WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.259 Welcome back to the deep dive. I am I am just 00:00:03.259 --> 00:00:05.059 so thrilled to have you joining us today. Yeah, 00:00:05.080 --> 00:00:06.580 it's great to be here We've got a really good 00:00:06.580 --> 00:00:09.080 one today. We really do because whether you are 00:00:09.470 --> 00:00:12.410 you know, prepping for a history class or maybe 00:00:12.410 --> 00:00:14.669 trying to make sense of modern geopolitics or 00:00:14.669 --> 00:00:17.870 you're just insanely curious. We have got a truly 00:00:17.870 --> 00:00:20.210 fascinating story for you. Absolutely. We are 00:00:20.210 --> 00:00:22.530 pulling directly from a really comprehensive 00:00:22.530 --> 00:00:25.350 encyclopedia article that breaks down Woodrow 00:00:25.350 --> 00:00:28.929 Wilson's famous 14 points. Right, which is a 00:00:28.929 --> 00:00:30.570 it's a document that most of us have probably 00:00:30.570 --> 00:00:33.049 heard of, like maybe back in high school history 00:00:33.049 --> 00:00:35.929 class. Exactly. But our mission for today's deep 00:00:35.929 --> 00:00:38.770 dive is to look at these sources and explore 00:00:38.789 --> 00:00:41.750 a really wild historical paradox. Yeah because 00:00:41.750 --> 00:00:44.469 we're talking about a single speech delivered 00:00:44.469 --> 00:00:48.549 in 1918 and it was entirely intended to bring 00:00:48.549 --> 00:00:51.469 about lasting global peace. But as we are going 00:00:51.469 --> 00:00:55.250 to see it accidentally ignited nationalist revolutions, 00:00:55.710 --> 00:00:58.130 fueled future global conflicts, and just completely 00:00:58.130 --> 00:01:00.350 reshaped the 20th century in ways its author 00:01:00.350 --> 00:01:03.899 never ever intended. It really is a stunning 00:01:03.899 --> 00:01:06.680 example of unintended consequences. I mean, we 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:09.859 are looking at how a document meant to establish 00:01:09.859 --> 00:01:13.700 a just, transparent world order ended up paving 00:01:13.700 --> 00:01:16.239 the way for Benito Mussolini's rise to power 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:19.780 in Italy. Wow. Yeah. And the founding of the 00:01:19.780 --> 00:01:22.569 Chinese Communist Party. Not to mention a devastating 00:01:22.569 --> 00:01:25.590 political myth in Germany that directly contributed 00:01:25.590 --> 00:01:28.010 to the outbreak of World War II. OK, let's unpack 00:01:28.010 --> 00:01:31.129 this. Because to really understand the 14 points, 00:01:31.349 --> 00:01:34.370 we have to put ourselves in the, well, the intense 00:01:34.370 --> 00:01:37.469 pressure cooker of the year 1917. Right. The 00:01:37.469 --> 00:01:40.469 United States enters World War I in April of 00:01:40.469 --> 00:01:43.129 that year. And that was triggered mostly by Germany's 00:01:43.129 --> 00:01:45.409 unrestricted submarine warfare. And of course, 00:01:45.469 --> 00:01:47.769 the infamous Zimmermann telegram. Right. Where 00:01:47.769 --> 00:01:49.909 Germany trying to get Mexico to invade the US. 00:01:50.109 --> 00:01:52.459 Exactly. But President Woodrow Wilson, he did 00:01:52.459 --> 00:01:55.200 not want America fighting for traditional nationalistic 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:57.219 ambitions, right? No territorial land grabs. 00:01:57.799 --> 00:02:00.060 If the U .S. was going to send young men to die, 00:02:00.659 --> 00:02:03.340 Wilson felt he needed a high, almost unassailable 00:02:03.340 --> 00:02:06.540 moral aim. He did. The conflict with Germany 00:02:06.540 --> 00:02:08.680 was the immediate military concern. Absolutely. 00:02:08.889 --> 00:02:12.229 But if we look closely at the sources, the real 00:02:12.229 --> 00:02:14.729 immediate urgency for drafting the 14 points 00:02:14.729 --> 00:02:17.349 actually came from Russia. Wait, Russia? How 00:02:17.349 --> 00:02:20.250 did they force Wilson's hand on a peace speech? 00:02:20.490 --> 00:02:23.289 What's fascinating here is that Wilson's 14 points 00:02:23.289 --> 00:02:26.310 were largely created as a desperate ideological 00:02:26.310 --> 00:02:29.189 alternative to Vladimir Lenin's communism. Oh, 00:02:29.189 --> 00:02:33.229 wow. Yeah. In November 1917, Lenin and the Bolsheviks 00:02:33.229 --> 00:02:34.969 overthrew the Russian provisional government. 00:02:35.129 --> 00:02:38.330 And almost immediately, Lenin issues what he 00:02:38.330 --> 00:02:41.750 called a Decree on Peace. I guess. It sounded 00:02:41.750 --> 00:02:43.889 pretty appealing to a world completely exhausted 00:02:43.889 --> 00:02:46.710 by trench warfare. Highly appealing. He calls 00:02:46.710 --> 00:02:49.770 for an immediate end to the war, with no annexations, 00:02:50.009 --> 00:02:52.729 no indemnities, meaning no massive financial 00:02:52.729 --> 00:02:55.530 penalties forced on the losers, and an absolute 00:02:55.530 --> 00:02:57.939 end to seizing diplomacy. And Lenin didn't just 00:02:57.939 --> 00:03:00.020 talk about ending secret diplomacy, did he? I 00:03:00.020 --> 00:03:02.020 mean, imagine you are watching the news today, 00:03:02.460 --> 00:03:05.099 and a rogue politician suddenly publishes a rival 00:03:05.099 --> 00:03:08.400 nation's highly classified, secretive emails. 