WEBVTT

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Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Our mission here

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is, as always, pretty simple. We take a whole

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stack of sources, articles, historical data,

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research, and we just pull out the most important

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bits of knowledge to give you that shortcut to

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being truly informed. And today we are opening

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up one of the most consequential and I would

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argue one of the most misunderstood documents

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in all of modern history. Woodrow Wilson's 14

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points. It really is. It's one of those things

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that, you know, you learn about in school. It's

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taught as this high point of American idealism,

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this perfect blueprint for global peace, all

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built on fairness and democracy. The noble failure.

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Exactly. But when you move past that. you know,

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that one paragraph summary in the textbook and

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you start digging into the sources. Yeah. You

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look at the real political fights, the intense

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skepticism he faced at home and abroad, and then

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the just wildly contradictory results of trying

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to apply it. Yeah. You realize the story is it's

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just so much more complex. Absolutely. And that's

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our mission today. We are going to really examine

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that gap, that huge, volatile chasm that opened

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up between the Wilsonian ideal, this promise

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of a totally new world order, and the, well,

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the brutal political reality of 1919. We're going

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to look at how these points were created, why

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they were met with so much hostility, and how

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their deeply conflicted implementation across

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Europe, the Near East, and Asia actually ended

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up laying the groundwork for future conflicts.

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the weight of these points. You have to start

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at the beginning. Wilson gives this huge speech

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to Congress on January 8th, 1918. So the question

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is, why? Why was America, a country that had

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only been in the Great War for nine months, suddenly

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trying to define the peace terms for the entire

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world? OK, let's unpack that, because like you

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said, the timing is everything here. The U .S.

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gets into the war on April 6th, 1917. And it

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was really pushed in by two big things, right?

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Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare. Which

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was killing American civilians. Right. And then

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the bombshell revelation of the Zimmerman telegram.

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So Wilson was I mean, he was desperate to frame

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America's involvement as something more than

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just another messy European power struggle. He

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saw that as morally compromised. He wanted a

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crusade. He needed a moral objective, something

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that went beyond the old nationalistic fights

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that had been tearing up the continent for, well,

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for centuries. But the need to grab that moral

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high ground, it became critically urgent just

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weeks before his speech. And that was all thanks

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to what was happening on the Eastern Front. You're

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talking about the Bolshevik revolution. Exactly.

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After the Russian government collapses, the new

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Bolshevik regime led by Vladimir Lenin makes

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this devastatingly clever ideological move. In

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November 1917, he issues his decree on peace.

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OK. And this document, it calls for a just and

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democratic peace immediately with no annexations,

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no indemnities. And this is the crucial part.

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He starts repudiating all the old foreign policy

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of Imperial Russia. And what the Bolsheviks did

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next was just profoundly damaging to the allied

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cause, wasn't it? It was strategically brilliant,

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just utterly crippling for the allies. The Bolsheviks

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published the secret treaties. All the secret

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deals that the old Tsarist regime had signed

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with Britain, France and Italy. So things like

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the Sykes -Picot agreement carving up the Middle

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East. Sykes -Picot, the Treaty of London that

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promised Italy all this territory. It was all

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laid bare. It detailed exactly how the Allied

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powers planned to divide up the spoils of victory,

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allocating territories in Europe, Africa, the

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Near East, all into their specific spheres of

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influence. So Lenin basically just published

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the receipts. He exposed the Allies as a bunch

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of greedy imperialists at the exact moment they

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were trying to claim they were fighting for democracy.

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Precisely. The treaties made the allied leaders

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look completely self -interested. It just validated

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the Bolshevik claim that the entire war was nothing

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more than a clash of imperialists. Wilson was

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terrified that communist revolutions would start

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spreading, especially if the allies kept looking

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like the bad guys. Ah, so the 14 -point speech

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was an ideological weapon. It was explicitly

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designed to counter Lenin's challenge. It offered

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a comprehensive liberal alternatives to the world,

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you know, not peace through revolution, but peace

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through open agreements, free trade and self

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-determination. What's so fascinating, though,

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is that the points weren't just, you know, rhetorical

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fluff. They were based on some really comprehensive

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systematic study. Oh, absolutely. They were the

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product of a group Wilson set up in 1917 called

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the Inquiry. It was basically a. proto -think

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tank, a huge team, about 150 academic advisors.

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You had geographers, historians, political scientists,

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economists, all tasked with studying global conditions

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to formulate a practical American peace agenda.

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So this wasn't just a list of moral hopes? Not

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at all. The team, led by Wilson's close advisor,

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Colonel Edward House, produced nearly 2 ,000

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separate reports. They were preparing for the

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peace conference. It was a highly specific, strategic

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diplomatic weapon. Tailored to steal the moral

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thunder back from Lenin. That's the core of it.

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Walter Lippmann, one of the key drafters, he

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specifically wrote the territorial points as

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a direct rebuttal to those secret treaties that

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had just been exposed. And Colonel House, he

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summed up their task perfectly. He said it was...

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to take the secret treaties, analyze the parts

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which were tolerable, and then develop a position

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which conceded as much to the Allies as it could,

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but took away the poison. So that makes the 14

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points less about naive idealism and much more

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about incredibly shrewd political strategy, using

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moral principles to actually undermine the power

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structures of your own allies. That's it. Exactly.

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So when we look at the content, it's pretty clear

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Wilson was trying to translate his domestic progressive

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era ideas, things like accountability, open government,

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economic fairness, and just transplant them directly

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onto the world stage. He was demanding a complete

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overhaul of international affairs. It was truly

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revolutionary for its time. And we can kind of

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group the 14 demands into three logical buckets

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to really understand the scope of his vision.

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So the first category, that's points I through

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V. These set out the general principles of transparency

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in a global economy. These were the big foundational

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rules that Wilson believed would just get rid

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of the structural causes of the war itself. And

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point on is the iconic one. Open diplomacy. Open

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covenants of peace openly arrived at. That's

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the direct attack on the secrecy the Bolsheviks

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had just weaponized. Indeed. It was meant to

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make all future alliances and treaties transparent,

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to get rid of those hidden obligations that had

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just dragged Europe into this catastrophe. Then

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you have point two, which was maybe the most

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controversial one for one of our key allies.

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Yeah. Absolute freedom of the seas. For Britain,

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yeah. In peace and in war. Now, this was aimed

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at the German U -boat policy, sure, but it was

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also a direct challenge to Great Britain's historical

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dominance of the oceans and its use of the naval

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blockade as a weapon. And then he moves on to

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economic prescriptions. Point three called for

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free trade, the removal of economic barriers,

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equality of trade conditions. This was Wilson's

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vision for an open global commercial system where,

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you know, American goods and influence could

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flow freely. Point four then gets at the arms

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race, disarmament. reducing armaments down to

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the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.

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Just enough for defense, basically. The idea

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was to stop that costly military buildup that

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creates an atmosphere where conflict just feels

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inevitable. And then point V, this is the one

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that addresses the massive issue of global empires.

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And it was especially tricky in how it was worded.

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The colonial claims adjustment. Very tricky.

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This point required an absolutely impartial adjustment

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of all colonial claims. And crucially, it said

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that in figuring out who gets what, the interests

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of the native populations must have equal weight

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with the claims of the colonial government. Equal

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weight. That's the key phrase. It is. But it's

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also incredibly ambiguous. It doesn't demand

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independence. It doesn't say that native interests

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should outweigh the colonial powers claims. It

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left a huge amount of room for interpretation

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or, as we'll see, for manipulation. Okay, so

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that's the first bucket. What's the second? The

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second, and it's the largest category, covers

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points 6th through 13th. These are all about

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territorial adjustments and the principle of

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self -determination. These points laid out the

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specific demands for redrawing the map after

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the collapse of the empires that started the

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war. So this is where the rubber really meets

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the road, where Wilson starts demanding specific

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changes to the map. Right. Point 6 deals with

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the very messy situation in Russia. It calls

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for the evacuation of Russian territory, securing

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its free development, and offering assistance.

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This was an explicit test of Allied goodwill

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toward the new, albeit unstable, Russian state.

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And some of the others were more straightforward.

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A few, yeah. Point 7 demanded the full evacuation

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and restoration of Belgian sovereignty. That's

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a pretty clear -cut case of just reversing a

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wartime invasion. Point 8 focused on France,

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restoration of its occupied territory, and critically...

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writing the 1871 wrong of Alsace -Lorraine. The

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territory Germany took after the Franco -Prussian

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War. Exactly. Then we move south. To the dissolving

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empires. Point IX mandated the readjustment of

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Italian frontiers along clearly recognizable

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lines of nationality. As we'll get into, this

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created a direct ideological clash with the secret

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promises Italy had already been given. And Point

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X was aimed at Austria -Hungary. At the peoples

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of Austria -Hungary, promising them the freest

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opportunity to autonomous development. Now, notice

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the subtle wording there. Not independence, but

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autonomy. But by the time they all got to Paris,

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the empire had already collapsed anyway, right?

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It had completely dissolved, which made the point

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kind of irrelevant. But it did help solidify

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this principle of national self -determination.

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Then Point XI handles the geopolitical cauldron

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that is the Balkans. Of course. It required the

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evacuation and restoration of Romania, Serbia,

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Montenegro. It secured guaranteed sea access

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for Serbia. And it provided international guarantees

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for the political and economic independence of

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all the Balkan states. The goal was to just stamp

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out the local fights. It sparked the whole war

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in 1914. And then the massive challenge of the

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Ottoman Empire under Point Twelve. This one was

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incredibly delicate. It assured secure sovereignty

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for the Turkish portion of the empire, but it

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also demanded undoubted security of life and

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autonomous development for the other nationalities

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under Ottoman rule. And it stipulated that the

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Dardanelles should be permanently open to all

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nations. That specific phrase, undoubted security

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of life. That's a really sobering reminder of

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the context here. Well, it was a very calculated

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political choice of words. This was Wilson's

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implicit but undeniable response to fierce criticism

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back home in America. People like former President

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Theodore Roosevelt and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge

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had been just relentlessly attacking Wilson for

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his failure to act on the Armenian genocide.

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Which had been raging since 1915. Right. And

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Wilson, he was intent on this Germany first strategy.

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So he included this sort of minimum standard

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of protection for minorities to rebut the charge

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that his administration was just indifferent

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to the ongoing atrocities. It was a diplomatic

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attempt to mandate basic human rights. Which

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then sets the stage for the creation of a massive

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new state in Eastern Europe with Point Third.

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Point 13 was the creation of an independent Polish

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state. And it had to include populations that

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were indisputably Polish. But, crucially, it

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demanded that Poland must be assured a free and

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secure access to the sea. And its political and

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economic integrity had to be guaranteed by international

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covenant. That access to the sea clause, that's

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going to become a huge problem. It becomes one

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of the most contentious issues at Versailles.

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It leads directly to the creation of the famous,

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or I should say infamous, Polish Corridor. And

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finally, that brings us to the third category.

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Category three, the cornerstone of future peace,

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which is just one point. Point forty. The League

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of Nations. Yes. Point Four Thief called for

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a general association of nations. It would be

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formed under specific covenants for the purpose

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of affording mutual guarantees of political independence

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and territorial integrity to great and small

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states alike. Wilson saw this as the ultimate

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backstop, the enforcement mechanism to ensure

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that all the other 13 points could be upheld

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and that future disagreements would be solved

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by dialogue, not by another world war. This was

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the centerpiece. This was the thing he was willing

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to sacrifice almost everything else to get. So

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the moment these points hit the world stage,

00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:28.639
they have these two completely different effects.

00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:31.139
On one hand, they're immediately translated,

00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:34.419
dropped as leaflets behind German lines, a powerful

00:12:34.419 --> 00:12:37.620
propaganda tool promising a just peace. But inside

00:12:37.620 --> 00:12:40.159
the Allied halls of power. The reaction was,

00:12:40.259 --> 00:12:42.940
well, it was icy. The skepticism was intense.

