WwII

6 Pages 1386 Words

A Mistake in History

Following the Great World War I, President Wilson had devised his 14 points to establish peace after the inevitable victory of the Allies. The Allies, including England, France and the US, tried setting up a long lasting peace that would end the fight in all wars and stop other wars form being started (Gelfond, 121). A peace conference was held in Versailles, France beginning on January 8, 1919. Represented was the US, Great Britain, France, and Italy. Even though the German republic was excluded, their government informed the US that the central powers were prepared to undertake negotiations. When the US informed the Allies of this information, Great Britain rejected the German advances due to the fact that Germany never laid down any specific terms for peace. Stated in Wilson’s 14 points was that 1) open covenants of peace, 2) absolute freedom of the navigation of the seas, 3) establishment if an equality of trade conditions, 4) national armaments reduced to lowest point consistent with domestic safety, 5) absolute impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, 6) the evacuation of all Russian territory, provide opportunity for the independent determination of her own political development, 7) Belgium must be evacuated and restored, 8) the wrong done to France in regards to Allsace-Lorraine in 1871 should be righted, 9) a readjustment of the frontiers of Italy, 10) the peoples of Austria-Hungary should be accorded the freest opportunity for autonomous development, 11) relations of the Balkan states toward one another should be determined by friendly counsel along historically-established lines of allegiance and nationality, 12) Turkish portions of the Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, 13) a independent Polish state should be erected, and 14) a general association of nations must be formed with the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integr...