History glossary
Fourteen Points
Woodrow Wilson's 1918 peace programme, promising principles such as open diplomacy, self-determination and a League of Nations.
- Category
- Peace proposal
- Region
- Global
- Date range
- 1918
What it means
The Fourteen Points were US President Woodrow Wilson's January 1918 programme for peace after the First World War. They promised principles such as open diplomacy, freer trade, national self-determination and a League of Nations, though the final Treaty of Versailles departed from many German expectations of a Wilsonian peace.
Stories using this term
Weimar Republic
A fragile democracy marked by crisis and innovation, whose collapse paved the way for Nazi rule.
The Causes of the Second World War
From the flawed peace of 1919 to the invasion of Poland in 1939, this story traces the interlocking causes of the Second World War across two decades of crisis, ideology, and failed deterrence.
The Treaty of Versailles and Its Consequences
From the armistice of November 1918 to Hitler's rise in 1933, this story traces how the Treaty of Versailles — its punishment, its borders, its reparations, and its resentments — helped shape the conditions for a second world war.
