Transcript The Fourteen Points
The Fourteen Points
As World War I drew to a close, the scale of destruction and massive loss of life was shocking President
Woodrow Wilson
wanted a “just and lasting peace” to ensure that a war like the Great War would never happen again Wilson outlined his vision of world peace in a speech he made to the U.S. Congress in January 1918, before the war ended His plan for peace was called the
Fourteen Points
Self-Determination
Wilson’s first four points called for open diplomacy, freedom of the seas, the removal of trade barriers, and the reduction of military arms The fifth point proposed a fair system to resolve disputes over colonies The next eight points dealt with
self determination
, or the right of people to decide their own political status For example, Wilson wanted the different ethnic groups within Austria-Hungary to be able to form their own nations
The League of Nations
The fourteenth point, which Wilson believed was the most important, called for the establishment of the
League of Nations
The League would be an organization of nations that would work together to settle disputes, protect democracy, and prevent future wars
The Fourteen Points
The components of the Fourteen Points expressed a new philosophy for U.S. foreign policy The Fourteen Points to foreign policy applied the principles of progressivism The ideals of free trade, democracy, and self-determination sprang from the same ideals that Progressive reformers supported within the United States Most importantly, the Fourteen Points declared that the foreign policy of a democratic nation should be based on morality, not just on what was best for that nation
Paris Peace Conference
President Wilson led the group of American negotiators who attended the peace conference that began in Paris in January 1919 By doing so, he became the first U.S. president to visit Europe while in office Republicans and others back home criticized Wilson’s decision to leave the country They argued that it was more important for Wilson to stay and help the nation restore its economy after the war than to work toward peace in Europe
Paris Peace Conference
Wilson had a dream of international peace, though, and he wanted to make that dream a reality He believed that a lasting peace required a fair and unbiased leader, such as himself, to attend the Paris Peace Conference Otherwise he felt sure that the European powers would continue to squabble over land and colonial rights
Paris Peace Conference
The American delegation arrived in France a few weeks before the conference was scheduled to begin President Wilson enjoyed a hero’s welcome in Paris, when thousands of Parisians lined the streets to cheer his arrival Before the conference began, Wilson also traveled to London and Rome, and in each city, he received the same heartfelt welcome
The Big Four
The
Paris Peace Conference
began on January 12, 1919 Leaders of 32 nations, representing about three-quarters of the world’s population, attended the conference The leaders of the victorious Allies dominated the negotiations Those leaders, President Woodrow Wilson of the United States, British prime minister
David Lloyd George
, French premier
Georges Clemenceau
, and Italian prime minister Vittorio Orlando , became known as the
Big Four
Germany and the other Central Powers nations were not invited to participate
Conflicting Needs
The delegates arrived at the Paris Peace Conference with competing needs and desires President Wilson had a vision of a better world where nations dealt with each other openly and traded with each other fairly While at the same time reducing their arsenals of weapons Many of the other Allies, however, wanted to punish Germany for its role in the war
Conflicting Needs
Other leaders came to the Paris Peace Conference seeking
independence
Some wanted to build new nations, such as Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia Delegates from Poland, which had been divided between Germany and Russia during the war, wanted to re-establish their nation A young Vietnamese chef named
Ho Chi Minh
who worked at the Paris Ritz hotel asked the peacemakers to grant his nation independence from France Ho Chi Minh would later lead his people in taking Vietnamese independence by force
The Treaty of Versailles
The Allies eventually reached an agreement and presented their peace treaty to Germany in May The final treaty was much harsher than Wilson had wanted The treaty forced Germany to disarm its military forces It required Germany to pay the Allies
reparations
, payments for damages and expenses caused by the war This amount far exceeded what the German government could actually afford to pay The Allies also demanded that Germany accept sole responsibility for starting the war
The Treaty of Versailles
The treaty did include some of Wilson’s
Fourteen Points
It would establish a
League of Nations
Some ethnic groups in parts of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia would receive the right of self-determination The treaty would create nine new nations, including Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Yugoslavia
Treaty of Versailles
The Central Powers also had to surrender control of their colonies to the Allies The treaty placed some of the colonies under temporary control of Allied nations until the colonies were deemed ready for independence
The Treaty of Versailles
Germany strongly protested the terms of the treaty Threatened with French military action, however, German officials signed the