00:03:08.620 --> 00:03:10.979 There's a perfect analogy. Because that is essentially 00:03:10.979 --> 00:03:12.979 what Lenin did to the Allies. Yeah, he actually 00:03:12.979 --> 00:03:15.280 opens up the former imperial vaults in Russia, 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:18.060 and he publishes the secret treaties that the 00:03:18.060 --> 00:03:19.840 Allies had previously signed with each other. 00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:22.319 Just puts them out there for everyone. Exposes 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:25.580 to the whole world. that Great Britain, France, 00:03:26.020 --> 00:03:29.759 Italy and Japan had secretly agreed to carve 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:32.479 up the globe into exclusive spheres of influence 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:35.199 after the war. So while the Allies are publicly 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:37.979 claiming to fight for freedom, Lenin provides 00:03:37.979 --> 00:03:39.740 hard proof that they are actually just fighting 00:03:39.740 --> 00:03:41.939 for real estate. It was incredibly embarrassing 00:03:41.939 --> 00:03:44.580 because the Russian government hadn't signed 00:03:44.580 --> 00:03:47.039 secret treaties with the Central Powers, Germany 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:50.710 and Austria -Hungary. So only the Allies' greedy 00:03:50.710 --> 00:03:53.189 territorial ambitions were laid bare for you 00:03:53.189 --> 00:03:54.949 and the rest of the public to see. He caught 00:03:54.949 --> 00:03:57.449 them red -handed. Lenin successfully claimed 00:03:57.449 --> 00:03:59.810 the moral high ground. He really painted himself 00:03:59.810 --> 00:04:02.490 as the true idealist fighting for ordinary people 00:04:02.490 --> 00:04:05.509 against selfish imperialists. So Wilson is sitting 00:04:05.509 --> 00:04:08.270 in Washington watching this massive public relations 00:04:08.270 --> 00:04:13.229 disaster unfold. And he is terrified. He's worried 00:04:13.229 --> 00:04:16.170 that communist revolutions might spread globally 00:04:16.170 --> 00:04:19.329 if Lenin's message really takes root. Right. 00:04:19.610 --> 00:04:23.350 Wilson realized he had to offer a competing idealistic 00:04:23.350 --> 00:04:26.389 vision for the post -war world. He had to seize 00:04:26.389 --> 00:04:29.029 the narrative back. So how does a president even 00:04:29.029 --> 00:04:31.569 begin to draft a blueprint for the entire globe? 00:04:31.670 --> 00:04:33.589 I mean, did he just sit in the Oval Office with 00:04:33.589 --> 00:04:36.970 a notepad? Not quite. He secretly formed a massive 00:04:36.970 --> 00:04:39.870 brain trust called The Inquiry. The Inquiry sounds 00:04:39.870 --> 00:04:42.670 like a spy movie. It does. But this was a team 00:04:42.670 --> 00:04:46.069 of about 150 geographers, historians and political 00:04:46.069 --> 00:04:49.149 scientists. And it was led by his close advisor, 00:04:49.329 --> 00:04:52.829 Colonel Edward M. House. 150 experts. That is 00:04:52.829 --> 00:04:55.449 a massive logistical undertaking just for a single 00:04:55.449 --> 00:04:57.430 speech. It was totally unprecedented. They produced 00:04:57.430 --> 00:05:01.269 nearly 2000 separate reports and at least 1200 00:05:01.269 --> 00:05:04.350 maps just to prepare for every conceivable post 00:05:04.350 --> 00:05:06.449 -war border dispute. But foreign policy wasn't 00:05:06.449 --> 00:05:08.819 the only headache Wilson had. The sources mention 00:05:08.819 --> 00:05:11.060 he was facing some serious heat at home, too, 00:05:11.100 --> 00:05:14.180 right? He was. And this brings in a crucial, 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:17.639 often overlooked detail from the text. Wilson 00:05:17.639 --> 00:05:20.180 was dealing with fierce domestic criticism regarding 00:05:20.180 --> 00:05:22.819 the Armenian Genocide, which began in the Ottoman 00:05:22.819 --> 00:05:25.920 Empire in 1915. OK. Former President Theodore 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:28.779 Roosevelt and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge were 00:05:28.779 --> 00:05:31.329 just publicly hammering Wilson over it. What 00:05:31.329 --> 00:05:34.230 was their main argument against him? They argued 00:05:34.230 --> 00:05:36.670 the United States had a profound moral duty to 00:05:36.670 --> 00:05:38.790 declare war on the Ottoman Empire immediately. 00:05:38.990 --> 00:05:41.569 to stop the genocide. Which puts Wilson in a 00:05:41.569 --> 00:05:44.689 tough spot. Extremely. Roosevelt even wrote a 00:05:44.689 --> 00:05:46.949 nationally syndicated column accusing Wilson 00:05:46.949 --> 00:05:49.490 of crying crocodile tears over the Armenians, 00:05:49.649 --> 00:05:51.709 claiming that if Roosevelt were still president, 00:05:52.089 --> 00:05:53.810 the U .S. would have already intervened with 00:05:53.810 --> 00:05:56.230 military force. But Wilson is already fighting 00:05:56.230 --> 00:05:58.970 Germany. He probably didn't want to divert military 00:05:58.970 --> 00:06:01.089 resources away from the Western front to open 00:06:01.089 --> 00:06:03.509 a whole new war against the Ottomans. That was 00:06:03.509 --> 00:06:05.970 his exact strategic dilemma. So to counter this 00:06:05.970 --> 00:06:08.759 massive domestic heat, Colonel House ensured 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:11.759 