There's no question that the world's most powerful nations suffered during World War I. France, Britain, Germany, and Russia collectively lost millions of people from fighting and disease. But what about the little guys caught in the middle? It wasn't just the superpowers, but also small countries like Belgium and Serbia that felt the crunch—without much ability to do anything about it.
Wilson's idea for a League of Nations included giving everyone a seat at the table. The Fourteen Points embody the idea of a global community, a humanistic conception of nations as neighbors, not The Other. But in geopolitics, sometimes size does matter. When it came to the actual League of Nations, not the idea, the countries with the most guns still ended up calling the shots.
Questions About Community
- What did Wilson's Fourteen Points change about international relations? What didn't change?
- What are some advantages and disadvantages of being part of a global association of nations?
- Is it possible for nations with wildly different systems of government to treat each other as partners in interest? What might be some of the difficulties?
- What prevented the League of Nations from functioning as an effective assembly for the international community?
Chew on This
The Fourteen Points are the first significant instance of America seeing itself as part of a global community.
Wilson realized that for a global community to work, large, powerful nations would have to agree to protect smaller nations.