00:12:43.220 --> 00:12:45.200
I mean, look at Britain first. Prime Minister

00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:47.399
David Lloyd George had just given a similar speech

00:12:47.399 --> 00:12:49.539
a few days earlier outlining British war aims.

00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:52.259
But Wilson's statement was just so much bolder,

00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:54.440
it completely overshadowed his. So he had to

00:12:54.440 --> 00:12:56.659
accept them for the sake of unity. He had to,

00:12:56.700 --> 00:12:58.879
yeah. He accepted most of the points by November

00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:02.490
1918. But he drew an absolute red line at point

00:13:02.490 --> 00:13:04.549
two, freedom of the seas. That's understandable.

00:13:04.730 --> 00:13:06.970
For the British Empire, naval supremacy was the

00:13:06.970 --> 00:13:09.470
foundation of their entire world. Accepting that

00:13:09.470 --> 00:13:11.090
would be like dismantling their whole defense

00:13:11.090 --> 00:13:13.830
strategy. Exactly. They refused to give up the

00:13:13.830 --> 00:13:16.500
right to blockade an enemy in wartime. And they

00:13:16.500 --> 00:13:18.399
also insisted that the points had to be amended

00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:21.120
to explicitly include a demand for reparations

00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:24.240
from the central powers to make sure the economic

00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:27.100
burden of the war fell on Germany. And the French

00:13:27.100 --> 00:13:29.840
response was just pure cynicism. Oh, Georges

00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:31.960
Clemenceau, the French leader, he was a hardened

00:13:31.960 --> 00:13:34.559
political realist. He was focused on one thing

00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:37.940
and one thing only, French security. His famous

00:13:37.940 --> 00:13:40.159
sarcastic remark, the good Lord had only 10.

00:13:40.820 --> 00:13:43.440
It just. Perfectly sums up how these traditional

00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:46.399
European leaders saw Wilsonian idealism. It was

00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:49.059
naive. It was dangerous. For Clemenceau, the

00:13:49.059 --> 00:13:51.980
war was about power politics. And it could only

00:13:51.980 --> 00:13:54.200
be prevented in the future by superior French

00:13:54.200 --> 00:13:57.460
power, not by some lofty international organization.

00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:01.480
And that clash between French sécurité and American

00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:03.840
principles, that becomes the defining tension

00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:06.460
of the entire peace conference. So let's look

00:14:06.460 --> 00:14:09.049
at Germany. Because they reject the points and

00:14:09.049 --> 00:14:11.429
then suddenly they embrace them. What happened

00:14:11.429 --> 00:14:14.169
internally? What was that pivot? That pivot was

00:14:14.169 --> 00:14:18.009
driven by, well, by sheer military failure and

00:14:18.009 --> 00:14:21.049
a deep, deep political cynicism. Initially, in

00:14:21.049 --> 00:14:24.129
early 1918, the German government was supremely

00:14:24.129 --> 00:14:26.769
confident. They believed their huge spring offensive,

00:14:27.070 --> 00:14:29.029
Operation Michael, would win the war before the

00:14:29.029 --> 00:14:31.710
U .S. could even fully mobilize. So they just

00:14:31.710 --> 00:14:33.789
rejected the points out of hand. But the offensive

00:14:33.789 --> 00:14:37.250
failed. Catastrophically. It did. By late summer,

00:14:37.389 --> 00:14:39.490
the war was turning irrevocably against them.

00:14:39.809 --> 00:14:41.990
Field Marshal von Hindenburg and General Erich

00:14:41.990 --> 00:14:44.009
Ludendorff, the doombrit that was effectively

00:14:44.009 --> 00:14:46.309
running the country, they realized the game was

00:14:46.309 --> 00:14:49.230
up. And Ludendorff, needing someone else to take

00:14:49.230 --> 00:14:51.429
the blame for the defeat, cynically forced the

00:14:51.429 --> 00:14:53.509
Kaiser to start democratic reforms. And then

00:14:53.509 --> 00:14:56.309
he used the 14 points. He then used a deliberately

00:14:56.309 --> 00:14:59.590
distorted version of the 14 points to entice

00:14:59.590 --> 00:15:01.809
the new civilian government under Prince Max

00:15:01.809 --> 00:15:05.110
of Baden to seek an immediate armistice in October

00:15:05.110 --> 00:15:08.830
1918. So the military leadership knowingly set

00:15:08.830 --> 00:15:11.549
up the new democratic government to fail. They

00:15:11.549 --> 00:15:14.289
forced them to ask for peace based on an ideal

00:15:14.289 --> 00:15:16.710
they themselves had already violated, just to

00:15:16.710 --> 00:15:18.350
make sure that the harsh peace that followed

00:15:18.350 --> 00:15:20.490
would be blamed on the civilians. Precisely.

00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:23.519
Ludendorff's intent was to shift all responsibility

00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:26.279
for the catastrophic military failure onto the

00:15:26.279 --> 00:15:29.419
Democratic politicians. And in doing so, he created

00:15:29.419 --> 00:15:32.460
this poisonous, lasting myth that the army had

00:15:32.460 --> 00:15:34.759
not been defeated in the field. They expected

00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:37.379
a just settlement based on Wilson's terms, knowing

00:15:37.379 --> 00:15:39.779
full well the allies would demand much, much

00:15:39.779 --> 00:15:42.240
more. And that expectation of a just settlement

00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:44.639
was only encouraged by the ferocious, highly

00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:46.940
personal domestic opposition that Wilson was

00:15:46.940 --> 00:15:49.429
facing back in the U .S. The domestic resistance

00:15:49.429 --> 00:15:52.490
was intense, particularly from Republicans and

00:15:52.490 --> 00:15:55.330
isolationists. Former President Theodore Roosevelt,

00:15:55.549 --> 00:15:57.929
who had already broken with Wilson, he warned

00:15:57.929 --> 00:15:59.830
that if the League of Nations was built on the

00:15:59.830 --> 00:16:03.029
high sounding and as meaningless 14 points, it

00:16:03.029 --> 00:16:05.429
would just become one more scrap to the diplomatic

00:16:05.429 --> 00:16:08.730
waste paper basket. He saw it as utopian nonsense.

00:16:09.190 --> 00:16:10.970
And the opposition in the Senate, which would

00:16:10.970 --> 00:16:14.230
eventually crush the league, was even more vehement.

00:16:14.470 --> 00:16:17.730
Absolutely. The isolationist faction led by Senator

00:16:17.740 --> 00:16:20.500
Senator William Borah of Idaho, they saw any

00:16:20.500 --> 00:16:22.759
foreign entanglement as a betrayal of American

00:16:22.759 --> 00:16:25.820
interests. Borah famously wished the League of

00:16:25.820 --> 00:16:28.879
Nations, which he called a treacherous and treasonable

00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:32.100
scheme, to be buried in hell, and he promised

00:16:32.100 --> 00:16:34.500
he would make sure it was 20 ,000 leagues under

00:16:34.500 --> 00:16:36.799
the sea. So this entrenched resistance to the

00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:38.639
centerpiece of the whole thing was like a political

00:16:38.639 --> 00:16:41.820
time bomb. It basically guaranteed Wilson's vision

00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:44.220
would fail at home, even if he somehow managed

00:16:44.220 --> 00:16:46.159
to secure it abroad. It was a time bomb, yeah.

00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:48.700
It's just startling how quickly this American

00:16:48.700 --> 00:16:51.879
idealism resonated globally, far beyond the circles

00:16:51.879 --> 00:16:54.399
of diplomats and generals. Wilson became this

00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:57.720
towering, almost religious figure, an agent of

00:16:57.720 --> 00:17:00.639
salvation and justice for anti -colonial nationalist

00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:03.700
movements all over the world. This period from

00:17:03.700 --> 00:17:07.259
1918 to 1920 is accurately called the Wilsonian

00:17:07.259 --> 00:17:10.200
moment. It was a massive and I should say completely

00:17:10.200 --> 00:17:13.339
unintended consequence of his rhetoric. Nationalist

00:17:13.339 --> 00:17:16.390
leaders and oppressed peoples in. Asia and Africa

00:17:16.390 --> 00:17:19.069
in the Near East. They heard Wilson's emphasis

00:17:19.069 --> 00:17:21.630
on autonomy and self -determination explicitly

00:17:21.630 --> 00:17:25.289
in points X, 11, 12 and 13. And they interpreted

00:17:25.289 --> 00:17:27.789
it as this revolutionary promise of independence

00:17:27.789 --> 00:17:30.470
from European imperial rule. They saw the United

00:17:30.470 --> 00:17:32.829
States, a country founded on a revolution against

00:17:32.829 --> 00:17:35.250
the colonial power, as inherently sympathetic

00:17:35.250 --> 00:17:37.789
to their cause. And that created this huge worldwide

00:17:37.789 --> 00:17:40.349
optimism that the 14 points would fundamentally

00:17:40.349 --> 00:17:42.390
reshape the relationship between the West and

00:17:42.390 --> 00:17:44.509
the colonized world, that it would lead to more.

00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:46.839
equitable terms. And this is where that gap between

00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:48.819
the rhetoric and the actual policy just becomes

00:17:48.819 --> 00:17:51.420
a gaping wound. We have to apply a harsh reality

00:17:51.420 --> 00:17:55.099
check here. Wilson's goals were not to oppose

00:17:55.099 --> 00:17:58.279
the British or French colonial powers. His calls

00:17:58.279 --> 00:18:00.839
for sovereignty were strategically aimed and

00:18:00.839 --> 00:18:03.740
aimed solely at carving up the German, Austro

00:18:03.740 --> 00:18:06.519
-Hungarian and Ottoman empires, the empires he

00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:09.069
was fighting. He never, ever intended to dismantle

00:18:09.069 --> 00:18:11.710
the allied empires. So he was offering a moral

00:18:11.710 --> 00:18:14.490
path to self -determination, but only for the

00:18:14.490 --> 00:18:16.769
territories controlled by his enemies. Precisely.

00:18:16.769 --> 00:18:19.730
And what's more, Wilson's views on the non -European

00:18:19.730 --> 00:18:22.869
world were profoundly shaped by the prevailing

00:18:22.869 --> 00:18:25.509
racial prejudices of his time. The historical

00:18:25.509 --> 00:18:27.750
record is just crystal clear on this. Wilson

00:18:27.750 --> 00:18:29.650
was the fundamental believer in white supremacy.

00:18:29.930 --> 00:18:31.930
He did not believe that the non -European world

00:18:31.930 --> 00:18:34.230
was ready for immediate self -governance. So

00:18:34.230 --> 00:18:36.690
how did that belief translate into specific policy

00:18:36.690 --> 00:18:39.230
for what we now call the third world? Wilson's

00:18:39.230 --> 00:18:41.529
goals for those regions were about influence,

00:18:41.869 --> 00:18:45.009
not freedom. He wanted to incorporate these nations

00:18:45.009 --> 00:18:48.009
into the global commercial world, a world open

00:18:48.009 --> 00:18:50.549
to U .S. goods and investment, by transforming

00:18:50.549 --> 00:18:53.869
them from what he saw as backward to sophisticated.

00:18:54.539 --> 00:18:57.779
He asserted that a period of trusteeship or tutelage

00:18:57.779 --> 00:19:00.599
from colonial powers was required for the proper

00:19:00.599 --> 00:19:03.000
development of colonized nations. So a mandatory

00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:05.400
waiting period. A necessary waiting period before

00:19:05.400 --> 00:19:07.819
eventual self -governance, which in his view

00:19:07.819 --> 00:19:10.859
might take decades. And he had a history of supporting

00:19:10.859 --> 00:19:13.039
this selective kind of imperialism. Right, in

00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:15.339
the Philippines. He did. He'd actively supported

00:19:15.339 --> 00:19:17.599
the U .S. annexation of the Philippines in 1898.