that the drafting of the 14 points implicitly 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:13.889 addressed the Ottoman situation. Wait, how do 00:06:13.889 --> 00:06:16.850 you address a genocide, implicitly in a peace 00:06:16.850 --> 00:06:19.750 treaty proposal? They included specific language 00:06:19.750 --> 00:06:22.389 demanding the undoubted security of life and 00:06:22.389 --> 00:06:24.449 autonomous development for minorities currently 00:06:24.449 --> 00:06:27.350 under Ottoman rule. Oh, I see. They didn't name 00:06:27.350 --> 00:06:29.930 the genocidal regime directly, but it was a clear 00:06:29.930 --> 00:06:32.889 response to the horrific homogenization campaign 00:06:32.889 --> 00:06:35.370 against Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians. So 00:06:35.370 --> 00:06:37.930 it was a way to promise a solution to the crisis 00:06:37.930 --> 00:06:40.689 after an allied victory without having to declare 00:06:40.689 --> 00:06:42.930 war on the Ottomans right then and there. Exactly. 00:06:43.290 --> 00:06:45.870 So with all this preparation, geopolitical panic, 00:06:45.970 --> 00:06:49.189 and domestic pressure, January 8, 1918 rolls 00:06:49.189 --> 00:06:52.610 around. Wilson pitches his grand vision to Congress. 00:06:53.089 --> 00:06:55.009 Let's walk through what he actually proposed 00:06:55.009 --> 00:06:56.990 so you, the listener, have the full picture. 00:06:57.209 --> 00:06:59.490 The core concepts were sweeping. They included 00:06:59.490 --> 00:07:02.370 open diplomacy, meaning no more of those secret 00:07:02.370 --> 00:07:05.689 treaties Lenin exposed, absolute freedom of navigation 00:07:05.689 --> 00:07:08.649 on the seas, the removal of economic barriers 00:07:08.649 --> 00:07:11.810 to establish global free trade, a massive reduction 00:07:11.810 --> 00:07:14.790 in national armaments, and an absolutely impartial 00:07:14.790 --> 00:07:17.050 adjustment of colonial claims. And he didn't 00:07:17.050 --> 00:07:19.970 stop at broad concepts either. He laid out specific 00:07:19.970 --> 00:07:23.310 border adjustments too, like evacuating Russian 00:07:23.310 --> 00:07:26.769 territory, restoring Belgium, returning the Alsace 00:07:26.769 --> 00:07:29.649 -Lorraine region to France, readjusting Italy's 00:07:29.649 --> 00:07:32.250 borders, and creating an independent Polish state 00:07:32.250 --> 00:07:34.589 with access to the sea. And finally, the big 00:07:34.589 --> 00:07:37.829 one. forming a General Association of Nations, 00:07:38.129 --> 00:07:40.449 which would eventually become the League of Nations. 00:07:40.990 --> 00:07:42.990 So how did the European allies react to this? 00:07:43.069 --> 00:07:44.629 I have to imagine they were thrilled to have 00:07:44.629 --> 00:07:46.769 the American president laying out the terms of 00:07:46.769 --> 00:07:49.350 their victory. Actually, the reaction is where 00:07:49.350 --> 00:07:52.670 the diplomatic friction really begins. European 00:07:52.670 --> 00:07:55.589 allied leaders were highly skeptical of Wilson's 00:07:55.589 --> 00:07:58.089 idealism. Bro. Remember, they hadn't been consulted 00:07:58.089 --> 00:08:00.939 before the speech. The French leader, Georges 00:08:00.939 --> 00:08:04.120 Clemenceau, famously and sarcastically remarked, 00:08:04.120 --> 00:08:06.800 the good lord had only ten. That is a brutal 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:09.319 review from an ally. But what about the enemies? 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:11.160 Did the central powers look at this and say, 00:08:11.319 --> 00:08:13.680 OK, this seems fair. Let's stop fighting. Initially, 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:16.980 the German military dictatorship led by figures 00:08:16.980 --> 00:08:19.939 like Hindenburg and Ludendorff completely rejected 00:08:19.939 --> 00:08:23.769 it. In early 1918, they were supremely confident 00:08:23.769 --> 00:08:25.889 that their planned spring offensive would win 00:08:25.889 --> 00:08:27.949 the war outright. So they didn't think they needed 00:08:27.949 --> 00:08:30.189 Wilson's peace terms. Right. So when did they 00:08:30.189 --> 00:08:34.090 change their tune? It wasn't until October 1918. 00:08:34.929 --> 00:08:37.529 Their grand offensive had failed. Total defeat 00:08:37.529 --> 00:08:39.929 was staring them in the face. And suddenly the 00:08:39.929 --> 00:08:43.330 German imperial chancellor, Prince Max of Baden, 00:08:43.509 --> 00:08:46.269 reached out to Wilson requesting an armistice 00:08:46.269 --> 00:08:49.269 specifically based on the 14 points. Of course. