The Fourteen Point Peace Programme of US President Woodrow Wilson (1856 to 1924) was presented to Congress on 8 January 1918 and outlined a new world order that would hopefully avoid another disaster like the still ongoing First World War (1914 to 18). Aiming to persuade Germany and its allies to seek an armistice and achieve lasting world peace, the points in the list stated there should be freedom of the seas, free trade, disarmament, a redrawing of the map of Europe based on the principle of national self-determination, a commitment to open diplomacy with no more secret treaties, and the creation of an international assembly of nations.

President Wilson identified certain causes of WWI he wanted never to replicate: self-interested and secretive diplomacy, the repression of minority groups within empires and larger states, and autocratic regimes ignoring their own people's wishes. A new international organization was required that would eradicate these three diseases of world diplomacy and champion instead democracy, self-determination, and openness. By working together, a collective security and environment of debate and negotiation could be achieved, where no war between nations would even start. That was the hope.

Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points were:

1. Open convenants of peace; no secret agreements.
2. Freedom of the seas, except when curtailed by international action.
3. The removal, wherever possible, of all economic barriers.
4. Guarantees for the reduction in armaments.
5. Impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, with the interests of the subject populations being equal with the claims of governments.
6. Evacuation of all Russian territory.
7. Restoration of Belgian sovereignty.
8. Occupied French territory to be restored, and Alsace-Lorraine to be returned to France.
9. Readjustment of Italian frontiers 'along clearly recognised lines of nationality'.
10. Opportunity of autonomous development for the peoples of Austria-Hungary.
11. Evacuation by occupying forces of Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro; Serbia to have free access to the sea. Relations of Balkan states to be settled along lines of allegiance and nationality.
12. Opportunity of autonomous development for non-Turkish peoples within the Ottoman Empire. The Dardanelles to be free for all shipping.
13. Creation of an independent Poland with access to the sea.
14. Formation of a general assembly of nations with the aim of 'affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states'.

(Bruce, 133)

The 14 points had some major flaws, notably what they did not cover at all. Wilson's emphasis on self-determination, for example, was not applied to WWI's losers themselves (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), who had no say in their futures. This lack of consultation resulted in lasting grievances. Nor was the principle applied to the majority of nationals caught up in a massive redrawing of great swathes of the maps of Europe, Africa, and East Asia, prizes claimed by WWI's victors (Britain, France, the United States, and Italy). Similarly, formal disarmament and future restrictions on military personnel numbers and hardware were only applied to WWI's losers, not the winners.

Another problem with Wilson's Peace Programme was that he had formulated it without consulting the United States' allies, Britain and France. Both states were against the idea of freedom of the seas, and both wanted reparations from WWI's losers to help pay for the tremendous costs of four years of war. The Allies, therefore, compromised on some of Wilson's points at the Paris Peace Conference (held from January 1919 to January 1920), which Wilson attended as head of the United States delegation. After much debate and political wrangling, the conference ultimately decided on the fate of WWI's losers with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, a treaty which the United States Senate voted not to ratify.

Point 14 regarding the assembly of nations did become a reality in January 1920 when the League of Nations was formed. This body was a grand idea, but in practice, when faced with acts of aggression by one or more members, the League's responses were often weak and ineffective. The most significant weakness was the United States government's decision not to join the League as it pursued a policy of isolationism. In effect, none of the other 13 points could realistically be enforced because of the weakness of the League of Nations in the face of repeated breaches made by hyper-aggressive states.

If Wilson's 14 points had sought to avoid another world war, they obviously failed since the Second World War ravaged the world between 1939 and 1945. Wilson would have argued, though, that most of his 14 Points were never realised and had they been, peace would have been more likely than war.

There were moves away from militarism in the 1920s as millions had firsthand and bitter experience of the horrors of war – soldiers in the field, civilian victims of bombing raids, and those who had lost loved ones. There was a general public feeling that deliberate and escalating armament was a dangerous policy and that the huge sums of money it required were better spent elsewhere, first of all, rebuilding damaged areas and industries.

As memories shortened, the trend towards pacifism was reversed in the 1930s with the rise of aggressive fascist and militaristic powers like Italy, Japan, and Germany. Here, authoritarian leaders insisted on the necessity to rearm and the selfish benefits of pursuing a policy of foreign conquest. A tune was played that the losers of WWI had been dealt with too harshly. Secret treaties were formed again. Trade barriers were erected, including by the United States. Local populations were usually not consulted on how their countries would be run and by whom. New borders created new problems. Several countries felt aggrieved at their territorial losses and sizeable minority groups were created as frontiers were redrawn. The economic crash of 1929 caused widespread unemployment and inflation. Nationalist political parties used this dangerous mix of grievances to gain popular support and drive the world in exactly the opposite direction that Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points had hoped the world would take.