29 pages • 58 minutes read
Woodrow WilsonFourteen Points
Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | AdultA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Might Versus Right in International Relations
Otto von Bismarck, a late-19th-century German politician, famously proposed a policy of Realpolitik in which morality would play little role in politics and international disputes would be solved by force (with “blood and iron” rather than moral principles). Wilson argues that good people committed to justice should oppose such a world where “might makes right.”
His first paragraph condemns Germans committed to “conquest and domination” (690). He asserts shortly before his 14 points that “the day of conquest and aggrandizement is gone by” (691). In contrast, Wilson repeatedly emphasizes the moral idea of rights. Only a few sentences after he rejects conquest, Wilson repeats that the world needs a peace in which all nations can “be assured of justice and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force and selfish aggression” (691).
Wilson promotes a vision of international relations in which powerful countries can no longer ignore international law. He calls for public diplomacy to prevent a handful of leaders from secretly determining the fates of nations (Point 1). Colonial subjects, despite having no military might, are to be given a chance to be heard (Point 5). Belgium is to be liberated to restore confidence in international law (Germany had guaranteed Belgium’s independence before the war) (Point 7). The German conquest of Alsace-Lorraine in 1871 was a wrong that must be righted to preserve peace (Point 8). Wilson’s final point—forming a League of Nations—is designed to uphold this moral vision of international relations. Rather than a few “Great Powers” bullying the rest of the world, this new association will uphold the rights and independence of “great and small nations alike” (Point 14).
Wilson concludes his speech by repeating that justice, rather than force, should govern international relations. His 14 proposals are, he says, “essential rectifications of wrong and assertions of right” (691). America will fight, he says, “because we wish the right to prevail and desire a just and stable peace” to replace the old system of “provocations to war” (691).
Wilson offers his listeners a stark choice: the old system of blood and iron, which drags all nations into violence and oppression, or a new system based on the principle of justice in which all nations can prosper. The choice, Wilson implies, is clear.
Self-Determination and Political Freedom
When Wilson asked the Senate to declare war on Germany, he famously argued that the world must be made safe for democracy. Democracy means “rule by the people,” and the right of people to determine their government is an important theme that runs through this speech. In an era of colonialism and nationalism, this notion of self-determination challenged nations on both sides.
The principle of self-determination gradually builds in the speech. At first, it is only implicit. The Russians are praised for holding out for their ideals and proceeding in “the true spirit of modern democracy” (690). Wilson focuses on “the voice of the Russian people” rather than naming individual leaders (690). Germany is condemned for wanting to take territory whose people would not welcome them. Wilson’s frequent calls for open, frank, honest, and public negotiations assume that public opinion ought to be considered. These points would seem unobjectionable to America’s allies and serve as a useful rhetorical backdoor through which Wilson can introduce the democratic ideal of listening to the general population.
What is implicit in the first half becomes a guiding principle in the second. His fifth point drops a bombshell: claims to control colonies in Africa and Asia must be judged by the interests of colonized people. Britain and France, America’s key allies, had the largest colonial empires the world had ever seen. For Wilson to address colonial issues in his peace plan is not unexpected since competition with Germany for colonies was one cause of the war. However, to ask America’s allies to put their colonial holdings up for discussion is extraordinary. He softens the blow by calling only for “impartial adjustment” rather than freeing colonies or having referenda. Wilson may believe that the interests of many Africans or Asians would be satisfied by Europeans keeping colonial order. Nonetheless, his determination to apply the principle of democracy to areas outside Europe shows consistency in his view and challenges the common practice of the time.
His application of the principles of “autonomous development” to the lands controlled by the Central Powers follows logically (Points 10, 12, and 13). Since an assassin motivated by the desire for autonomy in Austrian-ruled Bosnia sparked the war, self-determination was a problem that needed to be addressed. Wilson’s desire to allow autonomy in places like Austria-Hungary would have been bitterly opposed by the leaders of those Central Powers but would have been welcomed by his allies.
Peace Versus War
Although Wilson is best known as a wartime president, his attitude toward war was ambivalent. In his “Fourteen Points” speech, Wilson portrays himself as a lover of peace who is tough enough to fight when needed. It is a delicate balancing act in which he wishes to bring leaders to the negotiating table as soon as possible while at the same time inspiring the Allied Powers to keep fighting until they can secure a desirable peace.
As is appropriate for a speech outlining a plan for negotiations, peace is most prominent. Wilson is explicit about the horror of the war: “No statesman [ …] ought for a moment to permit himself to continue this tragic and appalling outpouring of blood and treasure unless he is sure beyond a peradventure that the objects of the vital sacrifice are part and parcel of the very life of society” (690). Here he contrasts his side, which knows the principles for which it fights, with the muddled militaristic greed of the Central Powers. War is bad, he says, though sometimes one has to fight for the right thing.
This leads to why the US is fighting. It joined the war, Wilson explains, “because violations of right occurred which […] made the life of our own people impossible” (691). In other words, America meets the criteria for when a nation can declare war. However, America only fights to achieve peace, so “that world be made fit and safe to live in; and particularly that it be made safe for every peace-loving nation” (691). The elaboration of the 14 points immediately afterward provides evidence that the US does not want to gain anything or punish Germany.
In short, Wilson crafts the persona of a reluctant warrior who only wants peace. This comes across throughout the speech as a contrast to German militarism and to those who would accept an unjust peace. Neither, Wilson suggests, is an option for good people. His program for peace—and for fighting until it is obtained—is “the only possible program” (691).