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:51.720 They wanted the generous terms only when they 00:08:51.720 --> 00:08:54.299 knew they had lost. Precisely. Here's where it 00:08:54.299 --> 00:08:56.879 gets really interesting. Because the speech didn't 00:08:56.879 --> 00:08:59.500 just impact the nations fighting in Europe. The 00:08:59.500 --> 00:09:02.080 text shows it sent shockwaves across the entire 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:04.539 colonized world. It really did. If you were an 00:09:04.539 --> 00:09:07.200 anti -colonial leader in Africa or Asia living 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:10.240 under European rule, you elevated Wilson to an 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:12.879 almost quasi -religious figure. They saw him 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:16.419 as an agent of global salvation. They heard his 00:09:16.419 --> 00:09:18.519 soaring rhetoric about autonomous development 00:09:18.519 --> 00:09:21.139 and believed he was going to force the dismantling 00:09:21.139 --> 00:09:23.879 of the European empires and grant them immediate 00:09:23.879 --> 00:09:26.799 independence. But didn't the text point out a 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:30.000 massive linguistic catch here? A huge one. Wilson 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:32.399 never actually used the term self -determination 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:35.259 in the 14 -point speech itself. Wait, he didn't. 00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:37.720 So the entire world is rallying behind a phrase 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:40.080 he didn't even say? Nope. He never said it there. 00:09:40.190 --> 00:09:43.149 How did his actual beliefs align with what these 00:09:43.149 --> 00:09:45.230 colonized nations were hoping for? I mean, was 00:09:45.230 --> 00:09:48.350 he truly an anti -colonial crusader? The historical 00:09:48.350 --> 00:09:50.389 record is quite clear on this, and we have to 00:09:50.389 --> 00:09:53.629 view it objectively based on the sources. Wilson 00:09:53.629 --> 00:09:55.950 was a fundamental believer in white supremacy. 00:09:56.110 --> 00:09:59.370 Oh. He believed that non -European races were 00:09:59.370 --> 00:10:02.429 inferior and that the quote unquote third world 00:10:02.429 --> 00:10:05.279 was entirely unready for self -governance. So 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:07.960 what was his actual plan for those regions? He 00:10:07.960 --> 00:10:10.480 felt these nations required a long period of 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:13.019 strict colonial tutelage to become sophisticated 00:10:13.019 --> 00:10:15.120 enough to participate in the global commercial 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:17.820 market. And conveniently, bringing them into 00:10:17.820 --> 00:10:20.120 that market would greatly benefit U .S. trade. 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:22.940 Very conveniently. His calls for sovereignty 00:10:22.940 --> 00:10:25.399 were solely aimed at destabilizing and breaking 00:10:25.399 --> 00:10:29.139 up the enemy empires. The German, Austro -Hungarian, 00:10:29.320 --> 00:10:32.879 and Ottoman empires. He had absolutely zero intention 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:34.960 of dismantling the empires of his British and 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:37.700 French allies. That disconnect between the utopian 00:10:37.700 --> 00:10:40.759 interpretation of his speech and his actual imperialist 00:10:40.759 --> 00:10:44.019 views led to massive global disillusionment. 00:10:44.600 --> 00:10:46.259 Let's walk through a few case studies from the 00:10:46.259 --> 00:10:48.779 sources so you can see just how explosive this 00:10:48.779 --> 00:10:50.899 misunderstanding was. Let's start with Korea. 00:10:51.200 --> 00:10:54.659 Right. In 1919, fully expecting Wilson support 00:10:54.659 --> 00:10:57.600 based on the 14 points, Korean nationalists issued 00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:00.120 a formal declaration of independence from Japanese 00:11:00.120 --> 00:11:03.120 rule. Over a million Koreans took to the streets 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:05.139 in what became known as the March 1st movement. 00:11:05.500 --> 00:11:08.179 A million people protesting peacefully, expecting 00:11:08.179 --> 00:11:10.080 the leader of the free world to have their back. 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:13.139 How did Wilson and the allies respond? Wilson, 00:11:13.299 --> 00:11:15.659 Clemiso and British Prime Minister Lloyd George. 00:11:15.820 --> 00:11:17.940 completely ignored their appeals. Which ignored 00:11:17.940 --> 00:11:20.399 them. They treated the entire movement as an 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:22.980 internal Japanese domestic matter. And without 00:11:22.980 --> 00:11:26.340 Western intervention, Japan brutally and violently 00:11:26.340 --> 00:11:29.799 crushed the unarmed protests. That profound sense 00:11:29.799 --> 00:11:32.059 of betrayal by the Western democracies drove 00:11:32.059 --> 00:11:34.679 many Korean nationalists directly into the arms 00:11:34.679 --> 00:11:37.700 of Soviet Russia. Which makes sense. If the capitalist 00:11:37.700 --> 00:11:40.019 democracies ignore you, you look for a new ally. 00:11:40.539 --> 00:11:42.820 Exactly. And the sources note this played a major 00:11:42.820 --> 00:11:45.340 role in the birth of the Korean Communist Party. 00:11:45.580 --> 00:11:48.320 And it wasn't just Korea feeling the sting. We 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:51.240 see this exact same pattern of soaring hopes, 00:11:51.639 --> 00:11:54.139 followed by crushing betrayal, play out in North 00:11:54.139 --> 00:11:57.340 Africa too. In Egypt, a group of politicians 00:11:57.340 --> 00:12:00.299 led by Saad Zaghlou planned to go to the Paris 00:12:00.299 --> 00:12:02.720 Peace Conference to demand independence from 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:05.049 the British occupation. And how did the British 00:12:05.049 --> 00:12:07.429 handle that diplomatic request? They arrested 00:12:07.429 --> 00:12:11.149 Zoglu and deported him to Malta. Wow. Yeah. This 00:12:11.149 --> 00:12:12.950 heavy -handed suppression sparked the revolution 00:12:12.950 --> 00:12:16.330 of 1919 massive nationwide demonstrations, demanding 00:12:16.330 --> 00:12:19.129 the British leave immediately. So Wilson's words 00:12:19.129 --> 00:12:22.169 are accidentally sparking revolutions. But perhaps 00:12:22.169 --> 00:12:24.330 the most consequential fallout happened in China. 00:12:24.629 --> 00:12:27.090 The sources bring up something called the Shandong 00:12:27.090 --> 00:12:29.690 question. Could you define what that was for 00:12:29.690 --> 00:12:33.629 us? Certainly. Before the war, Germany had held 00:12:33.629 --> 00:12:37.409 a 99 -year lease on the Chinese province of Shandong. 00:12:38.250 --> 00:12:40.870 But during World War I, Japan invaded and took 00:12:40.870 --> 00:12:43.950 it over, eventually forcing China to sign a treaty 00:12:43.950 --> 00:12:46.809 handing the economic rights to Japan. So China 00:12:46.809 --> 00:12:49.210 goes to the Paris Peace Conference looking to 00:12:49.210 --> 00:12:51.389 get their land back. How did they argue their 00:12:51.389 --> 00:12:54.529 case? They sent a brilliant, young, bilingual 00:12:54.529 --> 00:12:58.149 Chinese diplomat named Wellington Koo. And Koo 00:12:58.149 --> 00:13:00.889 used the 14 points flawlessly against the allies. 00:13:01.090 --> 00:13:03.009 Oh, nice. He argued that the treaties giving 00:13:03.009 --> 00:13:05.389 Japan control were signed under the threat of 00:13:05.389 --> 00:13:07.590 extreme violence and were therefore legally invalid. 00:13:07.809 --> 00:13:10.009 He essentially used Wilson's own logic against 00:13:10.009 --> 00:13:12.379 him. Precisely. He argued that the people of 00:13:12.379 --> 00:13:14.639 Shandong were overwhelmingly Han Chinese and 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:16.759 wanted to be part of China, leaning heavily on 00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:18.600 the principle of self -determination that everyone 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:20.960 associated with Wilson. Koo even pointed out 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:23.259 that the secret treaties the allies had made 00:13:23.259 --> 00:13:26.860 supporting Japan's claim violated point one of 00:13:26.860 --> 00:13:29.519 Wilson's own speech. Koo's argument sounds legally 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:32.000 and morally airtight based on Wilson's framework. 00:13:32.519 --> 00:13:34.940 So did Wilson back him up. Wilson ultimately 00:13:34.940 --> 00:13:37.779 sided with Japan. Are you king? He argued that 00:13:37.779 --> 00:13:40.200 it was better for global stability to honor a 00:13:40.200 --> 00:13:43.159 bad treaty than to tear it up, effectively handing 00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:45.860 a massive Chinese province over to Japanese control. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:48.720 The betrayal felt by the Chinese public was absolute. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:52.740 On May 4th, 1919, thousands of university students 00:13:52.740 --> 00:13:55.600 marched in Beijing in protest. This sparked the 00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:58.000 May 4th movement, which many historians consider 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:00.840 the birth of modern China. And just like in Korea. 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:03.899 The stark reality that Soviet Russia was the 00:14:03.899 --> 00:14:06.399 only global power seemingly willing to treat 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:08.840 them as an equal led directly to the founding 00:14:08.840 --> 00:14:11.379 of the Chinese Communist Party in 1920. Think 00:14:11.379 --> 00:14:13.700 about the irony there. Wilson's speech, which 00:14:13.700 --> 00:14:15.539 was fundamentally designed to prevent the spread 00:14:15.539 --> 00:14:18.740 of Lenin's communism, actively pushed major anti 00:14:18.740 --> 00:14:21.159 -colonial movements right toward it. It really 00:14:21.159 --> 00:14:24.740 highlights the extreme danger of projecting high 00:14:24.740 --> 00:14:27.179 -minded ideals without the willingness to apply 00:14:27.179 --> 00:14:30.519 them equitably. But the application of the 14 00:14:30.519 --> 00:14:32.960 points wasn't just a political disaster in the 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:36.500 colonized world. It created an absolute geographical 00:14:36.500 --> 00:14:38.620 nightmare back in Europe. Let's talk about that 00:14:38.620 --> 00:14:42.000 geography. Because drawing borders along clear 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.860 lines of nationality sounds wonderful on paper. 00:14:45.539 --> 00:14:48.299 But in central Europe, it's like trying to draw 00:14:48.299 --> 00:14:51.059 a straight line through a marble cake and expecting 00:14:51.059 --> 00:14:53.159 to only get chocolate on one side and vanilla 00:14:53.159 --> 00:14:55.659 on the other. It is geographically impossible. 