00:19:17.619 --> 00:19:19.359
He condemned the rebellion of the nationalist

00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:22.680
Emilio Aguinaldo against American rule. Wilson

00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:24.400
fundamentally believed the U .S. and European

00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:26.720
powers were morally obliged to impose Western

00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:29.400
forms of governance and ways of life. And this

00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:31.299
fundamental contradiction preaching universal

00:19:31.299 --> 00:19:34.099
self -determination while only applying it selectively

00:19:34.099 --> 00:19:36.019
based on his own racial and political hierarchy,

00:19:36.339 --> 00:19:38.759
that was the reason the global optimism of the

00:19:38.759 --> 00:19:41.279
Wilsonian moment so quickly, and in some cases

00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:44.359
so violently, just crashed into profound disillusionment.

00:19:44.700 --> 00:19:47.440
The ultimate collision of that idealized vision

00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:50.440
and messy political reality, of course, happened

00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:53.039
at the Paris Peace Conference, which gave us

00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:56.220
the Treaty of Versailles. And we know that throughout

00:19:56.220 --> 00:19:58.799
the interwar period, the 14 points were immediately

00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:01.839
used in Germany as a weapon to attack that treaty

00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:04.200
as illegitimate. That's right. The widespread

00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:06.400
German grievance was that the treaty was not

00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:08.779
a negotiated agreement based on the 14 points

00:20:08.779 --> 00:20:12.240
at all, but a diktat, a dictate imposed by the

00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:15.039
victors. And that fundamentally violated the

00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:18.460
promise of Point I, open diplomacy. But historians

00:20:18.460 --> 00:20:20.960
argue that Wilson himself played a role in just

00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:24.259
discarding Point I. They do. Historian Alan Sharp

00:20:24.259 --> 00:20:26.460
points out that Wilson essentially just ignored

00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:28.940
open diplomacy during the negotiations in Paris.

00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:31.660
The process was incredibly cumbersome. You had

00:20:31.660 --> 00:20:34.200
hundreds of delegates, complex, often conflicting

00:20:34.200 --> 00:20:36.339
demands. Open diplomacy would have paralyzed

00:20:36.339 --> 00:20:38.660
the conference completely. So when the Allies

00:20:38.660 --> 00:20:40.940
finally managed to agree on a common set of terms,

00:20:41.099 --> 00:20:43.579
they presented them to the Germans in May 1919

00:20:43.579 --> 00:20:45.759
and just chose not to engage in negotiation.

00:20:46.259 --> 00:20:49.200
And the reason was simple. They were terrified

00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:51.960
that if they opened the floor to German objections,

00:20:52.299 --> 00:20:54.619
the fragile consensus among the Allies would

00:20:54.619 --> 00:20:57.500
just shatter instantly. The refusal to negotiate

00:20:57.500 --> 00:20:59.900
was driven by the Allies' desperate desire to

00:20:59.900 --> 00:21:02.180
just get the peace conference over with after

00:21:02.180 --> 00:21:04.599
months of painful wrangling. But it confirmed

00:21:04.599 --> 00:21:07.849
the German perception of a diktat. It did. and

00:21:07.849 --> 00:21:10.470
it created immense political ammunition for anyone

00:21:10.470 --> 00:21:12.730
seeking to undermine the Weimar Republic later

00:21:12.730 --> 00:21:16.029
on. As Sharp argues, Wilson had inadvertently

00:21:16.029 --> 00:21:18.710
set himself up for failure. He had given a series

00:21:18.710 --> 00:21:21.109
of speeches painting the post -war world in these

00:21:21.109 --> 00:21:24.009
colors of absolute moral perfection. So when

00:21:24.009 --> 00:21:26.309
the complex, messy, compromise -laden Treaty

00:21:26.309 --> 00:21:29.069
of Versailles actually emerged, profound disappointment

00:21:29.069 --> 00:21:31.900
was inevitable. No negotiated settlement could

00:21:31.900 --> 00:21:33.819
ever match that rhetoric. Let's talk about the

00:21:33.819 --> 00:21:36.420
most infamous element used to fuel that grievance.

00:21:36.579 --> 00:21:39.480
Article 231, often called the War Guilt Clause,

00:21:39.579 --> 00:21:42.799
and the whole issue of reparations. Article 231

00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:44.400
stated that Germany accepted the responsibility

00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:46.420
for causing all the loss and damage of the war.

00:21:46.859 --> 00:21:49.339
And Germans immediately saw this as assigning

00:21:49.339 --> 00:21:52.460
full sole moral responsibility for starting the

00:21:52.460 --> 00:21:54.980
war, which they just deeply resented. But historical

00:21:54.980 --> 00:21:57.579
sources suggest the Allied powers had a different,

00:21:57.720 --> 00:22:00.119
more practical interpretation of it. They did.

00:22:00.579 --> 00:22:03.039
Historian Sally Marks emphasizes that the primary

00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:06.359
purpose of Article 231 was technical and financial.

00:22:06.539 --> 00:22:09.400
It was a liability clause designed to establish

00:22:09.400 --> 00:22:12.140
a legal basis for demanding reparations. It was

00:22:12.140 --> 00:22:14.380
included in all the peace treaties with the Central

00:22:14.380 --> 00:22:16.859
Powers, and only the German diplomats chose to

00:22:16.859 --> 00:22:19.119
interpret it as this definitive moral judgment

00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:21.119
on their role in starting the war. But that moral

00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:23.900
interpretation is the one that stuck. It absolutely

00:22:23.900 --> 00:22:25.960
took root in the German psyche. And regarding

00:22:25.960 --> 00:22:28.599
reparations, the figures themselves seemed designed

00:22:28.599 --> 00:22:31.660
to cause maximum public shock. The initial assessment

00:22:31.660 --> 00:22:35.420
was massive, 269 billion gold marks. Later, in

00:22:35.420 --> 00:22:39.420
1921, it was set at a more realistic 192 billion.

00:22:39.640 --> 00:22:42.299
The numbers were designed to look imposing. Exactly.

00:22:42.900 --> 00:22:45.779
To satisfy domestic audiences in allied countries

00:22:45.779 --> 00:22:48.660
who wanted Germany punished. But the people setting

00:22:48.660 --> 00:22:51.700
the figure. Like John Maynard Keynes, they knew

00:22:51.700 --> 00:22:53.759
Germany couldn't possibly pay the full amount.

00:22:53.980 --> 00:22:56.900
So they prioritized political optics over fiscal

00:22:56.900 --> 00:22:59.839
reality. Absolutely. In the end, only a fraction

00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:01.619
of the total had to be paid before the whole

00:23:01.619 --> 00:23:04.180
system collapsed. But the grievance remained.

00:23:04.599 --> 00:23:07.400
fueled by that staggering headline number and

00:23:07.400 --> 00:23:10.559
the perceived moral injury of Article 231. But

00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:13.019
historians like Gerhard Weinberg argue that even

00:23:13.019 --> 00:23:15.279
if the treaty had been substantially fairer,

00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:17.700
it probably wouldn't have mattered because of

00:23:17.700 --> 00:23:20.980
a completely domestic and frankly poisonous German

00:23:20.980 --> 00:23:23.980
myth. That's the Dolch Stosslegende or the stab

00:23:23.980 --> 00:23:26.680
in the back myth. Weinberg argues that the entire

00:23:26.680 --> 00:23:29.099
debate over the justice of Versailles is in many

00:23:29.099 --> 00:23:31.599
ways irrelevant because the German elites and

00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:33.819
later the public believed their country had actually

00:23:33.819 --> 00:23:36.200
won World War I and was only defeated by this

00:23:36.200 --> 00:23:38.960
alleged stab in the back. A betrayal perpetrated

00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:41.200
by democratic, socialist and Jewish elements

00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:44.220
during the November Revolution of 1918. The very

00:23:44.220 --> 00:23:46.640
politicians who had been set up by the military.

00:23:47.280 --> 00:23:49.559
Ludendorff and Hindenburg, who had cynically

00:23:49.559 --> 00:23:51.720
engineered the democratic takeover, were the

00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:54.640
ones most responsible for propagating this narrative.

00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:57.299
They shielded the German army from the reality

00:23:57.299 --> 00:23:59.500
of its crushing military defeat. And this belief

00:23:59.500 --> 00:24:02.119
had real consequences. Oh, this pervasive belief

00:24:02.119 --> 00:24:05.240
in military invincibility led German elites,

00:24:05.480 --> 00:24:08.359
including Hitler, to flippantly and aggressively

00:24:08.359 --> 00:24:11.400
challenge the international order later on. Weinberg

00:24:11.400 --> 00:24:14.180
points to the incredible example of 1941 where

00:24:14.180 --> 00:24:17.309
Hitler felt so confident. based on this Dolstolagian

00:24:17.309 --> 00:24:19.210
conviction that Imperial Germany had crushed

00:24:19.210 --> 00:24:21.990
the U .S. in 1918, that he just declared war

00:24:21.990 --> 00:24:24.150
on the United States, expecting an easy win.

00:24:24.329 --> 00:24:27.109
Wow. The myth of internal betrayal, not the treaty

00:24:27.109 --> 00:24:29.210
-specific terms, became the most enduring source

00:24:29.210 --> 00:24:31.710
of post -war German discord and subsequent aggression.

00:24:32.279 --> 00:24:34.240
OK, so now we have to move from the ideological

00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:37.000
conflict and these foundational myths to the

00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:39.380
ground level. We have to look at specific places

00:24:39.380 --> 00:24:41.880
where the 14 points and especially the principle

00:24:41.880 --> 00:24:44.619
of self -determination were either upheld as

00:24:44.619 --> 00:24:47.960
a clear victory for Wilson or more often just

00:24:47.960 --> 00:24:51.099
brutally overridden by entrenched national interests.

00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:53.400
We can actually start with a clean win for point

00:24:53.400 --> 00:24:56.359
eight. All says Lorraine. This was the territory

00:24:56.359 --> 00:25:00.279
Germany seized in 1871. Under the armistice terms.

00:25:00.700 --> 00:25:02.960
The French immediately occupied it and proclaimed

00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:05.240
its reunion with France. And there was genuine

00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:07.839
popular support. French troops were greeted as

00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:10.339
liberators. And the Allies stood firm on this

00:25:10.339 --> 00:25:13.180
one. Yes. Both Wilson and Lloyd George fully

00:25:13.180 --> 00:25:15.759
supported Clemenceau's demand, and the territory

00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:18.019
was unequivocally returned to France under the

00:25:18.019 --> 00:25:19.859
Treaty of Versailles. The Rhineland dispute,

00:25:19.980 --> 00:25:22.299
however, was anything but clean. This is where

00:25:22.299 --> 00:25:25.880
French security collided head -on with Wilsonian

00:25:25.880 --> 00:25:28.579
self -determination. It was the defining ideological

00:25:28.579 --> 00:25:31.910
battle of the conference. Clemenceau demanded

00:25:31.910 --> 00:25:34.509
that the Rhineland be severed from Germany, either

00:25:34.509 --> 00:25:37.589
annexed or turned into a permanent military -occupied

00:25:37.589 --> 00:25:41.210
puppet state. Marshal Foch argued passionately

00:25:41.210 --> 00:25:43.410
that the Rhine River was the natural defensive

00:25:43.410 --> 00:25:46.750
barrier and that French control of it was absolutely

00:25:46.750 --> 00:25:49.529
necessary for France's survival in the face of

00:25:49.529 --> 00:25:53.029
the inevitable next German attack. But the territory

00:25:53.029 --> 00:25:56.009
was overwhelmingly German. So annexation would

00:25:56.009 --> 00:25:58.250
have been a direct violation of self -determination,

00:25:58.529 --> 00:26:00.930
creating a new source of grievance. Absolutely.

00:26:01.210 --> 00:26:03.690
And Wilson and Lloyd George were staunchly opposed.

