President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Point Address was an address given before a joint meeting of Congress on January 8, 1918, in which Wilson set out his vision for a stable and lasting peace in Europe, the Americas and the rest of the world after World War I.
Wilson’s proposal called on the victorious Allies to strike disinterested peace terms with the defeated Central Powers of World War I, including the freedom of the seas, the restoration of territories conquered during the war, and the right to national self-determination in regions as controversial as the Balkans.
The devastation and carnage of World War I gravely illustrate to Wilson the inevitable relationship between international stability and American national security.
At the same time, he sought to appease American isolationists by declaring that the world must “be made fit and safe to live; and in particular that it be made safe for any peace-loving nation which, like ours, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of the justice and loyalty of other peoples of the world against force and selfishness. aggression.”
What were the fourteen points?
In his speech, Wilson listed 14 strategies for ensuring national security and world peace. Several points focused on specific territorial issues in Europe, but the most significant sections set the tone for postwar American diplomacy and the ideals that would form the backbone of American foreign policy when the nation ascended to the status of superpower at the beginning of the 20th century.
Wilson could foresee that international relations would only become more important to American security and world trade. He pleaded for equal trading conditions, reduced armaments and national sovereignty for the former colonies of the weakening European empires.
One of Wilson’s objectives in delivering the Fourteen Points speech was to present a practical alternative to the traditional notion of an international balance of power preserved by alliances between nations – the belief in its viability had been shattered by World War I – and the Bolsheviks – inspired dreams of world revolution that at the time were gaining ground both inside and outside Russia.
Wilson also hoped to keep a conflict-ravaged Russia in war on the Allied side. This effort was unsuccessful, as the Bolsheviks sought peace with the Central Powers at the end of 1917, shortly after taking power after the Russian Revolution.
In other ways, however, Wilson’s Fourteen Points played a pivotal role in world politics over the next several years. The speech was translated and distributed to soldiers and citizens of Germany and Austria-Hungary and contributed to their decision to accept an armistice in November 1918.
Treaty of Versailles
Like the man himself, Wilson’s Fourteen Points were liberal, democratic and idealistic. He spoke in grandiose and inspiring terms, but was less sure of the details of how his goals would be achieved.
At the Paris Peace Conference, Wilson had to confront the leaders of the other victorious allied nations, who disagreed with many of the fourteen points and demanded severe sanctions for Germany in the Treaty of Versailles.
Above all, Wilson called for the creation of an international governing body of the United Nations with the aim of ensuring the political independence and territorial integrity of countries large and small. His idea gave birth to the ephemeral League of Nations. The more viable United Nations would only come into being after the conclusion of another devastating global conflict: World War II.
