Woodrow Wilson: Fourteen Points

Questions for Further Study

• 1. Assess the territorial changes proposed in the Fourteen Points. What nations were likely to support these? What nations were likely to oppose them? What difficulties could be foreseen in their implementation?
• 2. Wilson emphasized the importance of free trade to a stable and peaceful world. Do you agree that the two are related? Are nations that trade together unlikely to go to war? Can you think of any exceptions to this idea?
• 3. Wilson believed that the League of Nations would preserve peace and provide a forum in which disputes, even disputes rooted in the Treaty of Versailles, would be settled peacefully. Why did the League of Nations fail?
• 4. Compare the Fourteen Points to Wilson’s Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War against Germany. What similarities do you see? What differences? In what ways had Wilson’s war aims changed?