Wilson’s Fourteen Points
From the print edition of The New American
After the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia during the autumn of 1917, they published the texts of the secret treaties that the Allies, including the Russians, had concluded earlier in the Great War (the expression used to describe World War I at that time), presumably to discredit the czar and his regime. In response, Allied leaders felt that it was necessary to counter any unfavorable impression and to make public declarations that might reassure the Bolsheviks and encourage them to continue in the war.
The first to speak out was British Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Addressing the Trades Union Congress in London on January 5, 1918, Lloyd George declared that the Allies were not fighting a war of aggression against the German people. He stated that the first aim of Britain was “the complete restoration, political, territorial, and economic, of the independence of Belgium and such reparation as can be made for the devastation of its towns and provinces.” The second aim was the restoration of Serbia, Montenegro, and the occupied parts of France, Italy, and Rumania. The third aim was the restoration of Alsace and Lorraine to France. The fourth aim was an independent Poland. He concluded:
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