A School History of the Great War Part 10

II. INTERNATIONAL PROBLEMS

President Wilson, on January 8, 1918, addressed Congress in a speech which was designed to set forth the war aims and peace terms of the United States. Every American should be familiar with the terms of this "fourteen-point speech." Each one of the terms advocated by the President is given below in the President's own words, and a short explanatory paragraph is added to each.

1. _Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind, but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view._

The President here speaks against the underhand diplomacy and secret alliances which have been a feature of European history in the past. By this practice a few diplomats and monarchs made whatever treaties they wished, not presenting them for ratification to the people's representatives, and yet binding every individual citizen to abide by the terms adopted. Such secret provisions have often been agreed to simply upon the whim or the ambition or the likes and dislikes of the rulers. They have sometimes been opposed to the true interests of the nations involved. They are undemocratic, and are not in accord with American ideas.

2. _Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants._

Since 1793 the United States has stood for the freedom of the seas and the right of neutrals to carry on their trade in time of war as well as in time of peace. Germany's violation of our rights as a neutral by her submarine warfare was one of the causes of our taking up arms against her. By territorial waters the President here means the waters within three miles from sh.o.r.e, which are universally held to be under the complete control of the adjoining state. By international covenants are probably meant such covenants and guarantees as those mentioned in points 14, 1, 4, 11, 12, and 13.

3. _The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and a.s.sociating themselves for its maintenance._

Economic barriers are mainly restrictions upon trade and commerce. These restrictions take various forms; they may be prohibitive customs duties, or excessive port, tonnage, and harbor charges; they may be trade agreements granting favors to the citizens of one country and _not_ to those of another. The President urges the establishment of an equality of such trade conditions.

4. _Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety._

The President here touches one of the most important problems of the coming peace. This has often been called a war against war; it has been said that it will be the last war. The sentiment which leads to such statements has its origin in a hatred of militarism. Great armaments were created because of the danger from Prussian militarism; and great armaments will still be necessary unless "this intolerable thing" is crushed or "shut out from the friendly intercourse of the nations." When it is crushed, some adequate steps must be taken by each state to reduce its armaments, on condition that all other states do the same. But many problems will face the world's statesmen in preparing a plan for guaranteed disarmament. How large a force will each nation need to maintain its "domestic safety"? How shall we be sure that Germany will not break her promise, as she has so often done in this war? How shall we be sure that Germany, or perhaps some other state, will not again secretly prepare for a war while others remain unprepared?

5. _A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose t.i.tle is to be determined._

In the opening chapters of this book we have seen how colonial rivalry was one of the causes of the World War. The President urges that the settlement after the war shall be "free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial." He introduces here the democratic principle that the interests of the populations in the colonies shall have equal weight with the just claims of the European states. Such a principle probably will mean that few if any of Germany's colonies can be returned to her, because her colonial management has been neglectful of the interests of the subject peoples.

6. _The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarra.s.sed opportunity for the independent determination of her own political development and national policy and a.s.sure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under inst.i.tutions of her own choosing, and, more than a welcome, a.s.sistance also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of her needs as distinguished from their own interests, and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy._

No restatement of the President's words on this subject is necessary.

The Russian revolution is one of the most important results of the Great War. How can the future welfare of Russia be best secured?

7. _Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all other free nations. No other single act will serve as this will serve to restore confidence among the nations in the laws which they have themselves set and determined for the government of their relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole structure and validity of international law is forever impaired._

The evacuation of Belgium will follow the military victories of the United States and her a.s.sociates. The restoration of Belgium will be difficult to effect. It implies relief to her suffering and starving people, the return of the many exiles to Belgium, the erection of new homes for them, the reorganization of industry and transportation, and the repair and rebuilding of her historic edifices. Where will the funds come from for such work? Germany, the aggressor, surely should bear a part or all of the cost.

8. _All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions restored, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interest of all._

Here the President urges the same treatment for the occupied lands of northern France as for those of Belgium. The devastated lands must be reclaimed, the inhabitants cared for, and adequate means provided by which they can earn a livelihood. Further, he advises the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France. Such action not only will right the wrong done to France in 1871, but also it will take from Germany much of the iron-producing areas which have made it possible for her to prepare and carry on this war, and which might permit her to get ready for a yet more dreadful war in the future.

9. _A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality._

We have seen how a considerable area inhabited by Italians was not freed from Austrian rule when the Italian kingdom was founded. This territory, called Italia Irredenta (unredeemed Italy), and this population, by its own desire and by natural right, belong to Italy and should be brought within the nation.