00:26:03.990 --> 00:26:06.089
They feared Clemenceau's plan would create an

00:26:06.089 --> 00:26:08.589
Alsace -Lorraine in reverse, condemning future

00:26:08.589 --> 00:26:11.670
generations to another war. Wilson was so firm

00:26:11.670 --> 00:26:13.450
on this that he threatened multiple times to

00:26:13.450 --> 00:26:15.410
just pack up the American delegation and walk

00:26:15.410 --> 00:26:17.650
out of the conference entirely. And that threat,

00:26:17.769 --> 00:26:19.750
the idea of the U .S. just abandoning the peace

00:26:19.750 --> 00:26:21.650
process, that must have been powerful enough

00:26:21.650 --> 00:26:25.000
to force a compromise. It was decisive. Under

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:28.000
intense Anglo -American pressure, France was

00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.400
forced to accept that the Rhineland would remain

00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:33.339
politically part of Germany. The compromise was

00:26:33.339 --> 00:26:35.480
that the region would be permanently demilitarized

00:26:35.480 --> 00:26:38.359
and Allied troops would occupy it for 15 years

00:26:38.359 --> 00:26:41.920
to ensure compliance. But Clemenceau extracted

00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:45.059
a massive compensatory prize. The Guarantee Treaty.

00:26:45.259 --> 00:26:47.920
Yes. France was offered a compensatory military

00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:51.359
alliance with the UK and the US, guaranteeing

00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:53.819
immediate aid if Germany ever attacked again.

00:26:54.400 --> 00:26:57.319
The French saw this security guarantee as adequate

00:26:57.319 --> 00:26:59.779
compensation for giving up the territorial separation

00:26:59.779 --> 00:27:02.440
of the Rhineland. But the U .S. Senate immediately

00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:04.700
undercut this entire agreement, turning it into

00:27:04.700 --> 00:27:07.140
a devastating political defeat for Clemenceau.

00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:09.559
It was a catastrophic collapse. The British commitment

00:27:09.559 --> 00:27:11.980
to the alliance was explicitly conditional on

00:27:11.980 --> 00:27:13.880
the U .S. Senate ratifying the American commitment.

00:27:15.660 --> 00:27:17.559
driven by those isolationists we talked about,

00:27:17.660 --> 00:27:19.599
voted against the alliance and against the Treaty

00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:22.160
of Versailles itself, the entire security arrangement

00:27:22.160 --> 00:27:25.079
just vanished. It became null and void. Instantly,

00:27:25.180 --> 00:27:27.539
the British immediately withdrew their conditional

00:27:27.539 --> 00:27:29.880
offer, and the French leadership felt profoundly

00:27:29.880 --> 00:27:32.779
cheated. They had given up their core security

00:27:32.779 --> 00:27:35.339
demand for an illusory alliance that Wilson,

00:27:35.559 --> 00:27:37.839
either through political naivete or arrogance

00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:40.359
about his own domestic power, failed to deliver.

00:27:40.890 --> 00:27:43.269
And this failure left the French feeling deeply

00:27:43.269 --> 00:27:45.630
insecure and willing to take matters into their

00:27:45.630 --> 00:27:48.049
own hands later on. So if the Western Front was

00:27:48.049 --> 00:27:50.589
that complicated, what happened when these principles

00:27:50.589 --> 00:27:53.150
moved into Central Europe? The complexity just

00:27:53.150 --> 00:27:56.829
exploded. That region was this ancient, ethnically

00:27:56.829 --> 00:28:00.269
mixed patchwork. Drawing straight, nationally

00:28:00.269 --> 00:28:03.170
defined lines was just impossible. And we see

00:28:03.170 --> 00:28:05.230
this perfectly in the Danzig dispute regarding

00:28:05.230 --> 00:28:07.930
Point Third, which promised Poland free and secure

00:28:07.930 --> 00:28:11.470
access to the sea. Danzig. or Gdansk, was the

00:28:11.470 --> 00:28:13.549
crucial port city at the mouth of the Vistula

00:28:13.549 --> 00:28:16.369
River. The Polish delegate, Roman Dramowski,

00:28:16.589 --> 00:28:19.089
argued fiercely that if Danzig remained German,

00:28:19.269 --> 00:28:21.349
the Reich would retain economic and political

00:28:21.349 --> 00:28:23.869
control over Poland, making true independence

00:28:23.869 --> 00:28:26.650
impossible. Wilson actually supported the Polish

00:28:26.650 --> 00:28:29.369
claim at first. But Lloyd George vehemently opposed

00:28:29.369 --> 00:28:32.170
it, right? He argued the city was 90 percent

00:28:32.170 --> 00:28:34.769
German and that annexing it would be a gross

00:28:34.769 --> 00:28:37.230
violation of the very self -determination Wilson

00:28:37.230 --> 00:28:39.759
was preaching. It was an insoluble dilemma. So

00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:42.779
the impasse was resolved with a compromise. Danzig

00:28:42.779 --> 00:28:45.460
was turned into a free city. It belonged to neither

00:28:45.460 --> 00:28:47.660
nation, governed under the League of Nations,

00:28:47.819 --> 00:28:50.400
but Poland retained certain special customs and

00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:53.500
communication rights. It was a classic half -measure

00:28:53.500 --> 00:28:56.960
that left both Germans and Poles completely dissatisfied.

00:28:57.369 --> 00:28:59.650
And the loss of dancing, the creation of the

00:28:59.650 --> 00:29:01.710
Polish corridor to connect Poland to the sea,

00:29:01.809 --> 00:29:04.289
and what happened with Upper Silesia, for Germans,

00:29:04.410 --> 00:29:07.430
this became the open wound in the East, a national

00:29:07.430 --> 00:29:09.769
humiliation that had to be reversed. And you

00:29:09.769 --> 00:29:11.650
can see why it was so difficult to apply these

00:29:11.650 --> 00:29:14.390
principles there. The populations were so deeply

00:29:14.390 --> 00:29:17.029
intermingled. Before 1914, Germany had about

00:29:17.029 --> 00:29:19.690
a million Polish speakers. After 1918, Poland

00:29:19.690 --> 00:29:22.190
had about a million German speakers. Any frontier

00:29:22.190 --> 00:29:24.069
you drew was going to put massive populations

00:29:24.069 --> 00:29:26.710
on the wrong side. Upper Silesia was a particular...

00:29:26.670 --> 00:29:29.589
rich industrial region. How did the allies try

00:29:29.589 --> 00:29:31.430
to solve that border with self -determination?

00:29:31.670 --> 00:29:34.369
Well, they tried a referendum in 1921, but the

00:29:34.369 --> 00:29:36.490
results were just as complex as the population.

00:29:36.950 --> 00:29:40.490
68 % voted to stay in Germany, 32 % for Poland.

00:29:40.809 --> 00:29:43.130
But the voting patterns reflected the ethnic

00:29:43.130 --> 00:29:46.829
mix. The urban industrial areas went overwhelmingly

00:29:46.829 --> 00:29:49.809
for Germany, while the rural peasant areas went

00:29:49.809 --> 00:29:52.309
for Poland. So drawing an equitable line was

00:29:52.309 --> 00:29:54.809
impossible. Impossible. It resulted in three

00:29:54.809 --> 00:29:57.630
separate armed uprisings, fierce fighting between

00:29:57.630 --> 00:30:00.470
German and Polish paramilitary groups. In the

00:30:00.470 --> 00:30:03.569
end, the Allies just had to impose an unsatisfactory

00:30:03.569 --> 00:30:05.950
frontier that left both nations feeling cheated.

00:30:06.430 --> 00:30:08.990
And the long -term consequence of this festering

00:30:08.990 --> 00:30:11.410
eastern wound was revealed pretty clearly years

00:30:11.410 --> 00:30:14.769
later in the Locarno Treaties of 1925. Locarno

00:30:14.769 --> 00:30:17.170
was this brief moment of hope for European peace.

00:30:17.630 --> 00:30:20.009
Germany formally accepted its western borders.

00:30:20.210 --> 00:30:22.730
It renounced any claim to Alsace -Lorraine, accepted

00:30:22.730 --> 00:30:25.089
the demilitarized Rhineland. But this acceptance

00:30:25.089 --> 00:30:27.809
was highly conditional. A secret memo from the

00:30:27.809 --> 00:30:30.230
German State Secretary Karl von Schubert revealed

00:30:30.230 --> 00:30:32.619
the true intention. Germany could accept the

00:30:32.619 --> 00:30:34.740
Western losses, but would never accept the Eastern

00:30:34.740 --> 00:30:36.859
borders. They explicitly stated there would be

00:30:36.859 --> 00:30:39.380
no Eastern Locarno. That's right. The document

00:30:39.380 --> 00:30:41.200
said the whole purpose of improving relations

00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:43.200
with France and Britain was to persuade them

00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:45.859
to abandon their alliance with Poland. That would

00:30:45.859 --> 00:30:48.019
allow Germany to invade Poland later without

00:30:48.019 --> 00:30:51.160
fear of a Western response. So the disputes Wilson

00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:53.640
had tried to solve in the East remained a deliberate,

00:30:53.740 --> 00:30:55.980
active platform for future German aggression.

00:30:56.539 --> 00:30:58.839
Now, the tension between the points and traditional

00:30:58.839 --> 00:31:01.319
diplomacy was never more explosive than with

00:31:01.319 --> 00:31:04.000
Italy, an allied power that was determined to

00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:07.019
get its secret wartime spoils. Italy was lured

00:31:07.019 --> 00:31:09.720
into the war by the secret 1915 Treaty of London,

00:31:09.900 --> 00:31:12.380
which promised it huge chunks of the Austrian

00:31:12.380 --> 00:31:16.980
Empire. Trentino, Istria, much of Dalmatia. But

00:31:16.980 --> 00:31:19.180
Wilson's point I asked called for adjusting Italian

00:31:19.180 --> 00:31:21.960
frontiers only along clearly recognizable lines

00:31:21.960 --> 00:31:24.119
of nationality. The two documents are mutually

00:31:24.119 --> 00:31:26.759
exclusive. So the Italian Prime Minister Orlando

00:31:26.759 --> 00:31:29.559
and Foreign Minister Sunino arrive in Paris demanding

00:31:29.559 --> 00:31:32.279
not just the secret treaty, but more. The Treaty

00:31:32.279 --> 00:31:35.480
of London plus FIME. And Wilson was put in this

00:31:35.480 --> 00:31:38.799
impossible position. He made one major concession.

00:31:39.140 --> 00:31:41.400
He supported Italy getting the strategically

00:31:41.400 --> 00:31:44.500
crucial Brenner Pass as its frontier with Austria,

00:31:44.700 --> 00:31:47.039
only later admitting he hadn't realized that

00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:49.119
the majority of the population in South Tyrol

00:31:49.119 --> 00:31:52.519
spoke German. That was a clear violation of self

00:31:52.519 --> 00:31:54.539
-determination that he later regretted. But he

00:31:54.539 --> 00:31:57.059
drew the line at Dalmatia. He strongly opposed

00:31:57.059 --> 00:31:59.279
the Italian demands for Istria and Dalmatia.

00:31:59.380 --> 00:32:01.519
He argued that the majority of people there were

00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:03.339
croats who wished to join the new Yugoslavia.

00:32:03.619 --> 00:32:06.059
Wilson even published an appeal directly to the

00:32:06.059 --> 00:32:08.859
Italian people, urging them to accept his principal's

00:32:08.859 --> 00:32:11.000
stance over their leader's nationalistic demands.

