Differences Of Wilson And Woodrow Wilson's Decree On Peace

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These two outsiders in the First World War have strikingly similar peace documents from their leaders. Lenin’s “Decree on Peace” seems to be a rough draft for Woodrow Wilson’s “Fourteen Points”. The Fourteen Points seem to be an answer to the Decree of Peace statement of, “At the same time… ambiguity or secrecy” in paragraph seven. In this statement, Lenin clearly infers that his decree of peace is not an ultimatum; however, he is open to consider alterations to this decree. Wilson agrees with this statement with the introduction before the Fourteen Points in paragraph five, by stating “The Russian Representatives… as was desired.” The ending of that sentence is key in understanding that this was a dialogue between Wilson and Lenin by the usage …show more content…

The most important topics that both documents highlight is the need to stop secret negotiation, that diplomacy should always be a public event. The first point in The Fourteen Points is a direct agreement to the eighth paragraph in the Decree of Peace. Lenin says in paragraph seven that his decree should not be taken as ultimatum, rather that one should read this decree and return with their own conditions for negotiation. Wilson seems to have taken this quite literally, as the majority of the Fourteen Points can be attributed as a response with his/the American peoples own conditions on how to ensure peace. The difference between The Fourteen Points and Decree of Peace is that The Fourteen Points aim to completely end war and create an association of nations to stop future wars from occurring; whereas, the Decree of Peace states that wars can possibly ended by creating an armistice to further delay wars to talk of …show more content…

Lenin’s decree states good points on how to achieve a brief period of peace and opens it up to negotiations on how to alter the decree to better serve the purpose of peace. The Fourteen Points directly say exactly what Wilson believes is needed and is included in his declaration of entering the war. The Fourteen Points possibly would have been the best plan for the world and did help with the good aspects of the conclusion of the war; however, every country in Europe had it’s own agenda that did not adhere to the wants of the foreign United States of America. In the course of human history, what is best for the people of the world is not what transpires and this is evidently seen in the ambitious ideals put forth by Vladimir Lenin and Woodrow

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