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The impact of the First World War
Critical analysis of the 14 points of woodrow wilson
Social impacts ww1
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On January 8, 1918, Woodrow Wilson went to Congress to announce his ideas regarding the war affairs of America. He created something known as the Fourteen Points, a plan that would determine the foreign affairs of the United States after World War I (Brower). When looking at the points, it is easy to identify how these were similar in nature, allowing them to be grouped. The first group deals with the points one, two, three, four, and five. These points dealt with the idea of how to maintain peace between nations and reduce the chance of imperialism and war. Instantly, the idea of peace is introduced, as the first point begins with “Open covenants of peace” proving the importance of maintaining peace (“Woodrow Wilson”). Moreover, Wilson aimed to unite the nations of the world peacefully by granting nations the “freedom” to navigate seas, removing “economic barriers” that hindered trade, reducing “national armaments” based on the threat a country faces, and allowing “ free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims” (“Woodrow Wilson”). These five points came together to guarantee the freedom of each nation, as no nation would have a stronger military or control over the seas. Plus, trade would be less expensive, allowing stronger relations between the countries.
Wilson wanted to continue on this idea of reduction of imperialism. To address this, he included points six to thirteen, which dealt with “territorial guarantees” (Brower). To summarize, Wilson wanted to give each nation its own independence. Points six and seven deal with the evacuation and restoration of Russia and Belgium, respectively (Jones). Point eight deals with the restoration of French territory, and point nine deals with the borders...
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Wilson's 14 Points vs. the Treaty of Versailles. When the peace processes were to start after the end of World War One, there were four people who were major components in the treaty of Paris: Clemenceau, George, Orlando, and Wilson. Clemenceau wanted revenge on the Germans by punishing them through the treaties because he believed that they were at fault for the war; George was in agreement with Clemenceau although he did not feel that Germany should suffer severe punishment; Orlando who wanted the irredenta to be re-established; and President Wilson of the United States of America wanted to create a mild peace with Germany in a fair way. In view of this, Wilson created fourteen points that he wanted accomplished in full as a result of the peace treaties. His fourteen points were his plan for a world peace and included plans for the end of secret treaties, freedom of the seas, free trade, arms reduction, the just settlement of colonial claims, the establishment of a League of Nations, and the evacuation of occupied territories and national self-determination.
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When World War I broke out in Europe, Woodrow Wilson announced that the United States would stay out of European affairs and remain neutral. Wilson was aware that the United States had no interest in the matters that did not directly affect the interests of American citizens. He hoped that the United States would remain neutral and continue to trade with warring nations. The American view of neutrality meant we were entitled to safely and freely trade with either side at war as long as it was out in the open seas. The United States hoped to stay out of the way because war was viewed as wasteful, irrational, and immoral.
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Woodrow Wilson advocated for world peace and after his famous Fourteen Points his ideas on how world peace is achieved was pretty obvious. The principles for Wilsonian Idealism are the promotion of democracy, the spread of capitalism, and the opposition of non-intervention. So self-determination and popular sovereignty were almost one in the same for Woodrow Wilson. His Wilsonianist foreign policies were driven by the freedom for a country to advance itself, the ability of the people to determine what happens in their state as well as the freedom of trade. So all of these concepts made up what Wilsonian Idealism
Grayzel, Susan R. The First World War: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013. Print.
Social, Political and Economic Effects of WWI. Everywhere in the world heard the sound of things breaking." Advanced European societies could not support long wars or so many thought prior to World War I. They were right in the way.
Document 3 has a description on top and a list of the Fourteen Points. The description explains that Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points were a list of specific proposals for postwar peace. It would have helped settle national border disputes and military cutbacks, proposed lower tariffs and banned secret agreements between nations and more. Wilson’s had a belief in the right for the people to choose their own political status. But then European leaders disagreed with Wilson’s vision of peace and just wanted to straight up punish Germany for its role in the war. This shows that there weren’t much benefits and if they haven’t punish Germany they may had those Fourteen Points, which would have been a benefit for the countries and create peace. Instead they just wanted to punish Germany which didn’t bring any benefits except for more chaos and unorganization for peace. As you can see this document shows that there would have been benefits, but the European leaders didn’t want that, which caused to not outweigh the
Wilson’s 14 points spelled out for Europe how he believed they could best coexist. Wilson wanted Germany out of Belgium, Austria-Hungary, the Balkan states, Italy, Poland and France, including the Alsace-Lorraine area. If they did that, Wilson believed there would be a lasting peace because the irritants that could incite a war would be removed. Wilson said of Germany, “We have no jealousy of German greatness,” and later said, “we do not wish to injure her…We wish her only to accept a place of equality among the peoples of the world”
Both thought that if Germany was treated poorly then it would fight back, and rise at a later date, destroying the fairly fragile peace. Lloyd George said of Germany “...if she feels that she has been unjustly treated, she will find the means of punishing her conquerors.” Woodrow Wilson included fair peace in his Fourteen Points in an effort to avoid having Germany seek vengeance for poor treatment by the Allies. The custom was to make the losing party or parties in war pay crippling reparations to those who had triumphed, and using economic means keep the conquered parties unable to rise. Since all of the involved European countries, including Germany, had already suffered much, Wilson was for generous treatment, allowing the countries to mend their damaged relationships and rebuild after the Great War. Lloyd George agreed, saying that this generation was not likely to wage war, but that once they left power, a new war would break out. Both Wilson and George wished to avoid this
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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Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. "Slovakia." Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Vol. 4. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 2358-2359. World History in Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.