00:32:11.319 --> 00:32:13.700
Which sparked a huge nationalist backlash. Oh,

00:32:13.700 --> 00:32:15.640
yeah. Foreign Minister Sunino's position was

00:32:15.640 --> 00:32:18.460
unyielding. He said Italy's sacrifice, specifically

00:32:18.460 --> 00:32:21.099
half a million Italian war dead, entitled them

00:32:21.099 --> 00:32:23.440
to the Treaty of London, regardless of Wilson's

00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:26.680
idealism. Wilson became deeply unpopular. He

00:32:26.680 --> 00:32:29.440
was targeted in cartoons, often shown in an Austrian

00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:32.519
uniform, denying Italian claims. The American

00:32:32.519 --> 00:32:34.579
embassy in Rome even needed a special police

00:32:34.579 --> 00:32:37.299
guard because of public hostility. And the final

00:32:37.299 --> 00:32:40.039
outcome, where Italy only got parts of what it

00:32:40.039 --> 00:32:42.920
wanted, it fueled this powerful political narrative

00:32:42.920 --> 00:32:46.259
back home. Yes, the thesis of the Victoria Mutilata,

00:32:46.359 --> 00:32:49.349
the mutilated victory, took hold. It was a claim

00:32:49.349 --> 00:32:51.769
that Italy had been robbed of its rightful spoils

00:32:51.769 --> 00:32:54.490
by their allies, and particularly by Wilson's

00:32:54.490 --> 00:32:57.529
high -minded principles. The nascent fascist

00:32:57.529 --> 00:32:59.950
party under Mussolini seized on this narrative

00:32:59.950 --> 00:33:02.009
to attack the political class for their weakness,

00:33:02.230 --> 00:33:04.849
and this grievance became a major factor in the

00:33:04.849 --> 00:33:07.390
political destabilization that led to Mussolini's

00:33:07.390 --> 00:33:10.759
rise to power in 1922. Moving to the Near East,

00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:12.619
which was defined by the collapse of the Ottoman

00:33:12.619 --> 00:33:15.079
Empire and the horror of the Armenian Genocide,

00:33:15.339 --> 00:33:18.019
Wilson tried to address Point Twelve's call for

00:33:18.019 --> 00:33:20.519
undoubted security of life through the idea of

00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:23.180
a humanitarian mandate. The Armenian mandate

00:33:23.180 --> 00:33:25.519
was a last -ditch attempt to protect the shattered

00:33:25.519 --> 00:33:28.670
Armenian population. Wilson recognized that the

00:33:28.670 --> 00:33:30.690
Armenian community, whose educated political

00:33:30.690 --> 00:33:32.750
and military leaders have been systematically

00:33:32.750 --> 00:33:36.250
exterminated since 1915, could not possibly stand

00:33:36.250 --> 00:33:38.609
as an independent state. He believed American

00:33:38.609 --> 00:33:40.789
rule was needed for at least a decade to help

00:33:40.789 --> 00:33:42.910
survivors rebuild their communities and institutions.

00:33:43.430 --> 00:33:45.869
But this attempt at a massive American humanitarian

00:33:45.869 --> 00:33:49.390
intervention thousands of miles away was ultimately

00:33:49.390 --> 00:33:53.029
crushed by American isolationism. It failed spectacularly.

00:33:53.049 --> 00:33:55.990
The U .S. Senate, already hostile to any foreign

00:33:55.990 --> 00:33:58.539
entanglement, rejected the request for the mandate

00:33:58.539 --> 00:34:02.500
on June 1, 1920. The vote was 52 senators, nay,

00:34:02.640 --> 00:34:07.190
against only 23 ye. That rejection signaled the

00:34:07.190 --> 00:34:09.929
final withdrawal of the U .S. from direct responsibility

00:34:09.929 --> 00:34:12.190
for the outcome in the Near East. And the ultimate

00:34:12.190 --> 00:34:15.429
resolution in Anatolia was a horrific final rejection

00:34:15.429 --> 00:34:18.269
of Wilson's ideal of coexisting peoples. It was

00:34:18.269 --> 00:34:21.250
the triumph of homogenization. Allied plans to

00:34:21.250 --> 00:34:23.389
partition Anatolia and enforce minority rights

00:34:23.389 --> 00:34:26.269
failed because the Turkish people rallied under

00:34:26.269 --> 00:34:28.869
Mustafa Kemal. Later added Turks successfully

00:34:28.869 --> 00:34:31.539
resisted foreign control by force. And following

00:34:31.539 --> 00:34:33.860
a Turkish military victory over Greece in 1922,

00:34:34.139 --> 00:34:36.579
the final stage of ethnic cleansing was achieved

00:34:36.579 --> 00:34:39.199
through the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. That treaty

00:34:39.199 --> 00:34:41.599
authorized the Greek -Turkish compulsory population

00:34:41.599 --> 00:34:45.260
exchange. Yes. It mandated the forced expulsion

00:34:45.260 --> 00:34:47.739
of one million Orthodox Greeks from Anatolia

00:34:47.739 --> 00:34:50.719
and half a million Muslims, mostly Turks, from

00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:53.840
Greece. This massive traumatic upheaval, carried

00:34:53.840 --> 00:34:56.400
out amid intense suffering, marked the final

00:34:56.400 --> 00:34:59.099
and complete rejection of Wilson's vision of

00:34:59.099 --> 00:35:01.619
different national groups. coexisting in Asia

00:35:01.619 --> 00:35:04.940
Minor. The new Turkish Republic, in effect, achieved

00:35:04.940 --> 00:35:07.980
peace through ethnic homogeneity, which was a

00:35:07.980 --> 00:35:10.500
brutal antithesis of Wilsonian multicultural

00:35:10.500 --> 00:35:13.480
idealism. So if the failure in the Near East

00:35:13.480 --> 00:35:16.260
confirmed the limits of Western power, the events

00:35:16.260 --> 00:35:18.980
in Asia confirmed the unexpected, radical power

00:35:18.980 --> 00:35:21.300
of Wilson's rhetoric to inspire movements he

00:35:21.300 --> 00:35:23.320
never intended to support. Let's look at Korea

00:35:23.320 --> 00:35:25.940
first. It had been brutally annexed by Japan

00:35:25.940 --> 00:35:28.679
in 1910. The promise of national self -determination

00:35:28.679 --> 00:35:31.139
in point three fueled intense Korean hopes for

00:35:31.139 --> 00:35:34.780
independence. On March 1st, 1919, Korean nationalists

00:35:34.780 --> 00:35:36.940
issued a declaration of independence, which triggered

00:35:36.940 --> 00:35:39.480
the March 1st movement. Over a million Koreans

00:35:39.480 --> 00:35:41.860
demonstrated, demanding to be recognized as an

00:35:41.860 --> 00:35:43.659
independent nation. And the Japanese response

00:35:43.659 --> 00:35:46.579
was swift and brutal suppression. Unarmed protesters

00:35:46.579 --> 00:35:50.719
were shot down, arrested, tortured. And crucially,

00:35:51.050 --> 00:35:54.610
Wilson, Clemenceau, and Lloyd George all refused

00:35:54.610 --> 00:35:57.949
the Korean nationalists' appeals for help. They

00:35:57.949 --> 00:36:00.670
deemed the events an internal Japanese matter.

00:36:00.929 --> 00:36:03.849
The ultimate confirmation of the hypocrisy. Self

00:36:03.849 --> 00:36:06.329
-determination was only for the former enemy

00:36:06.329 --> 00:36:09.449
empires. Precisely. And this profound sense of

00:36:09.449 --> 00:36:12.130
betrayal led many Korean nationalists to turn

00:36:12.130 --> 00:36:14.449
their hopes away from the liberal West and towards

00:36:14.449 --> 00:36:16.650
Soviet Russia, which gave significant momentum

00:36:16.650 --> 00:36:19.150
to the emerging Korean communist movement. And

00:36:19.150 --> 00:36:21.510
the same dynamic played out in Egypt. Exactly

00:36:21.510 --> 00:36:24.869
the same. Egyptian politicians, led by Saad Zaghloul,

00:36:24.969 --> 00:36:27.550
arrived in Paris determined to use the 14 points

00:36:27.550 --> 00:36:29.769
to end the British occupation that had been going

00:36:29.769 --> 00:36:32.539
on since 1882. When Zaglou and his colleagues

00:36:32.539 --> 00:36:34.300
were arrested and deported by the British in

00:36:34.300 --> 00:36:37.199
March 1919, it sparked the revolution of 1919,

00:36:37.320 --> 00:36:40.059
massive violent demonstrations demanding immediate

00:36:40.059 --> 00:36:43.239
independence. A seismic moment for Egyptian nationalism,

00:36:43.400 --> 00:36:45.639
even though the British maintained ultimate control.

00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:48.619
It was. The British eventually granted nominal

00:36:48.619 --> 00:36:51.900
independence in 1922, but they kept the military

00:36:51.900 --> 00:36:54.659
occupation and control over key areas like the

00:36:54.659 --> 00:36:58.079
Suez Canal. The nationalist sentiment just persisted,

00:36:58.079 --> 00:37:00.559
permanently fueled by the feeling of being denied

00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:03.260
the full self -determination Wilson had promised.

00:37:03.519 --> 00:37:06.719
It set the stage for decades of anti -British

00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:09.559
struggle. And finally, we get to perhaps the

00:37:09.559 --> 00:37:12.219
most globally consequential failure of Wilsonian

00:37:12.219 --> 00:37:15.340
idealism, the Shandong question between China

00:37:15.340 --> 00:37:18.519
and Japan. This issue had massive global repercussions.

00:37:18.880 --> 00:37:21.340
Shandong province was a former German concession,

00:37:21.380 --> 00:37:24.460
which Japan had occupied early in the war. Japan

00:37:24.460 --> 00:37:26.619
had secured secret treaties with the Allies promising

00:37:26.619 --> 00:37:29.300
support for their claim. And it also forced China

00:37:29.300 --> 00:37:32.000
to sign a treaty in 1915, agreeing that Japan

00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:34.920
would take over Germany's rights. China, a technical

00:37:34.920 --> 00:37:37.010
ally, came to Paris expecting the... territory

00:37:37.010 --> 00:37:39.730
to be returned under the principle of self -determination.

00:37:39.889 --> 00:37:42.329
And the Chinese diplomat Wellington Koo became

00:37:42.329 --> 00:37:45.110
a sensation by masterfully using Wilson's own

00:37:45.110 --> 00:37:47.829
words against the allies. Koo's diplomatic strategy

00:37:47.829 --> 00:37:50.360
was brilliant. He argued that the Sino -Japanese

00:37:50.360 --> 00:37:53.699
Treaty of 1915 was invalid because it was signed

00:37:53.699 --> 00:37:56.139
under threat of violence. And more importantly,

00:37:56.320 --> 00:37:59.440
he used point -eye -open diplomacy to argue that

00:37:59.440 --> 00:38:01.519
the secret ally treaties supporting Japan were

00:38:01.519 --> 00:38:03.820
invalid because they contradicted the spirit

00:38:03.820 --> 00:38:05.840
of the New World Order. He stressed that the

00:38:05.840 --> 00:38:08.119
people of Shandong were overwhelmingly Han Chinese

00:38:08.119 --> 00:38:11.079
and wanted to return to China. He cornered Wilson

00:38:11.079 --> 00:38:14.480
using Wilson's own ideals. But Wilson, the author

00:38:14.480 --> 00:38:16.880
of The 14 Points, ultimately sided with Japan.

00:38:17.260 --> 00:38:20.039
And this decision, it just defies the logic of

00:38:20.039 --> 00:38:22.519
his own program. Wilson was caught in an impossible

00:38:22.519 --> 00:38:25.539
moral and political bind. He was facing immense

00:38:25.539 --> 00:38:27.980
pressure from Japan, which threatened to walk

00:38:27.980 --> 00:38:29.719
out of the conference and refuse to join the

00:38:29.719 --> 00:38:31.579
League of Nations if their demands weren't met.

00:38:31.719 --> 00:38:34.619
And he chose pragmatism over principle. siding

00:38:34.619 --> 00:38:38.019
with Japan on April 22, 1919. What was his justification?

