Don Quijote de La Mancha: Idealism in Real Life Alonso Quijana is an average man whose idealist delusions transform him into a knight, Don Quijote, combating fictional danger with fictional power in a much more realist world than he realizes. There are many idealists in this world and in history. One man with idealist views in history was Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States. During World War 1, his idealist views became prevalent in his attempts to regain world peace. They compare not by their situation but with their ideas of their power and ideal selves trying to make an ideal world, or as Don Quijote claims, “Come into a world of iron to make a world of gold.” Woodrow Wilson compares to Don Quijote in taking it upon himself to become someone who takes action rather than sitting back and letting things happen. For example, Don Quijote chooses to go by that name and be a knight to bring justice and fight for what he believes in, regardless of his intentions being realistic or logical. Such as when he goes out to fight the enchanter to do good even though it is unlikely that he would be able to defeat him. Similarly, Wilson sought to create a plan, the Fourteen Points, to help bring long standing world peace with his goals such as no …show more content…
Essentially the same concept, only on much different scales and perspectives. One of them being freeing people from stereotypes and oppression, the other being freeing countries. Don Quijote did not see Aldonza as the dirty and oppressed girl she was, but rather as the ideal girl without any subjection to what she is known as. Wilson in his Fourteen Points plan strived to free countries or regions from whoever was controlling them; this was completely illogical because there was no way the controlling countries would sign off on these proposals. Still, Wilson was determined to carry out his ideal to make countries free and democracy accessible to
Wilson’s fourteen points summarise the quest for international cooperation in achieving and maintaining peace. However, this can be questioned as the first paragraph also suggests a self-centred approach taken by Wilson. The speech suggests that the USA is the only ones with the capacity to achieve such peace, the programme of the world's peace, therefore, is our programme; and that programme, the only possible programme. It reflects a world view and hierarchy, suggesting one big American alliance rather than an idea of international cooperation. This is also further illustrated on in Wilson’s speech, his concern for the safety of the USA is key in the way he treats countries such as Russia and Germany, and his disagreement with some of the terms in the Treaty of Versailles. In point six of the speech when dealing with Russia it talks of securing the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the world. Wilson was careful in how he achieved peace, as he wanted to maintain relationships with countries within Europe, whilst keeping USA dominance ad not upsetting France and Clemenceau who wanted harsh treatment of Germany. This is illustrated in point eight of Wilson’s fourteen points.
Wilson abandoned the imperialist policy and brought to the White House a new way of looking at America’s relations with the outside world. Wilson believed that the United States was the most politically enlightened in a sense under god, he felt that people throughout the world had their right to choose their own governments. Wilson was only protecting people rights to democracy.
President Wilson was determined to achieve peace. He based his peacemaking efforts in the academic argument Fourteen Points. Ideas of freedom of the seas, internationalism and justice for all were embedded in his idealistic approach, in an attempt to making long lasting peace.
Wilson's Fourteen Points were a decent attempt at peace and restitution after the Great War; however, there were many inherent problems with the Wilsonian agenda. These problems were caused by many things, including Allied bias, American ambition, and Western European dominance. While trying to fix many problems in Europe, the Fourteen Points mainly concentrated on the things that were important to the Allied powers: France was bent on revenge, Great Britain was looking to further its power over the seas, and America was keen on becoming an even more powerful trade nation.
Wilson sought to open the world, expand trade and open connections for easier negotiations. However, all this had to fit into the scheme of the United States and western civilization. Issues over self-determination consistently played back and forth roles, both good and bad. Mainly being seen as good as long as it fit into the plan of the developed nations. Despite this if often created more problems, uprisings and ultimately destabilized Europe. Wilsonianism was a foreign policy which had its positives and negatives just like many before
Most of the World’s major Nations were in a state of turmoil from the year 1914-1918, during the conflict of World War I. This War to End all Wars began with the German’s pushing other European Nation’s buttons, including the progression of militarism, imperialism, nationalism, and the creation of alliances among all of the Nations. After the course of three years of grueling trench warfare the tide of the Germans was receding, and President Woodrow Wilson of the United States presented his famous Fourteen Points, in hope that he would direct all Nations to aspire for the establishment of world peace.
