Date of Award

3-30-1937

Degree Type

Bachelors Essay

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

History

First Advisor

Herbert W. Rice

Abstract

It is the purpose of the author to show the origin of President Woodrow Wilson's fourteen Points; from the initial drafts to the completed draft, as given in the President's speech before the Congress of the United States on January 8, 1918.

First, let us visualize the conditions present in Europe and the United States, which made peace proposals necessary, and which resulted in the Fourteen Points. Three long years of fierce and bloody fighting had called into the trenches tens of millions of men. Over four mil­lion had already been compelled to lay down their lives, and other millions had been wounded or crippled for life. National bankruptcy plainly stared each country squarely in the face, and future burdens of taxation loomed up so large as to demand the entire surplus of peace-time pro­duction. And to the masses it all seemed futile and empty. Although the Central Powers had spectacularly defeated Russia, Serbia and Rumania, and now held territories which produced an impressive "war map", Allied control of the seas and the world's chief sources of raw materials made that war map of little real significance. And although the Allies in 1916 had finally succeeded in gaining superiority in man power and war materials, had been able to wrest the offensive from the hands of the Central Powers, and were seriously damaging their military machine, victory now seemed to be slipping from their grasp because of the collapse of Russia. In all the belligerent countries, the spring and summer of 1917 saw the masses war weary and yearning for peace.

Comments

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the College of Liberal Arts of Marquette University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Philosophy

Download

Share

COinS