The Fourteen Points

Wilson announced his Fourteen Points in a speech to Congress on 8 January 1918.

Initially, the Germans rejected the Fourteen Points as the basis for peace but - after they were forced to end the war, and after the much harsher terms of the Armistice - they started to assert that they had ended the war on the understanding that it would be in th basis of the Fourteen Points.  This helped to build up German resentment against the Armistice and the Treaty of Versailles.


Here is a summary of the Fourteen Points:

1. No more secret treaties.

2. Freedom of the seas.

3. An end to customs duties.

4. All countries to reduce armaments.

5. Freedom for colonies.

6. The German Army must leave Russia.

7. Belgium must be independent.

8. France should be fully liberated and should get back Alsace-Lorraine

9. Self-determination for Italians.

10. Self-determination for all peoples in the Austro-Hungarian empire.

11. Self-determination and independence for the Balkan nations.

12. Self-determination for Turkey, and for all peoples in the Turkish empire.

13. An independent Poland with access to the sea.

14. A League of Nations.