Throughout history hundred of thousands of important world changing documents have been written. These documents could have ended wars like the Treaty of Versailles which ended World War I or declared war like the Declaration of Independence. Other documents like the Bill of Rights gave numerous rights to the United State’s people. Four highly significant European documents that changed the world as we know it today are The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, Fourteen Points, The Munich Pact and Iron Curtain Speech.
When The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen was issued on August 27, 1789, France was in the middle of a Revolution. France’s revolution started mainly because of financial problems. France supported the American Revolution and gave the majority of its annual profit to support the war. The rest of the annual profit went to the military and the building of Versailles. Very little of the annual profit actually went to the building of roads and other productive functions. King Louis XVI was forced to call an assembly to gain support of the new tax increase. They rejected it but Louis XVI established them anyway. Rises of protest across the country forced Louis XVI to call the Estates General. The third estate, the largest estate consisting of the middle class and peasants, had little say in the Estates General because the first and second estates consisting of mainly nobles and high catholic figures vote against them. The third estate called itself the Nation Assembly moved to the Versailles tennis court and made the Oath of the Tennis Court saying that they will not disband until they had written a new constitution. The third estate was eventually force to disband by gunpoint. In the summer of 1789 France had a bad harvest which led to vast unemployment. This led to the fall of the Bastille. This led to peasant rebellions across the country which forced the government to respond to peasant demands. After the people of the National Assembly did no longer have to pay the feudal dues they issued The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (McKay, Hill and Buckler, 1995)
The Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen main goal was to create rights that the National Assembly believed that every man deserved to have. These rights include equal rights, rights of liberty, property, security. Equal rights imply the same rights for people in all classes and that all people are equal in the eyes of the law. The right of liberty is the freedom to do anything that does not injure someone this includes freedom of speech and of the press and the freedom of religion. The right of property is the right to own property and not lose the property unless it is a public necessity or legally determined. The right of security is the right that every man requires public military forces and that the forces should be equally distributed among all the people.
The short term significance of The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was minimal. Although it was ratified, it was never put into operation. This is because when Austria and Prussia issued The Declaration of Pillnitz and France went to war with Austria it was suspended (chnm.gmu.edu/revolution). Then after the fall of Robespierre the National Convention made another constitution. That was then replaced by Napoleon Bonaparte’s Napoleonic Code which left out Free speech and freedom of the press. The long term significance was greater. The document influenced many liberals in the 19th century (encyclopedia.com/DeclarRMNC). Also, the current constitution of France has many laws and regulations based off of it. Democracy countries throughout the world were influenced by the document (Wikipedia.com/Declaration_of_Rights).
Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points was written in January 1918 right after the end of the First World War. The cause of World War I is mainly blamed on Bismarck’s system of alliances. Bismarck involved Germany into many Alliances including the Austrian-German Alliance, the Alliance of the Three Emperors and the Triple Alliance. When Emperor William II dismissed Bismarck, William did not renew the Russian-German Treaty. Russia then joined an alliance with the French. France’s foreign minister, Theophile Déclassé set up the Anglo-French Entente by accepting British rule in Egypt. Germany tried to separate Britain and France but it backfired when France and Britain called the Algeciras Conference where they realized that Germany could be a threat. Balkan nationalism caused countries to become hostile to one other. When Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated, Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with an ultimatum, Serbia rejected it and Austria declared war on Serbia. This caused the Third Balkan War which became World War I once Emperor William II gave Austria-Hungary a blank check. When Serbia went into war Russia also went into war which meant France would also go to war. Once Germany invaded Belgium to get to France, Great Britain also joined the war against Austria-Hungary and Germany, creating the Triple Entente. The war was extremely y with hundreds of thousands of people dieing on both sides but with very little land gained. Italy a member of the Triple Alliance joined the Triple Entente when promised Austrian territory. Germany practiced unrestricted submarine warfare which eventually led to the United States joining the Triple Entente. Austria-Hungary surrendered on November 3 1918 and Germany surrendered eight days later ending the war. The Big Four, which was Italy, Great Britain, France and the United States, met together in Versailles to make up a treaty. President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, brought and suggested his Fourteen Points (McKay, Hill and Buckler, 1995)
The first five of Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points where suggestions on how to prevent another World War I from occurring. Point one rejected secret treaties, point two suggested freedom of navigating the seas, point three asked for the removal of trade barriers worldwide, point four proposed a reduction of weapons, point five recommended the settlement of all colonial disputes. Points six to thirteen dealt with territorial problems. Points six through eight and eleven suggest restoring Russia, Belgium France, Rumania, Serbia and Montenegro. Point nine recommends giving land to Italy for helping in the war. Points ten and thirteen suggested the freedom of Austria-Hungary and Polish State’s people. Point twelve advises the opening of Dardanelles, a strait between Europe and Turkey control by the Ottoman Empire (Spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk, 2007). Point fourteen dealt with the creation of the League of Nations. Wilson’s goal in writing the Fourteen Points was to “stress national self-determination and the rights of small countries” (McKay, Hill and Buckler, 1995).
Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points was used to stop as propaganda to encourage the Allies to win. Also, copies were dropped behind enemy lines to persuade the Germans and Austrians to surrender because the terms of the Fourteen Points were lenient on Austria-Hungary and Germany. The long term significance was not as important. At Versailles, the British did not like the idea of freedom of the seas, because they had the most powerful navy, and the French wanted war reparation because part of it was destroyed during the war. The rejection of the Fourteen Points in the Versailles treaty created hatred in the German states to French and English people. Wilson’s Fourteen Points however, did lead to the creation of the League of Nations which was successful even though the United States never joined it (Wikipedia.com/14_points).
When The Munich Pact was written, had complete control over Germany. gained control over Germany by building first the party. The party appealed to the middle classes and to the youth. He promised economic success during the Great Depression and told army leaders that he would overturn the Versailles treaty. ’s party soon became the second most powerful in the Reichstag. Hindenburg appointed chancellor in 1933 because he thought he could use . ’s first act as chancellor was to outlaw the Communist party and control all independent organization. Following the Communist party, he also outlawed the Social Democratic and Center parties leaving the party the only party in Germany. now had control over the Germany but that was not enough, he wanted complete control over Europe, and the other major powers of Europe were letting him. Countries like Great Britain and France were letting him because they were more afraid of the communist Soviet Union. The first thing did was withdraw Germany from the League of Nations. He then made the Anglo-German naval agreement that broke Germany’s isolation. Then he invaded the demilitarized Rhineland. set up treaties with the other major dictators, Mussolini and Stalin. then sought after the Sudetenland. The Sudetenland was an area of Czechoslovakia where the majority of the population was Germans. The leaders of Germany, Great Britain, Italy and France all met together to sign the Munich Pact (McKay, Hill and Buckler, 1995).
The Munich Pact which was signed by Adolf , Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier, and Benito Mussolini, gave the right for Germany to take the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. The Munich Pact also forced Czechoslovakia to release and Germany prisoners and if “Hungarian and Polish minorities in Czechoslovakia were not settled in three months, a new conference was to be convened” (library.thinkquest.org). The goal for the Munich Pact for ’s Germany was to ultimately control Czechoslovakia and therefore becoming the most powerful European country. The goal for The Munich Pact for Chamberlain’s England and Daladier’s France was to appease and to prevent war at all means possible (Encyclopedia.com/MunichPa).
By Great Britain and France signing The Munich Pact they turned their back on Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia’s economy suffered greatly, “Czechoslovakia also lost 70% of its iron/steel, 70% of its electrical power, 3.5 million citizens” (Wikipedia.com/Munich_Pact). President of Czechoslovakia, Evard Benes resigned afraid of a possible assassination attempt, which made Czechoslovakia a puppet state (Encyclopedia.com/MuncihPa). After gained control of Czechoslovakia, he went after Poland. Great Britain and France both threatened to go to war if he attacked Poland but he did not take it seriously because they always would go back on their word. So on September 1, 1939, sent his army into Poland and attacked from three different sides. Two days later, as promised, Britain and France declared war on Germany.
After the end of World War II, President Harry Truman and Stalin met at Potsdam to settle their differences over Eastern Europe. Truman wanted free election throughout all Eastern Europe countries, Stalin refused. He wanted only communist states in Eastern Europe and free elections would lead to independent governments. This started the cold war. Truman immediately stopped all aid to the Soviet Union and declared that the United States will not support the building of governments against the free will of its people. Then in March 1946, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill went to Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri and gave his famous Iron Curtain Speech (McKay, Hill and Buckler, 1995).
In Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech otherwise know as The Sinews of Peace speech, he warns the United States of communism. The said that the democracy’s of the United Nations have to build of an armed force against communism. He talks about how communist parties are small in all eastern countries but have power beyond their numbers and are seeking total control. He believes that every person in every country should have the right to vote in elections. He warns the United States of Russia and the Communist organization and what they could do. Churchill said the spread of communism is not just going to try to spread to Europe but to the entire world. He thinks that countries such as Italy and France, which have poor governments, are at high risk of the spread of communism but countries like the United States and Great Britain who have strong governments and a small communist party are a little risk. Churchill believes that war is inevitable and the only way for democracy to is “if the Western Democracies stand together in strict adherence to the principles of the United Nations”.
Today Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech is considered a highly significant speech. “The Speech is viewed by many historians as marking the beginning of the Cold War, the economic and ideological struggle which would te international politics for the next 45 years” (Jarrett, 2007). When the Speech was given in 1946, it was not well received. People thought Churchill was persuading the United States to join Great Britain in an Anglo-Saxon alliance against Great Britain (CNN.com). Also because of the Iron Curtain Speech people began to the Soviet Union. “Emotional, moralistic denunciations of Stalin and the communist Soviet Union emerged as part of American political life” (McKay, Hill and Buckler, 1995)
Some highly significant speeches that affected European history were The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, Fourteen Points, The Munich Pact and Iron Curtain Speech. The Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen was significant because it influenced many 19th century liberals. Fourteen Points was significant to European history because it persuaded Germans and Austrians to surrender during World War I. The Munich Pact was significant because it destroyed Czechoslovakia and gave more power. Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech was important because it warned the United States of the dangers of the spread of communism and it is consider to be the beginning of the Cold War.
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