00:38:38.460 --> 00:38:41.500
His justification was damning. He argued that

00:38:41.500 --> 00:38:43.739
the war had been fought largely for the purpose

00:38:43.739 --> 00:38:45.500
of showing that treaties cannot be violated,

00:38:45.739 --> 00:38:48.300
and he asserted that China was bound by the 1915

00:38:48.300 --> 00:38:51.480
agreement, despite the core circumstances. He

00:38:51.480 --> 00:38:54.039
concluded it was better to live up to a bad treaty

00:38:54.039 --> 00:38:56.360
than tear it up. That decision must have had

00:38:56.360 --> 00:38:58.820
earth -shattering consequences for China's view

00:38:58.820 --> 00:39:01.119
of the West. It was seen as a profound betrayal.

00:39:01.690 --> 00:39:04.869
The award of Shandong to Japan sparked the massive

00:39:04.869 --> 00:39:07.849
May 4th movement in China, where thousands of

00:39:07.849 --> 00:39:10.030
university students protested the weakness of

00:39:10.030 --> 00:39:12.070
their government and the hypocrisy of the Western

00:39:12.070 --> 00:39:14.929
powers. China ultimately refused to sign the

00:39:14.929 --> 00:39:17.449
Treaty of Versailles. This betrayal turned Chinese

00:39:17.449 --> 00:39:20.389
public opinion decisively against the West. Ku

00:39:20.389 --> 00:39:22.269
himself remarked years later that the outcome

00:39:22.269 --> 00:39:24.869
gave tremendous prestige to Soviet Russia, which

00:39:24.869 --> 00:39:27.400
had renounced its special rights in China. And

00:39:27.400 --> 00:39:29.719
this anger and political disillusionment led

00:39:29.719 --> 00:39:31.440
directly to the founding of the Chinese Communist

00:39:31.440 --> 00:39:34.420
Party in 1920. So as we wrap up this deep dive,

00:39:34.500 --> 00:39:36.440
what we're really seeing is this comprehensive

00:39:36.440 --> 00:39:40.699
picture of Wilson's 14 points. It was an idealistic

00:39:40.699 --> 00:39:43.159
blueprint, sure, but it was also a strategic

00:39:43.159 --> 00:39:45.460
masterstroke that successfully helped end the

00:39:45.460 --> 00:39:47.920
Great War by providing the ideological basis

00:39:47.920 --> 00:39:50.889
for Germany's surrender. In its application,

00:39:51.150 --> 00:39:53.289
it laid the groundwork for future conflicts and

00:39:53.289 --> 00:39:56.090
this profound global disillusionment by consistently

00:39:56.090 --> 00:39:58.369
promising a world that the victorious powers,

00:39:58.550 --> 00:40:01.309
including the U .S. Senate, were ultimately unwilling

00:40:01.309 --> 00:40:04.630
or unable to deliver. The 14 points became more

00:40:04.630 --> 00:40:06.789
than just a peace proposal. They became this

00:40:06.789 --> 00:40:09.630
potent symbol of Wilson's failure to match his

00:40:09.630 --> 00:40:11.989
lofty rhetoric with genuine political commitment.

00:40:12.519 --> 00:40:14.840
The post -war world didn't achieve that picture

00:40:14.840 --> 00:40:16.659
of absolute moral perfection he had painted.

00:40:16.860 --> 00:40:20.139
What emerged was a chaotic, often punitive, treaty

00:40:20.139 --> 00:40:23.159
built on compromise. It reflected the deeply

00:40:23.159 --> 00:40:25.059
entrenched and contradictory interests of the

00:40:25.059 --> 00:40:27.860
US, Britain, France, and Italy. The world was

00:40:27.860 --> 00:40:29.900
just not ready to abandon the old system of power

00:40:29.900 --> 00:40:32.059
politics for his new order. And what stands out

00:40:32.059 --> 00:40:35.860
here is the massive dark irony. Wilson, a man

00:40:35.860 --> 00:40:38.380
who harbored deeply segregationist and racist

00:40:38.380 --> 00:40:41.340
views and who only intended self -determination

00:40:41.340 --> 00:40:45.000
for the peoples trapped in enemy empires, unintentionally

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:47.820
unleashed forces that would ultimately undo the

00:40:47.820 --> 00:40:50.300
allied colonial system. That is the essential

00:40:50.300 --> 00:40:54.019
lasting irony of the 14 points. Despite Wilson's

00:40:54.019 --> 00:40:56.400
own selective application and his personal political

00:40:56.400 --> 00:40:59.900
failings, his words open covenants, self -determination,

00:41:00.059 --> 00:41:03.079
security of life, they serve as an unexpected

00:41:03.079 --> 00:41:06.539
moral and ideological foundation. They gave powerful

00:41:06.539 --> 00:41:09.139
universal language to anti -colonial and nationalist

00:41:09.139 --> 00:41:12.139
movements in places like China, Egypt, and Korea.

00:41:12.840 --> 00:41:14.920
Movements that fundamentally challenged the global

00:41:14.920 --> 00:41:17.119
hierarchy and changed the entire trajectory of

00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:19.199
the 20th century. So you're left to consider

00:41:19.199 --> 00:41:22.260
this provocative question. If the 14 points failed

00:41:22.260 --> 00:41:24.199
to create peace in the West and failed to prevent

00:41:24.199 --> 00:41:26.460
the rise of fascism in Italy or further aggression

00:41:26.460 --> 00:41:29.019
in Germany, was the greatest lasting legacy of

00:41:29.019 --> 00:41:30.920
the 14 points the world had failed to create,

00:41:31.059 --> 00:41:33.500
or the global movements it unintentionally helped

00:41:33.500 --> 00:41:36.000
inspire against Western imperialism? Welcome

00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:38.760
to the debate. Today we're confronting one of

00:41:38.760 --> 00:41:41.980
the most Well, compelling and ultimately frustrating

00:41:41.980 --> 00:41:45.239
documents in modern diplomatic history. Woodrow

00:41:45.239 --> 00:41:48.820
Wilson's 14 Points. Delivered in January 1918,

00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:51.780
these principles became the advertised terms

00:41:51.780 --> 00:41:54.940
for peace, the ethical foundation upon which

00:41:54.940 --> 00:41:57.920
the central powers, Germany in particular, agreed

00:41:57.920 --> 00:42:00.760
to lay down their arms. This was really a direct

00:42:00.760 --> 00:42:03.179
effort to translate American progressive ideas,

00:42:03.460 --> 00:42:05.780
things like democracy, transparent governance,

00:42:05.980 --> 00:42:09.239
into a foreign policy framework. And their historical

00:42:09.239 --> 00:42:11.820
significance, you just can't overstate it. They

00:42:11.820 --> 00:42:15.679
were explicitly a statement defining what a just

00:42:15.679 --> 00:42:19.039
and secure peace should look like, a framework

00:42:19.039 --> 00:42:21.619
that was intended to move international relations

00:42:21.619 --> 00:42:26.360
beyond the cynical, shifting foundations of a

00:42:26.360 --> 00:42:29.300
new balance of power. that had so tragically

00:42:29.300 --> 00:42:32.000
led to the Great War in the first place. That

00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:36.099
is the crucial context. So here is the central

00:42:36.099 --> 00:42:39.659
question we have to wrestle with. Was the ultimate

00:42:39.659 --> 00:42:43.599
failure of the 14 points to establish a stable

00:42:43.599 --> 00:42:47.789
and just post -war order primarily due to the

00:42:47.789 --> 00:42:51.090
intransigence and geopolitical self -interest

00:42:51.090 --> 00:42:54.190
of the European allies, that external resistance

00:42:54.190 --> 00:42:56.949
and real politic? Or were the points themselves

00:42:56.949 --> 00:43:00.130
just fundamentally flawed, containing internal

00:43:00.130 --> 00:43:02.909
contradictions from their inception that in a

00:43:02.909 --> 00:43:05.730
way guaranteed their own downfall? I come at

00:43:05.730 --> 00:43:08.610
it from a different angle. While we can't deny

00:43:08.610 --> 00:43:11.050
the corrosive effect of Allied resistance in

00:43:11.050 --> 00:43:13.659
Paris, I would maintain that the deepest seeds

00:43:13.659 --> 00:43:16.320
of failure were inherent in the points themselves,

00:43:16.579 --> 00:43:19.699
in their contradictions, their often paralyzing

00:43:19.699 --> 00:43:22.739
vagueness, and I think most importantly, in Wilson's

00:43:22.739 --> 00:43:25.239
selective and deeply compromised application

00:43:25.239 --> 00:43:28.780
of his own lofty ideals. I see why you'd emphasize

00:43:28.780 --> 00:43:31.179
that internal fragility, but I'm going to argue

00:43:31.179 --> 00:43:33.679
that the failure was almost entirely external.

00:43:34.000 --> 00:43:36.539
It was rooted in the deeply entrenched traditions

00:43:36.539 --> 00:43:40.000
of European realpolitik that Wilson was frankly,

00:43:40.079 --> 00:43:43.280
attempting to sweep away. The 14 points truly

00:43:43.280 --> 00:43:46.000
represented a necessary, a progressive vision.

00:43:46.199 --> 00:43:48.480
I mean, look at the opening principle, point

00:43:48.480 --> 00:43:51.960
I, open covenants of peace openly arrived at.

00:43:52.139 --> 00:43:55.820
Or the capstone, point 14, the formation of a

00:43:55.820 --> 00:43:58.440
league of nations. This was a radical attempt

00:43:58.440 --> 00:44:01.860
to cure the very systematic secrecy and militarism

00:44:01.860 --> 00:44:04.699
that caused the war. The vision was certainly

00:44:04.699 --> 00:44:09.460
radical on paper. Yes. a genuine attempt to reshape

00:44:09.460 --> 00:44:13.380
global moral politics. But that vision was derailed

00:44:13.380 --> 00:44:17.099
almost as soon as Wilson set foot in Paris, derailed

00:44:17.099 --> 00:44:20.139
by his self -interested allied colleagues, Clemenceau,

00:44:20.260 --> 00:44:23.719
Lloyd, George, Orlando. They were just inherently

00:44:23.719 --> 00:44:27.039
skeptical of what they dismissed as Wilsonian

00:44:27.039 --> 00:44:30.820
idealism. The critical obstruction, I mean, the

00:44:30.820 --> 00:44:33.300
fundamental poison that undermined the entire

00:44:33.300 --> 00:44:36.500
process was the existence of... pre -existing

00:44:36.500 --> 00:44:40.119
secret treaties. The ones the Bolsheviks disclosed

00:44:40.119 --> 00:44:43.539
back in 1917? Exactly. These treaties signed

00:44:43.539 --> 00:44:46.199
between the Allies long before the U .S. even

00:44:46.199 --> 00:44:49.480
entered the war, they envisioned extensive territorial

00:44:49.480 --> 00:44:52.840
changes and spheres of influence across the collapsing

00:44:52.840 --> 00:44:56.119
Ottoman Empire and beyond. They were the very

00:44:56.119 --> 00:44:59.300
definition of old world diplomacy, and they directly

00:44:59.300 --> 00:45:02.059
violated Point's core promise of open diplomacy.

