November 11 is, of course, Veterans' Day. Originally called "Armistice Day," it marked the ending of World War I in 1918. It also marked the beginning of an ambitious foreign policy plan by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. Known as the Fourteen Points, the plan—which ultimately failed—embodied many elements of what we today call "globalization."reat Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Turkey, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Russia all claimed territories around the globe. They also conducted elaborate espionage schemes against each other, they engaged in a continuous arms race, and they constructed a precarious system of military alliances.
Austria-Hungary laid claim to much of the Balkan region of Europe, including Serbia. When a Serbian rebel killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, a string of events forced the European nations to mobilize for war against each other.
The main combatants were:
The Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Turkey
The Entente Powers: France, Great Britain, Russia
U.S. In The War
The United States did not enter World War I until April 1917 but its list of grievances against warring Europe dated back to 1915. That year, a German submarine (or U-Boat) sank the British luxury steamer Lusitania, which carried 128 Americans.
Germany had already been violating American neutral rights; the United States, as a neutral in the war, wanted to trade with all belligerents. Germany saw any American trade with an entente power as helping their enemies. Great Britain and France also saw American trade that way, but they did not unleash submarine attacks on American shipping.
In early 1917, British intelligence intercepted a message from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmerman to Mexico. The message invited Mexico to join the war on the side of Germany. Once involved, Mexico was to ignite war in the American southwest that would keep U.S. troops occupied and out of Europe. Once Germany had won the European war, it would then help Mexico retrieve land it had lost to the United States in the Mexican War, 1846-48.
The so-called Zimmerman Telegram was the last straw. The United States quickly declared war against Germany and her allies.
American troops did not arrive in France in any large numbers until late 1917. However, there were enough on hand to stop a German offensive in Spring 1918. Then, that fall, Americans led an allied offensive that flanked the German front in France, severing the German army's supply lines back to Germany.
Germany had no choice but to call for a cease-fire. The armistice went into effect at 11 a.m., on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.
The Fourteen Points
More than anything else, Woodrow Wilson saw himself as a diplomat. He had already rouged out the concept of the Fourteen Points to Congress and the American people months before the armistice.
The Fourteen Points included:
1. Open covenants of peace and transparent diplomacy.
2. Absolute freedom of the seas.
3. The removal of economic and trade barriers.
4. An end to arms races.
5. National self-determination to figure in adjustment of colonial claims.
6. Evacuation of all Russian territory.
7. Evacuation and restoration of Belgium.
8. All French territory restored.
9. Italian frontiers adjusted.
10. Austria-Hungary given "opportunity to autonomous development."
11. Rumania, Serbia, Montenegro evacuated and given independence.
12. Turkish portion of the Ottoman Empire should become sovereign; nations under Turkish rule should become autonomous; Dardanelles should be open to all.
13. Independent Poland with access to the sea should be created.
14. A "general association of nations" should be formed to guarantee political independence and territorial integrity to "great and small states alike."
Points one through five attempted to eliminate the immediate causes of the war: imperialism, trade restrictions, arms races, secret treaties, and disregard of nationalist tendencies. Points six through 13 attempted to restore territories occupied during the war and set post-war boundaries, also based on national self-determination. In the 14th Point, Wilson envisioned a global organization to protect states and prevent future wars.