00:14:55.820 --> 00:14:57.700 That's a great way to put it. The region was 00:14:57.700 --> 00:15:00.200 a deeply mixed patchwork of populations. There 00:15:00.200 --> 00:15:02.919 were no straight demographic lines to draw. Let's 00:15:02.919 --> 00:15:05.059 look at the region of Upper Silesia as a concrete 00:15:05.059 --> 00:15:07.740 example of this impossibility. It was a vital 00:15:07.740 --> 00:15:10.039 coal mining and industrial area inhabited by 00:15:10.039 --> 00:15:12.559 both Germans and Poles. So how did the Allies 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:15.279 decide who got the coal? They decided to hold 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:17.879 a referendum in 1921 to let the people decide. 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:21.759 68 % voted to stay in Germany and 32 % voted 00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:24.620 to join the newly reborn Poland. But as you mentioned 00:15:24.620 --> 00:15:26.639 with the marble cake, the voting didn't fall 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:29.379 into neat geographic halves, did it? Not at all. 00:15:29.539 --> 00:15:32.629 Often the dense urban centers voted German, while 00:15:32.629 --> 00:15:35.149 the surrounding rural countryside voted Polish. 00:15:35.710 --> 00:15:38.590 You literally couldn't draw a line without trapping 00:15:38.590 --> 00:15:40.750 massive amounts of people on the wrong side of 00:15:40.750 --> 00:15:43.340 the new border. Exactly. And this confusion led 00:15:43.340 --> 00:15:46.259 to fierce violent fighting between German and 00:15:46.259 --> 00:15:49.259 Polish paramilitary groups, both trying to seize 00:15:49.259 --> 00:15:52.740 territory by force before the borders were finalized. 00:15:52.940 --> 00:15:55.179 And then you have the headache of Danzig. Point 00:15:55.179 --> 00:15:58.220 13 of Wilson's speech said Poland needed free 00:15:58.220 --> 00:16:01.379 and secure access to the sea. Danzig was a deep 00:16:01.379 --> 00:16:04.200 water port perfectly situated for this, but its 00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:07.129 population was 90 percent German. How do you 00:16:07.129 --> 00:16:09.389 solve that puzzle? You really can't, not cleanly. 00:16:09.950 --> 00:16:12.710 The British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, adamantly 00:16:12.710 --> 00:16:16.149 opposed forcing a city that was 90 % German to 00:16:16.149 --> 00:16:18.509 live under Polish rule. That makes sense. So 00:16:18.509 --> 00:16:21.649 they created a highly awkward compromise. They 00:16:21.649 --> 00:16:24.110 severed Danzig from Germany entirely and made 00:16:24.110 --> 00:16:27.029 it a free city. Oh, free city. Yeah, it became 00:16:27.029 --> 00:16:29.730 a quasi -independent city -state where Poland 00:16:29.730 --> 00:16:33.169 had special economic rights, but didn't own the 00:16:33.169 --> 00:16:35.340 territory outright. It sounds like a solution 00:16:35.340 --> 00:16:37.860 designed to leave absolutely everyone resentful. 00:16:38.360 --> 00:16:40.840 So what does this all mean for a country like 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:43.679 Italy? Because their situation is arguably one 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:46.480 of the most explosive outcomes of the peace conference. 00:16:46.820 --> 00:16:49.559 Well, when Italy joined the war, the allies had 00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:52.200 secretly promised them huge chunks of territory, 00:16:52.779 --> 00:16:55.100 including the region of Dalmatia in the secret 00:16:55.100 --> 00:16:57.679 treaty of London. And since Wilson hates secret 00:16:57.679 --> 00:16:59.519 treaties, I'm assuming he didn't want to honor 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:02.559 that. He absolutely refused. Wilson argued that 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:05.180 Dalmatia was overwhelmingly populated by Croats, 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:07.680 who wanted to be part of the new state of Yugoslavia, 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:10.680 not Italy. OK, sticking to his principles there. 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:13.019 But then Wilson did support giving Italy the 00:17:13.019 --> 00:17:16.160 region of South Tyrol, taking it away from Austria. 00:17:16.460 --> 00:17:18.880 Wait, if he denied them Dalmatia on the grounds 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:21.559 of ethnic self -determination, why give them 00:17:21.559 --> 00:17:23.920 South Tyrol? Was it mostly Italian? That is the 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:26.440 bitter irony. Wilson later admitted he made a 00:17:26.440 --> 00:17:28.440 mistake because he genuinely didn't realize at 00:17:28.440 --> 00:17:30.680 the time that the vast majority of people in 00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:34.099 South Tyrol spoke German. That is wild. He denies 00:17:34.099 --> 00:17:36.759 them one territory based on principle and hands 00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:39.440 them another out of sheer geographical ignorance. 