After the fighting of the great war, leaders and delegates from many of the nations involved met in Versailles, France in November of 1918 to negotiate the terms of peace that would bring the war to a close and restore stability in Europe. However, the goals of Wilson and other nations of the allied powers differed greatly; most European nations wanted to punish Germany for being the primary aggressor in the war, demanding large reparations as well as the demilitarization of Germany. Wilson, though, having studied the civil war and reconstruction serving to be somewhat of a failure, did not seek to punish Germany, but proposed a plan of 14 points that would help to prevent another world war:
1- No more Secret Alliances
2-Freedom of the Seas
3-No economic Barriers
4-Reduction of Arms
5-Self-Government in Colonies
6-Evacuation of Russian Territory
7-Evacuation and restoration of Belgium
8-Evacuation and restoration of French territories
9-Readjustment of Italy's Borders
10-Austria-Hungary accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development
11-Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated and restored
12-The Turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty
13-Polish Independence
The fourteenth and final point was the only one to be realized. This was the creation of a league of nations in an attempt to avoid more European wars.
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