We explain what was the speech of the fourteen points of Woodrow Wilson. In addition, its proposals and consequences.
What was the speech of fourteen points?
He Speech of the fourteen points was pronounced by the president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, on January 8, 1918 before the US Congress. World War I (1914-1918) had entered its final phase and Wilson synthesized in fourteen points Proposals for the organization of the postwar world .
Wilson proclaimed the end of the time of the conquests and secret diplomacy, and proposed the construction of a new world based on justice, on the rights of autonomy of peoples and in the security of nations . To guarantee the effectiveness of this project, he raised the need to found an international organization that, after the war, became the society of nations.
In October 1918, before the imminent defeat of the central empires in front of the entente, the German chancellor, Max Von Baden, requested the armistice to President Wilson based on its fourteen points. The negotiations lasted a few weeks and the armistice was finally signed on November 11, 1918.
The harsh conditions imposed on Germany In the Treaty of Versailles (1919) on the initiative of France and, to a lesser extent, from the United Kingdom and Italy, They moved away from the ideas exhibited in the speech of the fourteen points .
Frequent questions
What were fourteen points?
The fourteen points were the fourteen proposals presented by Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States, before the US Congress on January 8, 1918. They formed a program to end World War I and establish the conditions for lasting peace.
What was the objective of the fourteen points?
The objective of fourteen points was to facilitate the peace process and guarantee a new international order marked by the security and territorial integrity of the states.
What measures were proposed in fourteen points?
The discourse of fourteen points included measures such as transparency in diplomatic relations, freedom of commerce and navigation, the reduction of armaments, the readjustment of borders according to the principle of nationalities and a reconsideration of colonial claims that took into account the interests of colonized peoples. In addition, it proposed the creation of an international organization that guaranteed all these provisions.
What were the consequences of the fourteen points?
The fourteen points were taken into account in the post -war peace negotiations, but the position of France, the United Kingdom and Italy led to harder positions with Germany, expressed in the Treaty of Versailles (1919). The Society of Nations, proposed in the fourteen points, was created in June 1919 but the American Senate voted against, so the United States never integrated it and the society of nations lost effectiveness. The principle of nationalities included in the fourteen points favored the post -war decolonization processes.
- See also: World War I peace treaties
The historical context
World War I began in 1914 and faced the central empires (German Empire, Austro -Hungarian Empire, Ottoman Empire and, since 1915, Kingdom of Bulgaria) with the Entente (France, the United Kingdom, Russia and its allies). The United States entered the war in April 1917 when President Woodrow Wilson obtained from Congress the approval to declare war on Germany.
With the idea of favoring the end of hostilities and establishing conditions for lasting peace After World War I, Wilson delivered a speech to the United States Congress on January 8, 1918, several months before the end of the war. This speech contained A program with fourteen proposals where the name of speech of the fourteen points derives.
- See also: Chronology of World War I
The fourteen points and their consequences
The fourteen points of Woodrow Wilson established a series of general principles and concrete proposals:
- GENERAL PRINCIPLES: Public knowledge of treaties (against secret diplomacy), freedom of navigation, suppression of economic barriers, armament reduction
- Concrete proposals: Territorial definitions on Russia, France, Belgium, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Balkans, the Ottoman Empire and Poland. In general, this meant applying the principle of nationalities, that is, allowing each national community to have its own state. In addition, they proposed to ensure the conditions for Russia to continue on the allied side, despite the armistice signed with Germany after the Bolshevik Revolution of November 1917.
The last point proposed the constitution of a society of nations that will guarantee peace in the future.
The fourteen points were a more benevolent proposal that the war objectives designed by the governments of the main countries of the entente (France, the United Kingdom and Italy). For this reason, Germany and Austria-Hungary, given the irreversible defeat that was coming, went to Wilson in early October 1918 to open negotiations that would take as a basis the proposal of the president of the United States.
The signature of the armistice on November 11, 1918 was made, in principle, based on the fourteen points. However, the peace negotiations among the victors, held at the Paris Conference of 1919, left out to the defeated nations and caused that Peace treaties (especially the Versailles Treaty) differ From Wilson's proposal in important aspects. This was mostly due to France's position, which adopted an attitude of hardness against Germany.