10. _The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and a.s.sured, should be accorded the freest opportunity of autonomous development._

Within the Austro-Hungarian boundaries are several nationalities which have been subjected to the oppressive rule of peoples different from themselves. Their attempts to obtain home rule or independence have been crushed. America now wishes to secure for these peoples the opportunity to establish governments for themselves. As we have already seen, our country in 1918 formally recognized the independence of one of these peoples--the Czecho-Slovaks, or inhabitants of Bohemia and neighboring districts. Moreover, in a note to Austria-Hungary, October 18, 1918, President Wilson stated that conditions had changed since January 8, and intimated that both the Czecho-Slovaks and the Jugo-Slavs should be given independence.

11. _Roumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated, occupied territories restored, Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea, and the relations of the several Balkan states to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines of allegiance and nationality; and international guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into._

We have here a comprehensive plan for the settlement of the Balkan jealousies, which have disturbed Europe for many years. Evacuation and restoration is here proposed, as in Belgium and France. Serbia, always thwarted by Austria in her hopes for a port, is to be given access to the sea. Friendly counsel shall be given the Balkan peoples to aid them in establishing their governments along the lines of nationalities and of historic sympathies. All the countries of the world should unite to guarantee and protect the safety and independence of the governments established in the Balkan region.

12. _The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman Empire should be a.s.sured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be a.s.sured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free pa.s.sage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees._

The horrible rule of the Turks over subject peoples must cease. The Turks, as well as all other peoples, should be allowed the right of self-government. But their subject peoples must also be protected in their lives, property, and occupations, and given an opportunity to establish self-government when they desire it. The Dardanelles strait must be taken out of the power of the Turks, and placed under the control of the a.s.sociated nations.

13. _An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be a.s.sured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant._

A nation composed of Poles would imply the union of parts of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, since all of these three countries took part in the infamous part.i.tion of Poland in the eighteenth century. Access to the Baltic Sea would be necessary for the prosperity and independence of the new state. But such access could be gained only across territory which Prussia has held for a century and a half. The a.s.sociated nations would guarantee the independence of Poland in the same way that they would protect Belgium, Serbia, and the other states erected upon the principle of national self-government.

14. _A general a.s.sociation of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike._

This is the most important of the President's suggestions. Without some form of a league of nations it will be impossible to adopt and carry out the other terms of the President's program. International guarantees, so frequently mentioned in his proposals, imply some means by which the countries of the world can act together for their common purposes.

Restoration of devastated lands, disarmament, new democratic governments, freedom of commerce,--all of these things will remain nothing but rainbow hopes unless the large and small nations of the world unite for their realization. A League of Nations, more or less regularly organized, must be formed if the democracies of the world shall be made safe from future wars of aggression.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY.--1. Why are waters within three miles of sh.o.r.e considered as territorial waters? (See _War Cyclopedia_, "Marine League.") What is meant by freedom of the seas? What is meant by the phrase "free ships make free goods"? 2. Make a map of Europe showing what it would be like if all of President Wilson's points were approved at the peace conference. 3. Are there any reasons why every nation should give up its colonies and permit them to be independent states? 4. Why is it dangerous as well as wrong to permit Germany to retain her control over the territory taken from Russia? 5. What was the "wrong done to France (by Germany) in 1870"? 6. What is autonomy? Name the peoples of Austria-Hungary who wish autonomous development, or complete independence. 7. Find some ways by which Poland and Serbia can get access to the sea. 8. Do you think it will take a longer or a shorter time to bring the soldiers home than it did to send them to France? Why? 9. What is meant by rehabilitation of the wounded? Find some ways in which other nations have made their maimed soldiers self-supporting. 10.

How is it likely that Constantinople will be controlled after the war? 11. How would the league of nations enforce its decisions? (See President Wilson's second point.)

REFERENCES.--_War Cyclopedia_ (C.P.I.); McKinley, _Collected Materials for the Study of the War; War, Labor, and Peace_ (C.P.I.); _Conquest and Kultur_ (C.P.I.); _The War Message and the Facts Behind It_ (C.P.I.); _American Interest in Popular Government Abroad_ (C.P.I.).

CHRONOLOGY--PRINc.i.p.aL EVENTS OF THE WAR

(Adapted from "War Cyclopedia" published by the Committee on Public Information, Washington, D.C. Events which especially concern the United States are put in _italic_ type.)

1914

June 28 Murder of Archduke Francis Ferdinand at Serajevo.

July 5 Conference at Potsdam (page 70).

July 23 Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia.

July 28 Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.

July 31 German ultimatums to Russia and France.

Aug. 1 Germany declares war on Russia and invades Luxemburg.

Aug. 2 German ultimatum to Belgium, demanding a free pa.s.sage for her troops across Belgium.

Aug. 3 Germany declares war on France.

Aug. 4-26 Most of Belgium overrun: Liege occupied (Aug. 9); Brussels (Aug. 20); Namur (Aug. 24).

Aug. 4 Great Britain declares war on Germany.

_Aug. 4 President Wilson proclaims neutrality of United States_.

Aug. 6 Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia.