President Wilson's Fourteen Points Today

President Wilson's Fourteen Points Today



        In theory Woodrow Wilson thought up the 14 point system in order to make a better world. Basically it was a list of all the things that he would much rather not deal with in his presidency. His first  five points were about ending secret treaties and freedom of the seas and reduced military but in today's world secret treaties and corruption fill politics and certain areas of the ocean are blocked for certain nations. Also since the 1990s, nations have been striving for bigger armies and naval fleets. Points 6 through 13 were specific ideals for countries such as changing borders and creating new nations which in a way we haven't really created new nations we just have named them differently. The 14th point provided an idea that nations such associate and pretty much look out for the little guy or smaller countries or city-states. Which eventually the Treaty of Versailles was signed and formed the League of Nations.
       Point 1 states that there should be an end to secret treaties. However that didn't last to today's day an age. Before Woodrow Wilson was president, according to HNN (History News Network), Teddy Roosevelt had agreed with Japan to let them expand Asia. In theory that was the reason they bombed Pearl Harbor in WW2. According to HNN they did not attack Hawaii to move onto California but to expand their nation. Not to protect U.S. citizens but to protect Veitnamese people and Burmese people. This isnt blaming Teddy Roosevelt for the war but that's the theory. So this is the idea of Woodrow Wilson to make it a top point to prevent it from happening, but thats fails as we see Dick Cheney buying stock in the cleaning of the BP oil spill eleven days before it happened.
      Point 2 states that everyone should have complete freedom upon the seas. This point also disapproved of war fought in water. At this time the United States welcomed this concept however Britain, France, Germany. However today this concept can be found in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It states that the high seas is open to all states, coast or land-locked. It also includes a long list of freedoms such as navigation, laying of submarine cables, fishing, scientific research and many more. However even though it sounds like we have freedom to the seas, a lot of areas of the ocean are blocked to certain nations such as the sea blockade on the Gaza Strip by Israel and Egypt.
      Point 4 states that countries should decrease their weaponry. This point went downhill the moment it was addressed. The increase in the amount of weapons countries have increase daily. Each day countries are buying new weapons or engineering new weapons to make their arsonal better than the other. Country leaders are loading themselves with nukes and we even have fighter jets that are unmanned.
      Point 14 states that a league of nations should be put into place to govern political and teritoral independence for all nations. This point did actually go through. Part 1 of the Treaty of Versailles declared a League of Nations. Though it was ineffective the League of Nations helped jump start the United Nations which in this essence I believe that this point was the most effective. For the simple reason that the UN is effective enough to uphold the idea that orginally established the League of Nations.

World War I Political Cartoon

Political Cartoon

This political cartoon is showing the telegram from Germany's secretary to the German ambassdor in Mexico. This telegram, which u can see a rendition of on the right, is Germany telling Mexico that if they side with them on the war, Germany will gain back their land they lost to the U.S. Represented in the cartoon u can see on the left is Arthur Zimmermann, Germany's foreign secretary, with an exaggerated appearance, along with his spiked cavalry helmet. The figure on the right is the Mexican ambassdor also depicted with an exaggerated appearance, having a large sombrero, stereotypical of a mexican. The body language of the figures is exaggerated, trying to give more of an image of bribbery and secretsy.

In my opinion this political cartoon shows exactly how the situation was. Germany is depicted just how they acted, sly and sneaky. Mexico stuck in the middle is shown as confused and wondering, which they were finding out Germany would go to war with the U.S.

Women in America during World War I

Women in America during World War I

     Women at this time before the war were typically playing the role as a stay at home mom. Their duties were taking care of the family and children. They mostly cooked, cleaned, and sewed. However all this changed at the start of World War I. Women were replacing the jobs that the men had which were leaving for overseas to fight. The number of paid women with occupations increases greatly. They came working unusal jobs women weren't looked at to do such as: bank clerks, ticket sellers, elevator operator, chauffeur, street car conductor, railroad trackwalker, section hand, locomotive wiper and oiler, locomotive dispatcher, block operator, draw bridge attendant, and employment in machine shops, steel mills, powder and ammunition factories, airplane works, boot blacking and farming. Women were seen to be aids for their nation at this time, by helping out.
              More than 25,000 U.S. women also helped nurse the wounded soldiers, provide food and other supplies to the military, work as telephone operators, and even were journalists. The women supported their troops greatly. They would entertain the men by sewing on buttons, giving out cigarettes, and sweet tasty snacks. These were the women who were sent to "keep the boys straight". 13,000 women enlisted in the US Navy just in World War I. However women at this time still could not fight in the army, but only by sent overseas to the war for clerical work.
            Women's lives were greatly affected by this war. It gave women the chance the U.S. male-dominated society that they could do more than stay at home and raise their children. Women earned a great deal of respect from their active help in labor for their country and society during this wartime crisis.

Amenian Genocide

      The Amenian Genocide

     The Amenian Genocide was caused by the "Young Turk" government of the Ottoman Empire during the coarse of time between 1915 and 1916. There were around two and a half million Amenians in the Ottoman empire, about one and a half million were killed. This was all caused by the Amenians on their land (called the Amenian plateau) becoming an obstacle to the Turkish speaking people unifing in their Turkish state and extending to Central Asia. WWI was the opportunitie when the Ottoman empire could exterminate all Amenians, leaving none to guard their nations in Western Turkey and Eastern Armenia. One of the most recognized days of this Genocide is the night of April 23-24, 1915. On this night there was a huge round-up and imprisonment of Armenian politicians, priests, scientists, lawyers, doctors and writers of the Ottoman Empire. Also on this night 5,000 of the poorest Armenians were butchered and killed right in the streets and inside their homes. However this genocide occured in a very organized fashion. First the Armenians in the army had their weapons taken and were placed in labor camps to only be killed. After this the political leaders and such were brought all together and then killed. All the other Armenians would be taken from their homes, told that they were being relocated, however had to march to concentration camps located in the deserts, leaving them to thristy and starving to death in the burning sunlight. Many were even killed just on the march there. To this day the Turkish government denies every bit that there was an Armenian genocide and that the Armenian people were only removed from their eastern "warzone".
         My opinion on the Amenian Genocide is that it was very unecessary. The Turkish government had absolutly no reason to kill such a innocent race of people. If this government wanted to be strictly only turkish speaking people why wouldn't they exclude the Amenians from their government and nations and make them have their own nation. The Turkish people then could expand their lands somewhere other then the Amenian lands, letting them expand their Turkish nation more allowable with the cause of war against a different country for land other then killing millions of innocent people.