November 11 is, of course, Veterans' Day. Originally called "Armistice Day," it marked the ending of World War I in 1918. It also marked the beginning of an ambitious foreign policy plan by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. Known as the Fourteen Points, the plan—which ultimately failed—embodied many elements of what we today call "globalization."reat Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Turkey, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Russia all claimed territories around the globe. They also conducted elaborate espionage schemes against each other, they engaged in a continuous arms race, and they constructed a precarious system of military alliances.
Austria-Hungary laid claim to much of the Balkan region of Europe, including Serbia. When a Serbian rebel killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, a string of events forced the European nations to mobilize for war against each other.
The main combatants were:
The Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Turkey The Entente Powers: France, Great Britain, Russia U.S. In The War The United States did not enter World War I until April 1917 but its list of grievances against warring Europe dated back to 1915. That year, a German submarine (or U-Boat) sank the British luxury steamer Lusitania, which carried 128 Americans.
Germany had already been violating American neutral rights; the United States, as a neutral in the war, wanted to trade with all belligerents. Germany saw any American trade with an entente power as helping their enemies. Great Britain and France also saw American trade that way, but they did not unleash submarine attacks on American shipping.
In early 1917, British intelligence intercepted a message from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmerman to Mexico. The message invited Mexico to join the war on the side of Germany. Once involved, Mexico was to ignite war in the American southwest that would keep U.S. troops occupied and out of Europe. Once Germany had won the European war, it would then help Mexico retrieve land it had lost to the United States in the Mexican War, 1846-48.
The so-called Zimmerman Telegram was the last straw. The United States quickly declared war against Germany and her allies.
American troops did not arrive in France in any large numbers until late 1917. However, there were enough on hand to stop a German offensive in Spring 1918. Then, that fall, Americans led an allied offensive that flanked the German front in France, severing the German army's supply lines back to Germany.
Germany had no choice but to call for a cease-fire. The armistice went into effect at 11 a.m., on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.
The Fourteen Points More than anything else, Woodrow Wilson saw himself as a diplomat. He had already rouged out the concept of the Fourteen Points to Congress and the American people months before the armistice.
The Fourteen Points included:
1. Open covenants of peace and transparent diplomacy. 2. Absolute freedom of the seas. 3. The removal of economic and trade barriers. 4. An end to arms races. 5. National self-determination to figure in adjustment of colonial claims. 6. Evacuation of all Russian territory. 7. Evacuation and restoration of Belgium. 8. All French territory restored. 9. Italian frontiers adjusted. 10. Austria-Hungary given "opportunity to autonomous development." 11. Rumania, Serbia, Montenegro evacuated and given independence. 12. Turkish portion of the Ottoman Empire should become sovereign; nations under Turkish rule should become autonomous; Dardanelles should be open to all. 13. Independent Poland with access to the sea should be created. 14. A "general association of nations" should be formed to guarantee political independence and territorial integrity to "great and small states alike." Points one through five attempted to eliminate the immediate causes of the war: imperialism, trade restrictions, arms races, secret treaties, and disregard of nationalist tendencies. Points six through 13 attempted to restore territories occupied during the war and set post-war boundaries, also based on national self-determination. In the 14th Point, Wilson envisioned a global organization to protect states and prevent future wars.
The great army of the West, commanded by General William T. Sherman, enters Savannah, Georgia, at Christmas of 1864. They have just come on their march to the sea, starting out in Atlanta. They have marched through the heart of Georgia... They have destroyed everything in their path that could be of use to the Confederacy: railroad tracks, they have burned plantations. They have liberated tens of thousands of slaves, enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln... Sherman says when he starts out on the march, "I can make Georgia howl." He's bringing the war to the civilian population. He doesn't kill civilians. He doesn't attack them, but he destroys property; he destroys their livelihoods and he liberates their slaves.
He's trying to demonstrate that the South has no power that can prevent the North from prevailing in this war. If he can march right through the heart of one of the most important Southern states without any opposition even, wreaking devastation and liberating the slaves... And for generations afterward, the name Sherman will be a byword for cruelty in the minds of white Southerners and white Georgians who experience this.
The Good Neighbor policy was a foreign policy that US President Franklin Roosevelt adopted regarding the affairs of Latin America. Basically it was a non interference and non intervention principle that the US adopted regarding the political and economical affairs to Latin America to show that they were being a "good neighbor." The Good Neighbor allowed the US to build strong ties to several countries in Latin America, however it was essentially dissolves when the Cold War began in 1945 and the US felt a stronger need to protect its close allies.
The three major schools of thought emerged from the Warring states period were-
1. Legalism- It was associated with Han Feizi. This thought spelled out and strictly enforced rules or laws through a system of rewards and punishments.
2- Confucianism- It was associated with Confucius. This was different from Legalism. It was not about the laws and punishments, but the moral example of superiors so as to restore social harmony after the Zhou and Qin dynasties.
3- Daoism- It was associated with Laozi. Daoists urged withdrawal into the world of nature and encouraged behavior that was spontaneous, individualistic, and natural.
