On January 8, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson delivered a solemn oration to Congress on the role of peace after the cessation of World War I. During this focal epoch in American history, Wilson—an ardent arbitrator by heart—sets out to establish ‘covenants of justice and law and fair dealing’ amongst the nations of the world; he, moreover, propounds the notion that imperialist adventurism and coercion should hereafter be put aside for a “peace without victory”. This ‘progressive’ speech did not resonate well with the European Allies, who thought little of conferring with Germany and Austria-Hungary to orchestrate a cordial agreement. Instead, the western Allies imposed stringent reparations upon the abashed German Empire, ultimately setting …show more content…
The first five points deal with the vignette of such a world—open covenants of peace; freedom of navigation upon the seas; the extension of economic ambits per free trade; the reduction of national armaments; and the mollifying adjustment of colonial claims based upon the precept of self-determinism. The next eight herein deal with the territories and evacuation of occupying troops of Russia, France, and Italy; Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro; and Austria-Hungary Turkey, and Poland. In point fourteen, Wilson subsequently proposes a “general association of nations…under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence…” With a stroke of verisimilitude, this point gave rise to a diplomatic intergovernmental organization: The League of Nations. The League was tasked with the responsibility of maintaining world peace; however, the League was ultimately too feeble to quell the Axis Powers’ reign of terror upon the world. As Benito Mussolini once said, “The League is very well when sparrows shout, but no good at all when eagles fall