Download Wilsons 14 Points Worksheet - Lesson 1

1. Read Wilson’s Fourteen Points below, and as you are reading, record answers to the
following:
1) Provide specific examples of Wilson's determination to promote the ideals of liberty &
freedom.
2) Which groups or classes would find Wilson's ideas the most & least appealing? Explain
your choices.
3) Assess the merits & faults of Point XIV in which Wilson advocates for “a general
association of nations”.
Merits: Mutual understanding among countries in regard to policies and any decision; for
example, the
Flaws: No army or peacekeepers
2. Compare some of the major aspects of the Treaty to Wilson’s ideas about the broad issues
underlying each particular demand.
Wilson’s speeches and his Fourteen Points
Treaty of Versailles
1.German army reduced to 100,000
men and limited in many other ways.
1. IV, where Wilson says that appropriate measures must
be taken to reduce national armaments for the safety of
the nation
2. All Germany’s colonies become
ruled by the League of Nations.
2. Point I, because in order for there to be an absence of
private international relations and diplomacy throughout
the world, and all decisions made under the public view,
then there has to be an organization, such as the League
of Nations, to serve as a platform for those decisions.
3. Germany gives/returns AlsaceLorraine to France.
4. Germany accepts full responsibility
for the war and pays reparations for
the war.
3. VIII, where Wilson states that all French territory should be
freed and the tensions that arose from the invasion of AlsaceLorraine must be resolved
5. Some German leaders to be tried
for war crimes.
4.
6. The League of Nations is created.
5.
6. point XIV, the league of nations can be likened to this
point because Wilson states that there must be a “general
association of nations”
3. Read the textbook excerpt on “The Drift toward War.” (pdf posted in Classroom)
A. Summarize each of the major issues which caused the war.
B. Think about the ways that the peace treaty dealt with these issues.
C. Sum up Wilson’s responses to each of these issues.
D. Make an X next to each issue which the Treaty made worse and a check mark next to
each issue which it improved.
Major causes of war
Treaty of Versailles
Fourteen Points
Nationalism
National rivalries
Militarism/
naval race
Imperialism/
Colonial
Yes
Disputes
Alliances
4. Could the Fourteen Points have resolved the major problems which led to war? Why/how or
why/how not?
5. In fact, because of isolationist forces back home, the United States never joined the League
of Nations. It was one factor among many that limited the power of the League. Looking back at
the major causes of the war, which ones could a powerful international organization help to
resolve?
Probably something like colonial disputes, especially the Balkan Wars
6. Germany was one of the first countries to declare war in the summer of 1914. They were the
first nation to use chemical weapons. They were the first nation to use submarines, which
violated accepted rules of warfare. Their side lost and all of their allies stopped fighting before
they did. They stood at the end of the war as the most powerful nation on the losing side.
a) Was it inevitable that Germany would be forced to make concessions to the winners?
Why or why not?
b) Were the Allies wrong to demand that Germany (and the other losing nations) pay them
reparations? Why or why not?