Discussion 2. Wilson’s Idealistic 14 Points. History Essay

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Wilson’s Idealistic 14 Points
The First World War showed how unstable the world was at the time. To President Woodrow Wilson, this presented an opportunity to share his vision for the world. To safeguard peace and ensure that the world would avoid another war, Wilson presented a list of 14 points to the allied powers. The list touched on a lot of things from the freedom of the seas to the creation of the League of Nations. However, upon receipt of the points, the allied powers rejected the 14 points. Several reasons have been put forth to help shed light on why they rejected the 14 points. One of them is that the allied powers especially France wanted Germany to bear the brunt of the war. While reading the document, a few things stand out and these could be part of the reasons why the 14 points were rejected. One of them is the idea of freedom of navigation upon the seas. Another point that could have led to the rejection of the 14 points was the fact that Germany had been spared blame by Wilson. The third point and one that may have contributed to the rejection of the 14 points by Wilson was the idea of forming a League of Nations and guaranteeing political independence and territorial integrity to all states alike. At the time, the size of a country mattered and so was their conquest resume. So, to countries like Britain, it made little sense to belong to the same association with smaller and less powerful nations.
The seas had helped to open up and unite the nations of the world. For countries like Britain and France, the seas had given them their wealth and status. Their dominance of the world and their rise as hegemons at the time had been made possible by the seas. So, granting absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas to all nations of the world only helped to compound their insecurities over their statuses at the time. Instituting policies that would gift power and opportunity to other nations to explore and thus grow just as rich and powerful threatened their existence. Before the 1st World War, Britain and France had been the world’s superpowers and this had been made possible because of their co...