The ideas of a policy to support a peaceful society began on Jan. 8, 1918 when Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States proposed to congress his idea of something referred to as The 14 Points. Although they were not officially proposed at that time to the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire) the ideas that would change the entire worlds views on what to expect because of the war were born. It was these 14 points that Wilson would continue to push for adoption by the Allies (United States, Britain, France, Italy, and Japan) as the guidelines that they were to follow given victory in the war.

In October of 1918 it would be these points again that after much debate the Allies would reluctantly accept as a basis for the armistice requested by Germany. After having lost several major battles, the Central Powers were suffering severely and had

s a state of their own. This put into practice the nation-state idea that Wilson laid out in his 14 points.

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(4) Germany was to claim full responsibility for the war and was to pay war reparations to the Allied countries for the cost of the war and the loss of lives.

Additionally, it was agreed that the German military was to immediately reduce in size to no more than a 100,000 man Army and reduce its Navy to 24 ships and no submarines with a max personnel of 15,000. The territory of Rhine was returned to France after having been taken from them in 1871. Moreover, the French were to regain control of Alsace-Lorraine, which they lost to Germany in the Franco-Prussian war after having control of it since the middle of the 17th century.

The prominent world leaders after the wars end commonly were referred to as The Big Four. The Big Four consisted of leaders from the United States, Britain, France, and Italy. It was the leaders of these nations, and these nations alone, that would meet at the Paris Peace Conference beginning on Jan 18, 1919 (The German Empires Birthday) and after months of discussion and debate draft the Treaty of Versailles outlining the fate of the German empire. The Treaty of Versailles was intended to prevent an incident such as this from ever happening again. It was understood by the Central Powers that just as the armistice was based off of Wilson's 14 points so too would the Treaty of Versailles. The German government not only hoped for this outcome but so too did Wilson himself. Wilson knew that the only means by which you could base peace was to have a truly partial peace treaty coupled with self-determination of nation-states and a unified body of representatives from all nations to!

Once again, Wilson pushed for his 14 points as an answer to this problem. His thoughts were that for true peace one must have nation-states practicing self-determination as determined by the citizens of that land. Given self-determination, there would be no cause for ill feelings towards one another resulting in war. He also thought that it was crucial to have a unified league of nations that would be comprised of representatives from each nation to discuss and solve issues before war became an option. Additionally, he proposed that all alliances and treaties were to be made public and there were to be no secret deals being carried out to cause mistrust among other nations.

The issue of peace was the primary concern for most of the Allies with the exception

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Approximate Word count = 1729
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)