Wilson’s 14 Points: a point-by-point explanation of the famous document presented by the American president for a lasting peace in Europe after the end of the First World War.
With the entry of the United States of America into the First World War alongside the Triple Entente in 1917, the general trend immediately took a clearer turn, as the impotence of the Alliance (no longer Triple, but Dual with Italy moving to the other front) became apparent, to resist the attacks with such a deployment of fresh forces, well supplied with every type of material.
American President Wilson knew very well that a war does not simply end with a victory and the declaration of the end of hostilities, but that to be sure that the subsequent period actually brings a period of peace and tranquility, it is necessary to have a broad vision of prospects that are not limited to the -here, now and immediately-, such as revenge and reparations by individual states.
Wilson loved to repeat the famous phrase that would guide his vision of the future: ” There should be peace without victory… Only peace between equals can ultimately last .”
Long before the end of the Great War (officially on 11 November 1918), precisely a few months after the USA entered the war, the American President presented his plan for the post-war period to the Congress , meeting in a single session .
He believed that one should not simply sit and discuss among victors, but have a global vision and plan so that what had been defined as the greatest and most terrible war fought up to that time would also be the last.
The basic ideas
Before addressing the 14 points in detail, it is necessary to understand what ideas are at the basis of the thinking that guided Wilson in their formulation.
First of all, he was well aware that a peace established by the victors alone, as had happened at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, following the defeat of Napoleon , with the vanquished being (as in a famous satirical cartoon) captured, tied up, bagged up and cut into pieces, simply creates the basis for new wars.
So, the fundamental idea is a peace table open to winners and losers, on the same side of the negotiating table .
The second key idea very dear to Woodrow Wilson’s thought was the unequivocal affirmation of the concept of Nationality .
The nation, that is, the group of individuals linked and connected by the same history, language, religion, habits, customs and traditions, cannot and must not be divided, exploited and oppressed as it would be the best path to a new war.
General considerations
In the first two points Wilson establishes some general positions regarding future peace treaties : they must be public, made in broad daylight so that no one doubts their basic honesty or immediately thinks of plots in favour of one side or the other.
In second place, Wilson places the absolute freedom of movement on the seas , beyond territorial waters (12 nautical miles from the coast) except in cases established by international cooperation.
What had happened in 1917 was still fresh in his mind, and in the minds of all Americans: the unmotivated sinking by Germany of the ocean liner Lusitania, which had cost the lives of many people, and which had pushed the USA to enter the war.
Economic barriers
Wilson calls for the complete elimination of trade barriers with the free movement of goods without protectionism of any kind for nations committed to maintaining peace .
The United States still remembers the unpleasant obligation to trade exclusively to and from Great Britain at the beginning of its history, one of the reasons that led to the fight for Independence from the latter.
The armaments
Point 4 clearly and firmly calls for the commitment of individual states to a minimum level of rearmament in order to guarantee internal security : the arms race itself is the first sign of that nationalistic drive which in fact leads to the inevitable outbreak of war.
This in fact had occurred between the great world powers who, not content with clashing on the economic level of trade, at the beginning of the 20th century had thought it best to move on to the practical part, each underestimating the strength of the other and the destructive capacity of what had been built.
The colonies
One of the key issues would have been that of the colonies and let us remember that at stake were the largest Colonial Empires ever seen, including the British , French and German Empires.
Point 5 speaks of a broad and impartial spirit between the parties involved and by parties involved it would seem to mean (even if this is not very clear) also the colonized nations.
Of course, stating, moreover in writing, that the populations involved should have the same weight as the governments involved makes it clear that not everyone (if not no one) was happy with what Wilson argued here.
Russia
In point 6 Wilson talks about the territories occupied in the early stages of the war , that is, the areas that were taken in the period of rapid advance (what was believed to be the “Blitzkrieg”, in Italian: lightning war) and became the desolation occupied by trenches and no man’s land.
Wilson argues that all these lands will have to be evacuated on both sides .
Thus, Russia, Belgium and France will have to return to their old borders and everything will have to be restored: the commitment will have to go particularly in the direction of Russia (point 6) which, having emerged from the war first due to the Communist Revolution , must not be crushed and hit for this reason.
Belgium and France
Continuing the discussion started in point 6 regarding the occupied lands, points 7 and 8 make particular reference to Belgium and France .
The first had been completely invaded in the hope of reaching Paris immediately, so now the land will have to be cleared and everything rebuilt.
So for France, which deserves the restitution of the lands taken in the war against Napoleon III in 1871, precisely the two regions of Alsace and Lorraine, the regions eternally disputed for their coal and iron deposits.
Italy
The Italian border will also have to be divided between the nationalities involved , taking into account the autonomy of each group.
But dividing this land brought problems due to the deep interconnections between the various peoples living in it: establishing a border would not have been easy and would have been another of the claims for the Second World War .
The Austro-Hungarian Empire
Independence and autonomy must be ensured for the peoples of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, whose dismantling is practically sanctioned with the establishment of states that respect the right of nationality.
Following this point, the enormous Austro-Hungarian Empire will be reduced to the tiny state of Austria, which will become a Republic.
Serbia
Serbia (in practice guilty of the Sarajevo attack), but an ally of the Entente, must be granted an outlet to the sea , to be precise the Adriatic. All this through what in point 11 is defined as a “friendly exchange of views”.
Turkey
The same fate reserved for the Austro-Hungarian Empire is foreseen in point 12 for the Ottoman Empire , as the different peoples that constitute it must have the possibility of achieving autonomous government.
The strategic point of the Dardanelles between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, once controlled by Turkey alone and key to the passage to the Mediterranean, must be free to all, with free passage under any circumstances.
Poland
Poland’s right to exist is recognized, which at the time of the Congress of Vienna had been destroyed and divided without taking its people into account: now the State must be reconstituted, guaranteeing it access to the sea, but to do this it will clearly be necessary to touch both Russia and Germany and it will be precisely here that the second world conflict will be unleashed with Hitler ‘s attack on Danzig to reach the other piece of Germany, that is, East Prussia.
A world organization for peace
The 14 points end with a reminder from Wilson to be aware that reaching agreements at all times is not a simple thing , so in order to always find ourselves close to discuss problems before they erupt into war, an association of nations is proposed , located in neutral territory that is a true guarantee of peace. Precisely because it is the only one implemented in practice, even if not with much success, the 14th point acquires great importance.
The results
It is enough to look at the separate peace treaties (for each State) and held from the end of 1918 in Versailles to understand that Wilson went ahead and wrote and read the points that were not respected at all : the desire to prevail and crush the powers that had lost prevailed in general, with the division of immense Colonial Empires and with the imposition of war taxes in gold that would destroy entire countries, tracing what had already happened in the war and giving space to the nationalistic parties that were asking for revenge.
The only point that was granted to Woodrow Wilson was the establishment of a world organization : the seat chosen was Geneva in Switzerland due to its neutrality, the name the SdN, that is, the League of Nations.
It was in practice the ancestor of the UN established after the end of the Second World War, but like the latter today it has very little power of resolution and intervention, the former was equally impotent and weak and in practice was an aborted attempt.
Its successes were minimal and in any case apparent, but starting from the most serious issues faced such as the use of gas in Africa, in the Italian attack on Ethiopia by Mussolini (1936) and then with Hitler’s expansionist claims, it demonstrated all its fragility and impotence, with the miserable shipwreck of the institution itself.
