14-point program
The 14-point program describes the basic features of a peace order for a Europe shaken by World War I , which American President Woodrow Wilson outlined in a keynote address on January 8, 1918 in front of both houses of the US Congress .
The "fourteen points"
Based on the German translation from the Living Museum Online of the German Historical Museum :
- Open, publicly concluded peace treaties. Thereafter, there should no longer be any secret international agreements, but diplomacy should always be carried out honestly and before the whole world.
- Unrestricted freedom of navigation on the seas, outside the territorial waters , in peacetime as well as in war, with the exception of those seas that are completely or partially blocked by international action for the implementation of international treaties.
- As far as possible removal of all economic barriers and the establishment of a level playing field for all nations which join the peace and join forces to maintain it.
- Corresponding mutual guarantees for the limitation of the armaments of the nations to the lowest level compatible with internal security.
- Free, impartial and completely impartial settlement of all colonial claims, based on the exact observance of the principle that when deciding on such questions of sovereignty, the interests of the peoples concerned are just as important as the justified claims of the government, whose legal title is to be decided.
- Evacuation of the entire Russian territory and an agreement on all questions relating to Russia, which ensures the best and most free cooperation of the other peoples, in order to give Russia an uninhibited opportunity to independently determine its own political development and national policy and to give it a warm welcome in the Society of free nations under self-chosen state institutions, and even more so, assistance of every kind, which it may be needy and may desire, guaranteed. The treatment given to Russia by its sister nations over the next few months will be the test of their goodwill, their understanding of its needs as distinct from their own interests, and their discreet and selfless compassion.
- Belgium must, and the whole world will agree, be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to curtail its sovereignty, which it enjoys like all other free peoples. No other single step will serve as this to restore confidence among nations in the laws which they themselves made and established as governing their relationships with one another. Without this salutary step, the entire structure and validity of international law will be forever damaged.
- The whole French territory must be evacuated and the occupied parts restored. The injustice that France in 1871 in relation to Alsace-Lorraine by Prussia has been done and that has rocked world peace for nearly fifty years, must be remedied so that peace can be restored in the interest of all.
- Correction of the borders of Italy according to the clearly recognizable delimitations of nationality.
- The peoples of Austria-Hungary , whose place among the nations we wish to see protected and secured, should be given the freest opportunity for autonomous development.
- Romania , Serbia and Montenegro were to be evacuated and the occupied territories returned. Serbia should be granted free and safe access to the sea, and relations between the various Balkan states should be regulated by amicable agreement according to the existing historical guidelines of membership and nationality. International guarantees for political and economic independence and the inviolability of the territory of the various Balkan states should be created.
- The Turkish parts of the Ottoman Empire should be guaranteed unconditional independence. The other nationalities, on the other hand, who are currently under Turkish rule, should be given a reliable security of life and a completely undisturbed opportunity for independent development. The Dardanelles were to be opened permanently under international guarantees as free passage for ships and trade of all nations.
- An independent Polish state was to be established which would have to encompass all areas inhabited by the undisputed Polish population; free and safe access to the sea should be given to this state, and its political and economic independence should be guaranteed by international agreements.
- A general union of nations must be established with special treaties for the purpose of mutual guarantees for the political independence and territorial inviolability of small as well as large states.
classification
Some of the fourteen points listed by Wilson (such as the evacuation and restoration of Belgium, the evacuation and abandonment of Alsace-Lorraine) were very specific, others (such as the freedom of the seas, arms restrictions) were fairly general or vague ("autonomous development" for the peoples Austria-Hungary). The right of peoples to self-determination was represented to the public by Wilson as an important part of the program, but it was not perfectly compatible with all points of the program.
Originally, the 14 points were intended to torpedo the German-Russian negotiations on a separate peace , which culminated in the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty on March 3, 1918 . During the negotiations of the Paris Suburb Agreements in 1919, they formed the basis of the American position. Wilson attached great importance to the peoples' right to self-determination, which, however, was not consistently applied. For example, in the Treaty of Versailles, the unification of the German Empire with German Austria was prohibited. Other almost exclusively German-speaking areas such as South Tyrol , the Sudetenland , the Memelland and Danzig had to cede the war losers. In Eupen-Malmedy an election took place in which the population should decide on their affiliation, but this vote was considered unfree due to military pressure. Hungary, too, had to cede the majority of Magyar- populated areas in the Treaty of Trianon . Nevertheless, this plan is still considered to be a modern vision for a post-war order for the time. Wilson received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts .
The government of the German Empire rejected the 14 points in word and deed, above all through the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk peace, which was extremely tough for Russia. She took up Wilson's plan only in October 1918, when her own military situation had become hopeless and a new political situation had arisen. Nevertheless, many German politicians and the majority of the German population now hoped for a peace based on the 14 points. When the real peace conditions of the Allied and Associated Powers became known in the summer of 1919 , this triggered a storm of indignation in Germany. In ignorance of the policy of the former imperial government, the Versailles peace treaty was perceived as a fraud and an unjust dictate .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ German Historical Museum online: US President Woodrow Wilson's 14-point program (German translation at LeMO)
- ↑ Gerd Koenen : Game for world power. Germany and the Russian Revolution. In: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 67, Heft 34–36 (2017), p. 19 ( online ), accessed on October 21, 2017.
- ^ Wilson's 14-point plan. Retrieved April 4, 2020 .
- ↑ The 14-point program. Retrieved April 4, 2020 .