00:45:02.780 --> 00:45:05.599
it fundamentally corrupted the negotiations before

00:45:05.599 --> 00:45:08.380
they even really began. So the resulting Treaty

00:45:08.380 --> 00:45:10.960
of Versailles, well, it wasn't a pure application

00:45:10.960 --> 00:45:14.159
of the points. It was a messy, often contradictory

00:45:14.159 --> 00:45:16.639
compromise dictated by these competing allied

00:45:16.639 --> 00:45:19.460
interests. Britain, for instance, refused to

00:45:19.460 --> 00:45:21.699
accept Point 2, freedom of the seas, under any

00:45:21.699 --> 00:45:24.320
circumstances, and they demanded massive German

00:45:24.320 --> 00:45:27.190
reparations. The blame for the failure to secure

00:45:27.190 --> 00:45:30.070
a just peace rests squarely with those who prioritize

00:45:30.070 --> 00:45:32.570
their own nationalistic self -interest over the

00:45:32.570 --> 00:45:35.070
stated principles for a new world order. I'm

00:45:35.070 --> 00:45:37.489
sorry, but I just don't buy that the failure

00:45:37.489 --> 00:45:40.449
rests primarily with the Allies overriding an

00:45:40.449 --> 00:45:42.969
otherwise perfect document. The weaknesses were

00:45:42.969 --> 00:45:45.309
inherent in the principles themselves, and I

00:45:45.309 --> 00:45:47.630
think Wilson's profound lack of commitment to

00:45:47.630 --> 00:45:50.570
applying them universally. That's a harsh assessment.

00:45:50.829 --> 00:45:53.389
How do you square that with the genuine idealism

00:45:53.389 --> 00:45:55.579
he brought to Paris? We have to consider the

00:45:55.579 --> 00:45:58.880
strategic context first. Wilson introduced the

00:45:58.880 --> 00:46:02.900
14 points not just as a moral crusade, but partially

00:46:02.900 --> 00:46:05.880
to provide an urgent ideological alternative

00:46:05.880 --> 00:46:09.519
to Lenin in his communist regime. Especially

00:46:09.519 --> 00:46:12.159
after Lenin issued the Decree on Peace and started

00:46:12.159 --> 00:46:15.059
publishing those, well, embarrassing secret treaties,

00:46:15.340 --> 00:46:18.059
Wilson needed to seize the moral high ground

00:46:18.059 --> 00:46:21.639
globally. But this strategic idealism was compromised

00:46:21.639 --> 00:46:24.840
from the very first stroke of the pen. The core

00:46:24.840 --> 00:46:27.440
principle that generated the most global hope,

00:46:27.679 --> 00:46:30.780
national self -determination. It was never intended

00:46:30.780 --> 00:46:34.710
to be universal. Wilson's genuine intent was

00:46:34.710 --> 00:46:37.570
for it to apply solely to territories under the

00:46:37.570 --> 00:46:41.329
Central Powers. It was a specific tool designed

00:46:41.329 --> 00:46:44.510
to destabilize those enemy empires and redraw

00:46:44.510 --> 00:46:46.829
the map of Central and Eastern Europe. But it

00:46:46.829 --> 00:46:48.710
was applied extensively in Europe, leading to

00:46:48.710 --> 00:46:50.889
the creation of new nations. Yes, in Europe.

00:46:50.989 --> 00:46:54.190
But he explicitly viewed non -European regions

00:46:54.190 --> 00:46:57.289
as unready for self -governance. He asserted

00:46:57.289 --> 00:46:59.750
that a period of trusteeship and tutelage was

00:46:59.750 --> 00:47:02.949
necessary. And this was based on his deeply ingrained

00:47:02.949 --> 00:47:06.070
beliefs regarding the, quote, inferiority of

00:47:06.070 --> 00:47:09.010
the non -European races. The principle was fundamentally

00:47:09.010 --> 00:47:12.289
exclusionary. It created a hierarchy of humanity

00:47:12.289 --> 00:47:15.690
that just undercut its own claim to universality.

00:47:15.869 --> 00:47:18.010
So you're suggesting the principles were fatally

00:47:18.010 --> 00:47:20.809
prejudiced from the very start. That's precisely

00:47:20.809 --> 00:47:24.170
what I am suggesting. And this hypocrisy, it

00:47:24.170 --> 00:47:27.070
led directly to massive global disillusionment.

00:47:27.440 --> 00:47:29.599
You just have to look at the nationalist leaders

00:47:29.599 --> 00:47:32.460
in Korea. They launched the March 1st movement

00:47:32.460 --> 00:47:35.960
in 1919, appealing directly to the 10 points

00:47:35.960 --> 00:47:38.719
for independence from Japanese rule. They saw

00:47:38.719 --> 00:47:41.820
Wilson's promise as their key to freedom. Similarly,

00:47:42.079 --> 00:47:45.059
you had Egyptian politicians led by Saad Zaghlou,

00:47:45.199 --> 00:47:47.800
who tried to travel to the peace conference to

00:47:47.800 --> 00:47:50.480
end the British occupation, sparking the revolution

00:47:50.480 --> 00:47:54.980
of 1919. In both cases, Wilson refused to support

00:47:54.980 --> 00:47:57.699
them. He viewed these struggles as either internal

00:47:57.699 --> 00:48:00.679
Japanese matters or internal British colonial

00:48:00.679 --> 00:48:04.000
issues. So the global promise of self -determination

00:48:04.000 --> 00:48:07.500
was exposed as, frankly, hollow rhetoric outside

00:48:07.500 --> 00:48:10.420
of the European context, fueling global anti

00:48:10.420 --> 00:48:12.639
-colonial movements that felt deeply betrayed.

00:48:13.039 --> 00:48:16.579
That's a powerful and a necessary critique regarding

00:48:16.579 --> 00:48:19.760
the non -European context. The selectivity is

00:48:19.760 --> 00:48:23.179
certainly undeniable. However... Let's focus

00:48:23.179 --> 00:48:25.480
on the compromises Wilson did make in Europe.

00:48:25.719 --> 00:48:28.679
The core of my argument is that these compromises,

00:48:28.760 --> 00:48:32.079
while regrettable, were necessary acts of diplomatic

00:48:32.079 --> 00:48:35.320
realpolitik. They were forced upon him by the

00:48:35.320 --> 00:48:37.619
overwhelming Allied commitment to their own prior

00:48:37.619 --> 00:48:40.539
agreements. I accept that Allied pressure was

00:48:40.539 --> 00:48:43.760
immense, but necessity is often just the excuse

00:48:43.760 --> 00:48:46.289
for betraying a principle. Well, consider the

00:48:46.289 --> 00:48:49.769
hard choices he faced, accepting the incorporation

00:48:49.769 --> 00:48:52.429
of the German majority South Tyrol into Italy

00:48:52.429 --> 00:48:55.570
or agreeing to the demilitarization of the Rhineland

00:48:55.570 --> 00:48:59.190
as a concession to French security demands. Wilson

00:48:59.190 --> 00:49:01.989
had to accept these localized betrayals of self

00:49:01.989 --> 00:49:04.829
-determination to secure the broader, future

00:49:04.829 --> 00:49:07.809
-looking framework of Point 14, the League of

00:49:07.809 --> 00:49:10.889
Nations. He believed that even a flawed league,

00:49:11.090 --> 00:49:13.610
one that could grow and correct mistakes over

00:49:13.610 --> 00:49:16.409
time, was more valuable than adhering strictly

00:49:16.409 --> 00:49:19.190
to every point in a post -war environment dominated

00:49:19.190 --> 00:49:22.389
by vengeful victors. Wasn't that the ultimate,

00:49:22.550 --> 00:49:25.789
albeit tragic, Wilsonian choice? Sacrificing

00:49:25.789 --> 00:49:28.480
the local to save the global structure? I would

00:49:28.480 --> 00:49:31.059
push back on that interpretation, and strongly.

00:49:31.300 --> 00:49:34.159
Those compromises fundamentally demonstrated

00:49:34.159 --> 00:49:36.780
that Wilson's principles were disposable the

00:49:36.780 --> 00:49:40.099
moment they conflicted with powerful allied opposition

00:49:40.099 --> 00:49:44.340
or conflicting U .S. strategic interests. You

00:49:44.340 --> 00:49:47.019
frame those as European compromises, but look

00:49:47.019 --> 00:49:49.739
at the Shendong question in China. That situation

00:49:49.739 --> 00:49:52.460
exemplifies the ultimate bankruptcy of Wilson's

00:49:52.460 --> 00:49:55.179
selective morality. The Japanese were insisting

00:49:55.179 --> 00:49:57.619
on taking over the former German concessions

00:49:57.619 --> 00:50:00.340
and rights in China's Shandong province, right?

00:50:00.420 --> 00:50:03.320
Based on a 1915 treaty signed years earlier.

00:50:03.579 --> 00:50:06.400
Correct. And the Chinese diplomat Wellington

00:50:06.400 --> 00:50:10.739
Koo presented a masterful argument using Wilson's

00:50:10.739 --> 00:50:15.039
own ideals. He argued that the 1915 treaty was

00:50:15.039 --> 00:50:17.440
invalid because it was signed under the threat

00:50:17.440 --> 00:50:20.880
of Japanese violence. More damningly, he pointed

00:50:20.880 --> 00:50:23.159
out that the secret treaties between the Allies

00:50:23.579 --> 00:50:26.300
Britain, France, and Italy, promising support

00:50:26.300 --> 00:50:29.559
to Japan violated Point One's fundamental call

00:50:29.559 --> 00:50:32.599
for open diplomacy. Here was a chance for Wilson

00:50:32.599 --> 00:50:36.059
to uphold both open diplomacy and self -determination

00:50:36.059 --> 00:50:39.420
against the weight of Allied secrecy and imperial

00:50:39.420 --> 00:50:42.280
ambition. And he failed. He didn't just fail.

00:50:42.400 --> 00:50:46.239
He actively sided with Japan. Wilson argued it

00:50:46.239 --> 00:50:48.820
was, quote, better to live up to a bad treaty

00:50:48.820 --> 00:50:51.840
than tear it up. effectively choosing to uphold

00:50:51.840 --> 00:50:54.860
a coercive, secret treaty rather than enforce

00:50:54.860 --> 00:50:58.360
his own principle of open covenants. That decision

00:50:58.360 --> 00:51:01.760
was catastrophic. It confirmed the global suspicion

00:51:01.760 --> 00:51:04.440
that the 14 points were merely a tool of Western

00:51:04.440 --> 00:51:07.840
power politics. And that betrayal directly sparked

00:51:07.840 --> 00:51:10.820
the massive May 4th movement in China, demonstrating

00:51:10.820 --> 00:51:13.900
just how quickly his credibility evaporated the

00:51:13.900 --> 00:51:16.079
moment his principles clashed with entrenched

00:51:16.079 --> 00:51:19.139
great power diplomacy. That case certainly highlights

00:51:19.139 --> 00:51:21.900
a monumental failure of execution on Wilson's

00:51:21.900 --> 00:51:25.219
part. A failure to defend his own creation when

00:51:25.219 --> 00:51:27.219
faced with that kind of geopolitical pressure.

00:51:27.619 --> 00:51:29.900
But let's return to the underlying issue that

00:51:29.900 --> 00:51:33.300
plagued the entire conference, the sheer unmanageable

00:51:33.300 --> 00:51:36.260
complexity of applying self -determination. The

00:51:36.260 --> 00:51:38.880
failure wasn't just Wilson's intentions, it was

00:51:38.880 --> 00:51:40.900
the reality on the ground that the points tried,

00:51:41.119 --> 00:51:44.420
perhaps impossibly, to simplify. I agree that

00:51:44.420 --> 00:51:47.480
complexity was a factor. But that vagueness and

00:51:47.480 --> 00:51:50.079
application meant the failure was guaranteed

00:51:50.079 --> 00:51:53.820
by the point's inherent limits. Point 12, regarding

00:51:53.820 --> 00:51:56.679
the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, proved this

00:51:56.679 --> 00:51:59.840
dramatically in Asia Minor. When the Allies tried

00:51:59.840 --> 00:52:02.139
to implement the notion of ethnic self -determination

00:52:02.139 --> 00:52:06.039
there, the concept simply, it fractured. How

00:52:06.039 --> 00:52:09.039
so? Well, the material shows that Muslim peoples

00:52:09.039 --> 00:52:13.239
in the region, Turks, Kurds, Arabs, defined themselves

00:52:13.239 --> 00:52:16.340
far more by their allegiance to the Sultan Caliph

00:52:16.340 --> 00:52:19.440
and by religion than by the neat ethnic lines

00:52:19.440 --> 00:52:22.780
the European delegates were trying to draw. Almost

00:52:22.780 --> 00:52:25.340
all Kurds, for example, remained loyal to the

00:52:25.340 --> 00:52:28.159
Sultanate, so the simplistic framework of the

00:52:28.159 --> 00:52:32.400
14 points rooted in 19th century European nationalism,

00:52:32.739 --> 00:52:35.460
it just couldn't handle the multi -layered identities

00:52:35.460 --> 00:52:38.940
of Asia Minor. I accept that premise, that the

00:52:38.940 --> 00:52:41.699
complexity of applying self -determination made

00:52:41.699 --> 00:52:44.639
any peaceful solution incredibly difficult regardless

00:52:44.639 --> 00:52:47.780
of who the framer was. Pukert's analysis of boundary

00:52:47.780 --> 00:52:50.219
disputes in Central Europe perfectly illustrates

00:52:50.219 --> 00:52:53.260
this geographical reality. Just consider Upper

00:52:53.260 --> 00:52:56.360
Silesia, a deeply contested region between Germany

00:52:56.360 --> 00:52:59.679
and Poland. A region that had been industrialized,

00:52:59.699 --> 00:53:02.260
right? Leading to a complex mix of populations?

