
What is the definition of 14 points?
What does fourteen points mean? Here are all the possible meanings and translations of the word fourteen points. The "Fourteen Points" was a statement by United States President Woodrow Wilson that the Great War was being fought for a moral cause and for postwar peace in Europe.
What is 14 points?
Fourteen Points, (January 8, 1918), declaration by U.S. Pres. Woodrow Wilson during World War I outlining his proposals for a postwar peace settlement. On January 8, 1918, President Wilson, in his address to a joint session of the United States Congress, formulated under 14 separate heads his ideas of the essential nature of a post-World War I settlement.
What was Fourteen Points speech?
Woodrow Wilson : Fourteen Points Speech (1918) In this famous speech before Congress, January 8, 1918, near the end of the First World War, President Wilson laid down fourteen points as the “only possible” program for world peace. Subsequently these points were used as the basis for peace negotiations. The need for this statement of war aims was prompted by the failure of the Allies to agree upon a formulation of them, and by the overtures of Russia toward Germany.
What is Fourteen Points speech?
The Fourteen Points were:
- “Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at … always frankly and in the public view.”
- “Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas….”
- “The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations….”

What were the Fourteen Points?
The Fourteen Points were a proposal made by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in a speech before Congress on January 8, 1918, outlining his vision for...
How did the Fourteen Points seek to change the world?
While half of the Fourteen Points addressed specific territorial issues between the combatant countries, the remainder were a vision for peace. The...
How important were the Fourteen Points?
In October 1918 Germany requested an armistice based on the Fourteen Points. Though the Armistice and Treaty of Versailles did not adhere to the id...
Why did the Fourteen Points fail?
In negotiating the Treaty of Versailles, the representatives of Britain, France, and Italy wanted to strengthen their own positions and felt it nec...
American Enters World War I
The Fourteen Points Are Drafted
- Once American had declared, a massive mobilization of troops and resources took place. In addition, Wilson decided America needed a firm set of war aims to help guide policy and, equally as importantly, begin to organize the peace in a manner which would be lasting. This was, in truth, more than some of the nations went to war with in 1914… An inquiry helped produce a program …
The Full Fourteen Points
- I. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view. II. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part...
The World Reacts
- American opinion was warmly receptive to the Fourteen Points, but then Wilson ran into the competing ideals of his allies. France, Britain, and Italy were hesitant, with all wanting concessions from peace that the points weren’t prepared to give, like reparations (France and Clemenceau were stiff supporters of crippling Germany through payments) and territorial gains. …
The Fourteen Points Fail
- Once was the war was over, Germany having been brought to the verge of military collapse and forced into a surrender, the victorious allies gathered for the peace conference to sort the world out. Wilson and the Germans hoped the Fourteen Points would be the framework for negotiations, but once again the competing claims of the other major nations – mainly Britain and France – un…
Historical Background
The U.S. in The War
- The United States did not enter World War I until April 1917 but its list of grievances against warring Europe dated back to 1915. That year, a German submarine (or U-Boat) sank the British luxury steamer, Lusitania, which carried 128 Americans. Germany had already been violating American neutral rights; the United States, as a neutral in the war, wanted to trade with all bellig…
The Fourteen Points
- More than anything else, Woodrow Wilson saw himself as a diplomat. He had already roughed out the concept of the Fourteen Points to Congress and the American people months before the armistice. The summarized Fourteen Pointsincluded: 1. Open covenants of peace and transparent diplomacy. 2. Absolute freedom of the seas. 3. The removal of economic an...
The Treaty of Versailles
- The Fourteen Points served as the foundation for the Versailles Peace Conference that began outside of Paris in 1919. However, the Treaty of Versailleswas markedly different than Wilson's proposal. France—which had been attacked by Germany in 1871 and was the site of most of the fighting in World War I—wanted to punish Germany in the treaty. While Great Britain and the Uni…