Wilson’s Fourteen Points embodied his vision of a better world governed by fairer principles. He felt guided “by the hand of God.” His vision of a peacekeeping “League of Nations” was, in his view, the key element to a “secure and lasting peace” and was the “most essential part of the peace settlement.” If the diplomats
224). Wilson represents the conservative idea of equality and the pursuit of happiness on page 226, when he says, “America was created in order that every man should have the same chance as every other man to exercise mastery over his own fortunes…” (Kennedy/Bailey, pg. 226). Wilson is representing the idea of the United States not being willing to back down due to honor when he says, “this government has no alternative, consistent with the dignity and honor of the United States, but to take the course which… it announced that it would take….” (Kennedy/Bailey, pg. 241). When Roosevelt challenges Wilson’s point of “diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view”, with saying, “if he means what he says, he will at once announce what open covenant of peace he has openly arrived at with these two little republics, which he has deprived of their right of self-determination”, it represents the conservative idea of the government not keeping decisions private, (Kennedy/Bailey, pg. 251). In Wilsons third point, he promises “free trade among all the nations”, which can be closely related to the view on trade from a conservative standpoint. Like conservative ideas, Wilson believed that
Thesis: a man 's desires live on past there relevancy. With passion to reform and make the world a better place, ideas can spread and help towards the goal of reaching prosperity. Woodrow Wilson 's passion
Wilson’s purpose of this speech was to commemorate the end of the war, where Wilson was urging for peace. The fourteen points that were listed by President Wilson were intended by him to be utilized as guidelines for the peace settlement. Where the first five of the points were utilized to establish what were Wilson’s general ideals of peace. “Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants,” (Wilson) where Wilson states that the seas shall be free of outside of territorial waters in peace and war, where only in the case of enforce treaties may
It is hard to assume what another person may hope to presume upon a nation, however, Woodrow Wilson was a president who stood above and before in his vision and leadership of the United States. His tenacity was evident and he represented himself as a “vicious authoritarian who crushed dissent and pursued a global strategy.” Wilson chose to ignore current ideologies in favor of creating his own, the Wilsonianisms, protecting free trade, democracy, and America as the predominate leader. Furthermore, Wilson’s ability to grab and enforce power left America and global relations at a new juxtaposition.
In order to fully understand why each party would be left to perceive the notions they do, it is imperative that we have a greater understanding of the main points of the Treaty of Versailles. On another note, it is important to mention that Wilson's 14 Point Plan is not the actual Treaty of Versailles, but a benefactor to the treaty. Prior to the drafting and signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Wilson constructed a 14 Point Plan that would attempt to administer peace for the entity of the world. Pursuing peace, some of the more influential and important points of the plan was the
The first point on Wilson’s 14 point plan was that nations should not have any secret treaties or alliances with other nations. This is an important point in the plan, because if it were followed through with it could possibly prevent many wars afterwards. That is, of course, if the nations
Woodrow Wilson had always believed in leaving the world a better place than he found it, and was driven by a sense of mission and high ideals. Wilson was a strong Democrat and believed in making the world safe for Democracy, which sometimes clouded his better judgement. For example, he once stated that the US would “cultivate the friendship and deserve the confidence(Wilson)” of the Latin American states, but insisted that their government must be a Democracy, which irritated them. Wilson once said that “to fight, you must be brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very fiber of our national life,(Wilson)” showing his reluctance of entering war and wanting to keep world peace. Wilson advocated for women, small businesses, and farmers by writing letters and giving speeches about women’s voting rights and passing the Triple Wall of Privilege. Wilson even won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to keep the peace in the world. For these reasons, Woodrow Wilson
The Treaty of Versailles and Wilson’s 14 Points were both Post - WWI calls to action. Wilson’s 14 points address was a proposed outline of peace principles that helped end WWI during negotiations. While the points we presented in the speech were good, his ideas were very utopian and unrealistic. Wilson believed his 14 points was the prescription to end the diease of war permantly and that if even one follows the principles, there will no more war, Additionally, WIlson’s purpose was to not punish/blame one country for the war, but to attempt to bring peace to all.