Draft of Notes on the Peace Terms

Title

Draft of Notes on the Peace Terms

Creator

Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924

Identifier

WWP25264

Date

1918 October 14

Description

President Wilson's thoughts on the proposed armistice.

Source

Library of Congress, Woodrow Wilson Papers

Publisher

Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum

Subject

World War, 1914-1918--Armistices

Contributor

Maria Matlock

Language

English

Provenance

Document scan was taken from Library of Congress microfilm reel of the Wilson Papers. WWPL volunteers transcribed the text.

Text

The unqualified acceptance by the present German Government and by a large majority of the German Reichstag of the terms [of peace (crossed out)] laid down by the President of the United States of America in his address to the Congress of the United States on the eighth of January, 1918, and in subsequent addresses justifies the President in making a frank and direct [statement of his decisions. (Handwritten addition)].[(Crossed out) reply to the proposals of the German Government that the evacuation of all invaded territory by its armies be undertaken and that a discussion of the aplication of these terms be entered into, as armistice being in the mean time arranged on . . .]

[It must be clearly understood that the (Handwritten addition)] process of evacuation and the conditions of an armistice are matters which must be left to the judgment and advise of the military advisors of the Government of the United States and the Allied Governments, and the President feels it his duty to say that no arrangement can be accepted by the Government of the United States which does not provide absolutely satisfactory safeguards and guarantees of the maintenance of the present military supremacy of the armies of the United States and of the Allies in the field. He feels confident that he can safely assume that this will also be the judgment and decision of the Allied Governments.

The President feels that it is also his duty to add that neither the Government of the United States nor, he is quite sure, the governments with which the Government of the United States is associated as a belligerent will consent to consider an armistice so long as the armed forces of Germany continue the illegal and inhumane practices which they still persist in. At the very time that the German Government approaches the Government of the United States with proposals of peace [crossed out text] its submarines are engaged in sinking passenger ships at sea and not the ships alone but the very boats in which their passengers and crew seek to make their way to safety; and in their present enforced withdrawal from Flanders and France the German armies are pursuing a course of [crossed out text] wanton destruction which had hitherto been regarded as in direct violation of [crossed out text] the rules and practices of civilized warfare. Cities and villages, if not destroyed, are being stripped of all they contain not only of [illegible] their very inhabitants. The nations associated against Germany cannot be expected to agree to a cessation of arms while acts of inhumanity, spoliation, and desolation are being continued which they justly look upon with horror and burning hearts.

It is necessary, also, in order that [crossed out text] there may be no possibility of misunderstanding, that the President should very solemnly call the attention of the Government of Germany to the language and plain intent of one of the terms of peace which the German Government have now accepted. It is contained in the address of the President delivered at Mount Vernon on the fourth of July last. It is as follows: “The destruction of every arbitrary power anywhere that can separately, secretly, and of its single choice disturb the peace of the world; or, if it cannot be presently destroyed, at least its reduction to virtual impotency.” The power which has hitherto controlled the German nation is of the sort here described. It is within the choice of the German nation to allow it. The President’s words just quoted naturally constitute a condition precedent to peace, if peace is to come by the action of the German people themselves. The President feels bound to say that the whole process of peace will, in his judgment, depend upon the definiteness and the satisfactory character of the guarantees which can be given in this fundamental matter. It is indispensable that the governments associated [crossed out text] against Germany should know beyond a peradventure with whom they are dealing. [(Crossed out text) They will expect convincing evidence of a permanent change in the determination control of German public policy.]

The President will make a separate reply to the Royal and Imperial Government of Austria-Hungary.

Original Format

Draft

Files

http://resources.presidentwilson.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/WWI1240.pdf

Collection

Citation

Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924, “Draft of Notes on the Peace Terms,” 1918 October 14, WWP25264, World War I Letters, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.