The signing of the Versailles Treaty in 1919 also included the creation of the Nations Society, proposed by Wilson in its fourteen points, But Germany was denied entry until 1926.
Despite being an idea of Wilson, The United States never was part of the Nations Society due to the negative of the Republican majority in the Senate. The severity of the Versailles Treaty and the little efficacy of the Nations Society left the path open for the outbreak of a new World War in 1939.
- Can serve you: interwar period (first stage)
The principle of nationalities
One of the essential principles of the project designed by Wilson for the new postwar world was the beginning of nationalities. Basically It was the recognition of the right of European peoples or nations to political self -determination that is, to the construction of its own state if this was his desire. When stating this principle, the US president was thinking of the villages submitted to the German, Austrohungal and Russian empires.
Wilson was accused of naivety and ignorance of the complex European reality. The application of this principle in the complicated national reality of central and eastern Europe created great difficulties When designing the borders of the new states.
On the other hand, the reality of the peace treaties did not respond to Wilson's ideals. There were multiple examples in which the principle of nationalities was not fulfilled whether to favor the victors or to harm the defeated. The old realistic policy, the treaties signed during the conflict and The interests of the powers were imposed on the ideals of justice, freedom and self -determination of peoples .
The speech of fourteen points
The US President Woodrow Wilson delivered his speech of the fourteen points in a joint session of the two Congress cameras on January 8, 1918. The Fourteen Points for World Peace Points was taken as the basis for peace negotiations that followed the First World War. Some fragments are reproduced below.
The speech of fourteen points
“(…) The world's peace program (…) is our program; And this program, the only possible program, as we see, is this:
1. Open peace agreements, which are reached openly, (…) diplomacy will always proceed (…) publicly.
2. Absolute freedom of navigation over the seas (…).
3. Suppression, as far as possible, of all economic barriers (…).
4. Adequate reciprocal guarantees that national weapons will be reduced to the limit compatible with the internal security of the country.
5. A free readjustment (…) and impartial of all colonial claims (…) based on the fact that (…) the interests of the affected populations must have the same weight as the claims (…) of the government (…).
6. The evacuation of the entire Russian territory and the solution of all the issues that affect Russia (…), for the independent determination of their own national political and political development and ensure a sincere welcome to the Free Nations Society under the institutions she chooses (…).
7. Belgium (…) must be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit its sovereignty (…).
8. The entire French territory must be released (…) and the damage done to France by Prussia in 1871, in regard to Alsacia-Lorena (…), must be repaired.
9. A readjustment of the borders of Italy must be made according to clearly recognizable lines of nationality.
10. To the peoples of Austria-Hungary (…) they must be allowed the freer opportunity of an autonomous development.
11. Romania, Serbia and Montenegro must be evacuated (…); Serbia will be granted free and safe access to the sea; and relations between the various Balkan states must be determined (…) according to the lines of (…) historically established nationality.
12. Turkish territories of the current Ottoman Empire must be guaranteed safe sovereignty, but the other nationalities that currently live under Turkish domain must be guaranteed a total security of existence and an opportunity for autonomous development without obstacles (…).
13. An independent Polish state must be constituted, which comprises the territories indisputably inhabited by Poles, which must be secured free and safe access to the sea (…).
14. A general association of nations must be created by virtue of specific agreements, which aims to offer reciprocal guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity both to small and large states.
(…)“
President Wilson's speech to the US Congress.
January 8, 1918
Continue with:
- World War I peace treaties
- PERIOD OF DELIVERY
- Delivery period (second stage) 1924-1933
- German expansion before World War II
- Background of World War II
References
- Britannica, Encyclopaedia (2023). Fourteen Points. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/
- Cooper, JM (2011). Woodrow Wilson: A Biography. Vintage Books.
- Speech of the fourteen points of Woodrow Wilson, January 8, 1918, in: The US National Archives and Records Administration. https://www.archives.gov/
- Sevillano Calero, F. (2020). The Europe of award. The disrupted order. Synthesis.