00:17:40.180 --> 00:17:42.880 How did the Italian public react to this? If 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:45.380 we connect this to the bigger picture, the psychological 00:17:45.380 --> 00:17:48.190 impact on Italy was devastating. The Italian 00:17:48.190 --> 00:17:50.869 Prime Minister went home seemingly empty -handed 00:17:50.869 --> 00:17:54.349 regarding their primary territorial goals. This 00:17:54.349 --> 00:17:57.150 birthed the incredibly powerful narrative of 00:17:57.150 --> 00:17:59.670 the Vittoria Mililata. The mutilated victory. 00:17:59.910 --> 00:18:01.650 Meaning they felt they had bled for the allied 00:18:01.650 --> 00:18:04.329 cause, lost half a million men, and were cheated 00:18:04.329 --> 00:18:07.809 out of their rightful spoils by Wilson's sanctimonious 00:18:07.809 --> 00:18:11.309 hypocrisy. Yes. And this intense national resentment 00:18:11.309 --> 00:18:13.730 was directly weaponized by Benito Mussolini. 00:18:13.849 --> 00:18:16.630 Wow. His fascist party used the mutilated victory 00:18:16.630 --> 00:18:19.410 thesis to paint the existing democratic politicians 00:18:19.410 --> 00:18:21.730 as weak and pusillanimous, paving the way for 00:18:21.730 --> 00:18:24.230 his totalitarian takeover of Italy. And the tragic 00:18:24.230 --> 00:18:26.650 irony just keeps compounding, because back in 00:18:26.650 --> 00:18:28.880 the United States, the 14 point and the resulting 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:31.819 League of Nations were deeply hated by many domestic 00:18:31.819 --> 00:18:35.299 politicians. Senator William Borah passionately 00:18:35.299 --> 00:18:37.779 wished the League of Nations buried in hell and 00:18:37.779 --> 00:18:40.779 20 ,000 leagues under the sea. Meanwhile, in 00:18:40.779 --> 00:18:43.140 Germany, the narrative was entirely different, 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:47.019 but equally toxic. Throughout the interwar period, 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:49.700 Germans fiercely attacked the Treaty of Versailles 00:18:49.700 --> 00:18:53.579 as an illegitimate diktat, a dictated peace that 00:18:53.579 --> 00:18:55.799 fundamentally betrayed the promises of the 14 00:18:55.799 --> 00:18:58.569 points. They fixated on the idea that they were 00:18:58.569 --> 00:19:01.190 promised a just peace and instead were subjected 00:19:01.190 --> 00:19:04.309 to cruel punishment. Right. But the sources bring 00:19:04.309 --> 00:19:06.910 in a vital perspective from historian Gerhard 00:19:06.910 --> 00:19:09.730 Weinberg, who completely shatters this common 00:19:09.730 --> 00:19:13.069 misconception about the treaty. Weinberg argues 00:19:13.069 --> 00:19:15.430 that the supposed harshness of the Treaty of 00:19:15.430 --> 00:19:17.990 Versailles has been vastly exaggerated by history. 00:19:18.230 --> 00:19:20.509 Okay, so how does he prove that? Weinberg points 00:19:20.509 --> 00:19:23.019 out a fascinating comparison. We need to look 00:19:23.019 --> 00:19:25.200 at the Oderneis Line. Could you clarify what 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:27.700 the Oderneis Line is for us? Think of it as the 00:19:27.700 --> 00:19:30.039 border drawn between Germany and Poland after 00:19:30.039 --> 00:19:33.940 the Second World War in 1945. Under that 1945 00:19:33.940 --> 00:19:36.660 settlement, Germany lost far more territory to 00:19:36.660 --> 00:19:38.299 Poland than they ever did under the Treaty of 00:19:38.299 --> 00:19:41.539 Versailles. And in 1945, the ethnic Germans living 00:19:41.539 --> 00:19:43.579 there were forcibly expelled from their homes. 00:19:44.619 --> 00:19:47.490 Yet... That much harsher 1945 settlement did 00:19:47.490 --> 00:19:51.210 not cause a third world war. In fact, in 1991, 00:19:51.670 --> 00:19:54.670 a reunified Germany peacefully accepted those 00:19:54.670 --> 00:19:57.650 exact borders permanently. Exactly. So if the 00:19:57.650 --> 00:20:00.349 Treaty of Versailles itself wasn't uniquely monstrous, 00:20:00.630 --> 00:20:03.630 what was the real issue driving Germany toward 00:20:03.630 --> 00:20:06.710 another conflict? The real issue wasn't the treaty's 00:20:06.710 --> 00:20:09.410 adherence to the 14 points at all. It was the 00:20:09.410 --> 00:20:12.609 Dolstos legend, the stab in the back myth. Walk 00:20:12.609 --> 00:20:15.049 us through what that myth actually claimed. The 00:20:15.049 --> 00:20:17.430 vast majority of the German elite and much of 00:20:17.430 --> 00:20:20.349 the public genuinely believed that their military 00:20:20.349 --> 00:20:24.289 had decisively crushed the Allies in 1918. They 00:20:24.289 --> 00:20:26.170 believed they only lost because they were betrayed 00:20:26.170 --> 00:20:28.829 from within by a revolution on the home front, 00:20:29.130 --> 00:20:31.450 orchestrated by socialists and Jewish populations. 00:20:31.609 --> 00:20:33.230 Wait, they actually thought they were winning 00:20:33.230 --> 00:20:35.539 the war when the armistice was signed? even though 00:20:35.539 --> 00:20:37.380 their armies were retreating. They absolutely 00:20:37.380 --> 00:20:39.880 believed it. Because of that pervasive, deeply 00:20:39.880 --> 00:20:42.799 entrenched delusion, Weinberg argues that any 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:44.980 peace treaty, no matter how lenient or how closely 00:20:44.980 --> 00:20:47.299 aligned with the 14 points, would have been violently 00:20:47.299 --> 00:20:49.480 challenged by Germany. Because they couldn't 00:20:49.480 --> 00:20:52.440 reconcile the reality of their defeat with their 00:20:52.440 --> 00:20:55.359 belief in their own military invincibility. Precisely. 