00:53:02.739 --> 00:53:05.780
Precisely. It was a demographic patchwork. Due

00:53:05.780 --> 00:53:07.880
to historical migration and the pull of industrial

00:53:07.880 --> 00:53:10.659
work, urban areas in the contested districts

00:53:10.659 --> 00:53:13.639
often voted overwhelmingly German, while the

00:53:13.639 --> 00:53:16.079
surrounding rural areas were often overwhelmingly

00:53:16.079 --> 00:53:19.760
Polish. This physical reality made drawing clearly

00:53:19.760 --> 00:53:22.579
recognizable lines of nationality, as the points

00:53:22.579 --> 00:53:26.340
demanded, an almost impossible task. The Allied

00:53:26.340 --> 00:53:28.739
commissioners struggled, precisely because of

00:53:28.739 --> 00:53:31.289
this reality on the ground. This isn't necessarily

00:53:31.289 --> 00:53:33.989
a flaw in the moral ideal of self -determination,

00:53:34.170 --> 00:53:36.809
but a tragic reality of Central European geography

00:53:36.809 --> 00:53:39.630
that was simply too complex for any one formula

00:53:39.630 --> 00:53:42.090
to resolve cleanly. I grant you that the physical

00:53:42.090 --> 00:53:45.670
reality was difficult. But the rhetoric of the

00:53:45.670 --> 00:53:48.789
points created a situation where every territorial

00:53:48.789 --> 00:53:53.170
decision was judged not against difficult pragmatism,

00:53:53.210 --> 00:53:55.309
but against the standard of moral perfection.

00:53:55.710 --> 00:53:58.190
And that brings us to the point's ultimate role

00:53:58.190 --> 00:54:01.440
in creating future conflict. They inadvertently

00:54:01.440 --> 00:54:03.800
gave Germany the perfect narrative weapon to

00:54:03.800 --> 00:54:06.139
resist the peace. You're referring to the German

00:54:06.139 --> 00:54:08.780
attack on the Treaty of Versailles as an illegitimate

00:54:08.780 --> 00:54:12.300
diktat. Exactly. Germans attacked the treaty

00:54:12.300 --> 00:54:15.960
as having been imposed contrary to the promise

00:54:15.960 --> 00:54:19.559
of the 14 points. It made the points a symbol

00:54:19.559 --> 00:54:22.280
of Wilson's failure to match his rhetoric and

00:54:22.280 --> 00:54:26.360
contributed to a widespread, toxic sense of letdown.

00:54:26.909 --> 00:54:29.949
This sense of betrayal wasn't limited to Germany.

00:54:30.150 --> 00:54:33.190
It fueled movements like the Vittoria Mutilata,

00:54:33.309 --> 00:54:36.409
the mutilated victory thesis in Italy, arguing

00:54:36.409 --> 00:54:39.429
Italy had been humiliated and denied its rightful

00:54:39.429 --> 00:54:42.610
spoils by Wilson's interference. The point set

00:54:42.610 --> 00:54:45.789
a universal standard that, when unmet, guaranteed

00:54:45.789 --> 00:54:48.570
deep resentment among both the defeated and the

00:54:48.570 --> 00:54:51.289
perceived short -changed victors. I'm not convinced

00:54:51.289 --> 00:54:53.670
by that line of reasoning. Because it places

00:54:53.670 --> 00:54:56.210
too much emphasis on the moral failure of the

00:54:56.210 --> 00:54:58.630
points and not enough on the deep -seated psychological

00:54:58.630 --> 00:55:01.630
need of the Germans to reject any peace. The

00:55:01.630 --> 00:55:03.809
points were merely a convenient target. They

00:55:03.809 --> 00:55:05.429
weren't the root cause of the future conflict.

00:55:05.730 --> 00:55:08.849
Why do you say that? Well, historians like Gerhard

00:55:08.849 --> 00:55:11.750
Weinberg argue that the vast majority of Germans

00:55:11.750 --> 00:55:14.230
in the interwar period believed wholeheartedly

00:55:14.230 --> 00:55:16.809
in the Dolchstolzlegenda, the notorious stab

00:55:16.809 --> 00:55:19.460
in the back myth. They genuinely believed Germany

00:55:19.460 --> 00:55:21.780
had not been defeated militarily. They believed

00:55:21.780 --> 00:55:24.219
they'd been betrayed by socialists and Jews on

00:55:24.219 --> 00:55:27.079
the home front. Now, if you believe you haven't

00:55:27.079 --> 00:55:29.320
lost the war, then the details of the treaty,

00:55:29.519 --> 00:55:32.139
whether it adhered perfectly to point I or point

00:55:32.139 --> 00:55:35.119
X, they become irrelevant. Any treaty, regardless

00:55:35.119 --> 00:55:37.639
of how closely it followed the 14 points, would

00:55:37.639 --> 00:55:39.260
have been challenged and rejected by a German

00:55:39.260 --> 00:55:41.809
public convinced they'd actually won. Weinberg

00:55:41.809 --> 00:55:44.349
notes that given this widespread, entrenched

00:55:44.349 --> 00:55:46.570
belief in German victory, the question of the

00:55:46.570 --> 00:55:49.610
treaty's justice based on the 14 points became

00:55:49.610 --> 00:55:51.909
secondary to the inevitability of a future German

00:55:51.909 --> 00:55:54.469
challenge to the international order. That is

00:55:54.469 --> 00:55:57.489
a compelling argument about the power of the

00:55:57.489 --> 00:56:00.570
Dolstosslegende in shaping German political reality.

00:56:01.110 --> 00:56:04.269
However, the points gave the Germans and the

00:56:04.269 --> 00:56:07.750
world the perfect yardstick to measure the treaty's

00:56:07.750 --> 00:56:11.039
failure. They didn't just reject the treaty because

00:56:11.039 --> 00:56:13.599
they felt cheated. They rejected it because it

00:56:13.599 --> 00:56:16.300
fundamentally contradicted the very terms of

00:56:16.300 --> 00:56:19.440
surrender that Wilson himself had proposed. They

00:56:19.440 --> 00:56:21.420
were arguing against the betrayal of promise,

00:56:21.659 --> 00:56:25.039
not just a military defeat. That narrative provided

00:56:25.039 --> 00:56:28.400
a global, moral legitimacy to their cause of

00:56:28.400 --> 00:56:30.659
revisionism that simple nationalism would have

00:56:30.659 --> 00:56:34.159
lacked. The intent of the points was sound. It

00:56:34.159 --> 00:56:36.420
was to challenge the status quo of secret deals

00:56:36.420 --> 00:56:39.420
and power blocks. The tragedy is simply that

00:56:39.420 --> 00:56:42.019
the entrenched powers of the Allies had the practical

00:56:42.019 --> 00:56:45.119
means, military and economic, to override that

00:56:45.119 --> 00:56:47.519
moral challenge, regardless of how well -framed

00:56:47.519 --> 00:56:50.480
it was. And the tragedy for Wilson is that he

00:56:50.480 --> 00:56:52.679
himself provided the evidence of the points'

00:56:52.780 --> 00:56:55.599
internal frailty by failing to stand by them

00:56:55.599 --> 00:56:58.179
when it mattered most, from Shandong to South

00:56:58.179 --> 00:57:02.219
Tyrol. So to summarize my position, the 14 points

00:57:02.219 --> 00:57:05.019
established absolutely vital precedents for international

00:57:05.019 --> 00:57:07.719
governance. They successfully challenged the

00:57:07.719 --> 00:57:09.920
traditional power politics and secret diplomacy

00:57:09.920 --> 00:57:12.360
that had caused the war, and while the resulting

00:57:12.360 --> 00:57:15.199
post -war settlement was deeply flawed, and certainly

00:57:15.199 --> 00:57:17.519
created resentment, the primary failure lies

00:57:17.519 --> 00:57:19.719
not in the principles themselves, but in the

00:57:19.719 --> 00:57:21.840
overwhelming nationalist ambitions of the great

00:57:21.840 --> 00:57:24.639
powers, embodied most clearly by those pre -existing

00:57:24.639 --> 00:57:27.280
secret treaties, who prioritized their own narrow

00:57:27.280 --> 00:57:29.900
self -interest over the necessary, albeit difficult,

00:57:30.019 --> 00:57:32.599
path of multilateral cooperation defined by Wilson's

00:57:32.599 --> 00:57:35.179
moral vision. And my position remains that the

00:57:35.179 --> 00:57:39.119
failure was intrinsic, rooted in implementation.

00:57:39.599 --> 00:57:42.340
Wilson's selective application of those very

00:57:42.340 --> 00:57:45.360
principles, favoring European territorial claims

00:57:45.360 --> 00:57:48.760
like the Rhineland demilitarization, while simultaneously

00:57:48.760 --> 00:57:52.420
ignoring global anti -colonial movements in Korea

00:57:52.420 --> 00:57:57.380
and Egypt, and crucially, reneging on open diplomacy

00:57:57.380 --> 00:58:01.239
in the Shandong question, It all meant the idealistic

00:58:01.239 --> 00:58:04.579
rhetoric could not withstand contact with geopolitical

00:58:04.579 --> 00:58:08.800
reality. The result was not a secure peace, but

00:58:08.800 --> 00:58:11.719
a global template for resentment and a profound

00:58:11.719 --> 00:58:15.119
sense of betrayal, which confirmed the suspicion

00:58:15.119 --> 00:58:18.440
that self -determination was merely a political

00:58:18.440 --> 00:58:22.010
tool aimed only at defeated empires. I think

00:58:22.010 --> 00:58:24.250
we can certainly agree that the material confirms

00:58:24.250 --> 00:58:27.090
that the 14 points were simultaneously a landmark

00:58:27.090 --> 00:58:30.030
blueprint for global peace and a powerful testament

00:58:30.030 --> 00:58:32.369
to the challenges faced when you attempt to impose

00:58:32.369 --> 00:58:35.369
universal moral principles upon entrenched national

00:58:35.369 --> 00:58:39.429
self -interest and just complex ethnic and geopolitical

00:58:39.429 --> 00:58:42.929
realities. Indeed. The story of the 14 points

00:58:42.929 --> 00:58:45.190
shows us that the mechanics of power settlements

00:58:45.190 --> 00:58:49.480
are often too gritty and perhaps too human. for

00:58:49.480 --> 00:58:52.940
pure idealism to survive intact. There is clearly

00:58:52.940 --> 00:58:55.800
much more to explore in how such high ideals

00:58:55.800 --> 00:58:59.119
collide with the difficult, messy reality of

00:58:59.119 --> 00:59:00.500
rebuilding a post -war world.