Woodrow Wilson & the Fourteen Points: The Tragedy of Discontent

The most important peace treaty of the five prepared at the Paris peace conference was signed on June 28th, 1919 at the Palace of Versailles, by Germany and the victors of the Great War. The peace treaty concluding “the war to end all wars” was a result of cascading events and negotiations that enveloped all of Europe in its grandiosity. The process began in earnest with the ideals of Wilson and the Fourteen Points, which was intended to furnish diplomacy with a new formula for pursuing peace and stability in the world, and abandoning the old notion of a “balance of power”. According to Kissinger it was “complete reversal of the historical experience and method of operation of the great powers” (Kissinger, 1994, pp. 221 – 245). However, after the Versailles agreement was shaped and signed, it was clear to the world “that the new order had merely fouled the old” (Nicolson, 1933, p. 187). This paper will attempt to delve into the concept of President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, the subsequent applicability of the principles as a guiding light in pursuing peace at the conference in Paris, and its impact on the eventual treaty signed in Versailles, and answer fittingly, to what degree did President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points shape the Treaty of Versailles? Firstly, the paper outlines and explains the background of events, with reference to the conceptualization of the Fourteen Points, and the avenues through which the notion was debated to bring an end to hostilities, and provide a pathway towards peace. In light of this, it then elucidates the reasons “the ideals set forth, were under the best of circumstances, not wholly realizable” (Bailey, 1944, p. 27), drawing upon the existing literature concerning the principles echoed by Wilson and the eventual treaty signed by the negotiating parties. The paper then concludes with analyzing the comprehensive picture and defending satisfactorily the position that despite the loftiness of the Fourteen Points as a worthy and constructive means of pursuing peace, it did not to a substantial degree shape the Treaty of Versailles.