Treaty of Versailles
on June 28, 1919 Wilson was disappointed at the treaty’s harshness but believed that the
League of Nations
could resolve any problems the treaty had created
The Fight over the Treaty
President Wilson returned to the United States on July 8, 1919, and formally presented the treaty to the U.S. Senate two days later Wilson needed the support of both Republican and Democratic senators to ratify, or approve, the treaty The Republicans had won control of the Senate in 1918, and getting their support proved difficult for the Democratic president
The Fight over the Treaty
The senators quickly divided into three groups The first consisted of
Democrats
who supported immediate ratification of the treaty The second group was the so-called
irreconcilables
of Nations , who urged the outright rejection of U.S. participation in the League The last group was the
reservationists
were made , who would ratify the treaty only if changes
The Fight over the Treaty
The reservationists focused their criticism on the part of the League of Nations charter that required its members to use military force to carry out the League’s decisions Some Republicans believed that this conflicted with the constitutional power of the United States Congress to declare war Senator
Henry Cabot Lodge
Relations, led the , head of the Committee on Foreign reservationists
The Fight over the Treaty
Wilson refused to compromise with the reservationists He took his case directly to the American people In 22 days Wilson traveled 8,000 miles and gave 32 major speeches, urging the public to pressure Republican senators to ratify the treaty He warned of serious consequences if the world’s nations did not work together in the future
The Fight over the Treaty
After a speech in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919, Wilson collapsed He suffered a stroke in early October and never fully recovered Wilson spent the rest of his term living privately in the White House, cut off from everyone except his wife and his closest aides
The Fight over the Treaty
In November 1919, Senator Lodge presented the treaty to the U.S. Senate for ratification He included a list of 14 reservations, or concerns about the treaty Wilson was unwilling to compromise Following Wilson’s instructions, the Senate rejected Lodge’s revised treaty on November 19 and again in March 1920
The Fight over the Treaty
After Wilson left office in 1921, the United States signed a separate peace treaties with Austria, Germany, and Hungary The United States never joined the League of Nations Without the United States, the League’s ability to keep world peace was uncertain Perhaps Wilson’s only real reward was the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize
The Impact of the Great War
World War I was a devastating conflict that shocked the world with its staggering cost By the end of the war, combat, disease, and starvation had killed more than 14 million people The war left some 7 million men permanently disabled The war had cost more than $280 billion, significantly more than any previous war in history When the war ended, Americans were eager to return to normal life But the war had changed the world, and there was no going back to the way things had once been
Political Impact
The consequences of World War I were felt far beyond the battlefield The war led to the overthrow of the monarchies in Russia, Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire It contributed to the rise of the Bolsheviks to power in Russia in 1917 It fanned the flames of revolts against colonialism in the Middle East and in Southeast Asia
Economic Impact
World War I devastated European economies As a result, the United States emerged as the world’s leading economic power Despite this new financial power, the United States still faced economic challenges at home The demand for consumer goods increased as Americans raced to buy items that had been in short supply during the war This increased demand led to inflation, and many Americans struggled to afford ordinary, day-to-day items
Economic Impact
Farmers, who had increased production to meet the needs of European markets during the war, were particularly hard hit when postwar markets no longer need to buy their food Despite these economic setbacks, most Americans looked forward to the new decade as a time of peace and prosperity
Social Impact
The war had drawn more than a million women into the American workforce Their service to the nation contributed to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919 Which gave women the right to vote In 1920 the states ratified the amendment
Social Impact
The war also encouraged many African Americans to move to northern cities in search of factory work This changed the population patterns of northern cities and led to new and often uneasy race relations
Impact in Europe
The effects of the war in Europe were devastating European nations had lost almost an entire generation of young men France, where most of the combat took place, was in ruins Great Britain was deeply in debt to the United States and lost its position as the world’s financial center The reparations imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles were crippling
Impact in Europe
World War I would not be the “war to end all wars” as many had hoped Too many issues were left unresolved, and too much anger and hostility would remain Within a generation, conflict would again break out in Europe, pulling the United States and the rest of the world back into war