00:20:55.420 --> 00:20:58.099 It is staggering to think about how deeply a 00:20:58.099 --> 00:21:00.619 national delusion can run. And the depths of 00:21:00.619 --> 00:21:03.880 that delusion are truly terrifying. Weinberg 00:21:03.880 --> 00:21:06.880 notes that this very myth explains Adolf Hitler's 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:09.420 incredibly flippant decision to declare war on 00:21:09.420 --> 00:21:12.660 the United States in December 1941. How does 00:21:12.660 --> 00:21:15.039 the stab in the back myth connect to declaring 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:18.519 war on America decades later? Well, Hitler and 00:21:18.519 --> 00:21:21.140 the elite German military command genuinely believed 00:21:21.140 --> 00:21:23.039 they had already defeated the US military in 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:26.079 1918 and were only robbed the victory internally. 00:21:26.269 --> 00:21:28.529 Because they bought their own myth, they assumed 00:21:28.529 --> 00:21:30.690 the German military was fundamentally invincible 00:21:30.690 --> 00:21:33.190 and that they would easily crush the U .S. again. 00:21:33.529 --> 00:21:35.529 When you look at the big takeaway from all these 00:21:35.529 --> 00:21:37.750 stories, it is mind bending. You have a single 00:21:37.750 --> 00:21:40.869 speech fueled by high minded idealism, but severely 00:21:40.869 --> 00:21:43.630 lacking a grasp of ground level geographic and 00:21:43.630 --> 00:21:46.670 political realities. It acted as a chaotic catalyst 00:21:46.670 --> 00:21:49.529 for the entire 20th century. It created false 00:21:49.529 --> 00:21:52.009 hope for the global south, accidentally pushing 00:21:52.009 --> 00:21:54.450 major anti -colonial movements towards Soviet 00:21:54.450 --> 00:21:57.619 communism. And it gave defeated nations like 00:21:57.619 --> 00:22:00.319 Italy and Germany a potent rhetorical weapon 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.720 to challenge the fragile post -war order. It 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:05.720 really is a master class in the dangers of promising 00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:08.700 a utopian vision without the mechanisms or the 00:22:08.700 --> 00:22:11.880 genuine desire to execute it fairly. And looking 00:22:11.880 --> 00:22:14.460 at the text, this raises an important question, 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:17.359 one that historian Alan Sharp touches on regarding 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:21.180 point one, the call for open covenants of peace 00:22:21.180 --> 00:22:23.720 openly arrived at. The end of secret treaties. 00:22:24.059 --> 00:22:26.160 To most of us today, that sounds like the most 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:28.640 basic requirement for a healthy democracy, right? 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:31.519 We demand absolute transparency from our leaders. 00:22:31.619 --> 00:22:34.140 We do. But Sharp notes that at the Paris Peace 00:22:34.140 --> 00:22:36.799 Conference, Wilson himself ultimately had to 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:39.619 abandon open diplomacy because it made negotiating 00:22:39.619 --> 00:22:42.839 impossibly cumbersome. How so? When every demand 00:22:42.839 --> 00:22:44.940 and concession is completely public, leaders 00:22:44.940 --> 00:22:46.819 are trapped into posturing for their domestic 00:22:46.819 --> 00:22:49.240 audiences. They can't look weak. So the transparency 00:22:49.240 --> 00:22:52.200 actually paralyzed the negotiations. Exactly. 00:22:53.049 --> 00:22:55.210 Sharp even suggests that in the case of Italy, 00:22:55.589 --> 00:22:57.950 the traditional secret diplomacy might have actually 00:22:57.950 --> 00:23:00.250 worked better. It would have allowed them to 00:23:00.250 --> 00:23:02.809 compromise on territories like Dalmatia without 00:23:02.809 --> 00:23:05.930 losing face at home and sparking a fascist revolution. 00:23:06.410 --> 00:23:09.230 That is fascinating. So I leave you the listener 00:23:09.230 --> 00:23:11.980 with this thought. As you watch modern global 00:23:11.980 --> 00:23:14.740 summits on the news and demand absolute transparency 00:23:14.740 --> 00:23:18.059 from world leaders, consider the 14 points. Is 00:23:18.059 --> 00:23:21.220 open diplomacy actually a recipe for peace or 00:23:21.220 --> 00:23:23.700 does it just trap politicians into rigid public 00:23:23.700 --> 00:23:26.839 posturing, making the quiet, messy compromises 00:23:26.839 --> 00:23:29.900 required for actual peace impossible? That is 00:23:29.900 --> 00:23:32.359 a brilliant and slightly unsettling thought to 00:23:32.359 --> 00:23:34.259 end on. Thank you so much for joining us on this 00:23:34.259 --> 00:23:37.039 deep dive into the 14 points. We highly encourage 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:39.440 you to keep exploring the sources and the incredibly 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:41.420 complex. history we've discussed today. Until 00:23:41.420 --> 00:23:41.859 next time.