not going to be a fruitless endeavor, however. The main goals of American participation during World War One was to protect freedom and democracy, and to spread it to the other countries of the world, to help ensure financial stability, and to protect the ships that the German U-Boats were destroying. Wilson’s 14 points helped to reflect the goals of freedom and democracy by generally pushing for a more peaceful world. One of the main reasons for the 14 points existence was to share Wilson’s postwar hope for the world. In the fourteen points, he also lays out a proposition for freedom of the seas. This

World War I is known as the Great War with high hopes and goals that it would be the only war. The Allies in the war wanted to defeat or overcome the Central Powers and with the United States in the war, they could. President of the U.S. was Woodrow Wilson who fought for democracy, peace settlements, an organization to keep the peace, and world politics reformation (Cooper). He pursued the statement “peace without victory“ (War Aims and Peace Discussions). After the war, Wilson restored the credibility of the Allies’ by revealing his Fourteen Points as a program for peace.

The first point on Wilson’s 14 point plan was that nations should not have any secret treaties or alliances with other nations. This is an important point in the plan, because if it were followed through with it could possibly prevent many wars afterwards. That is, of course, if the nations

Wilson’s fourteen points summarise the quest for international cooperation in achieving and maintaining peace. However, this can be questioned as the first paragraph also suggests a self-centred approach taken by Wilson. The speech suggests that the USA is the only ones with the capacity to achieve such peace, the programme of the world's peace, therefore, is our programme; and that programme, the only possible programme. It reflects a world view and hierarchy, suggesting one big American alliance rather than an idea of international cooperation. This is also further illustrated on in Wilson’s speech, his concern for the safety of the USA is key in the way he treats countries such as Russia and Germany, and his disagreement with some of the terms in the Treaty of Versailles. In point six of the speech when dealing with Russia it talks of securing the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the world. Wilson was careful in how he achieved peace, as he wanted to maintain relationships with countries within Europe, whilst keeping USA dominance ad not upsetting France and Clemenceau who wanted harsh treatment of Germany. This is illustrated in point eight of Wilson’s fourteen points.

In the early months of 1918, the dynamics of The Great War ravaging Europe changed dramatically. On March 3rd, Germany and the Russian Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, officially ending Russia’s involvement in the war and freeing Germany’s forces previously occupied on the Eastern Front . That same month, Germany launched an extensive attack in France along the Somme River, knocking a devastating blow to the Allies. By the summer of 1918, the United States had escalated it’s involvement in the war, sending over mass amounts of troops and coordinating with European powers to essentially back the German offensive into a position of little advancement. As Germany recognized its failing position in the war, the officials in the German High Command began quietly pursuing negotiations of peace and cease fire, not from their European counterparts, but from American President Woodrow Wilson . Germany was hoping to benefit from President Wilson’s ideals of peace and justice for all, ideals he had laid out publicly that year in a January speech outlining his “blueprint for a new democratic world order.” These Fourteen Points became the cornerstone of Wilson’s contribution to the peace negotiations following the armistice that ended the war in November of 1918. Focusing on the belief that an established system of democracy, communication and peace would prevent further atrocities like World War I, the Fourteen Points centered on equal representation and opportunity

Assess the impact of Woodrow Wilson’s fourteen points on the Paris Peace Settlement and determine whether Wilson was successful in his goals.

The Fourteen Points was a speech that was given by Woodrow Wilson to be used as peace negotiations after World War I. Woodrow Wilson was president at the time and the speech was broadcasted all over the world. There were fourteen points given in the speech, as the name implies. This was actually pretty unsuccessful because many of the countries wanted to punish Germany more so they only kept one point, the final one. This point established a league of nations.