Essay Sample on The Wilsonian Movement

The Wilsonian Movement is a term that came to be after President Woodrow Wilson gave his speech which at the time, dubbed Fourteen Points, called for a variety of changes in the governance of colonies (Hobson). In his famous speech, President Woodrow Wilson called for a free, open-minded and an impartial adjustment of all colonial claims. The claims aimed at giving equal weight to the opinions of all the colonised people and their colonialists. The assertions by President Woodrow Wilson especially helped to stir Egypt, India, China and Korea in their fight for nationalism in the coming years.

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The most interesting issue that came up during the speech was the call for the liberation of all peoples whether under colonial rule or their leadership. The reason for this is that the words of President Woodrow Wilson led to a rise in liberal policies across the nations that attended the conference in Paris where he gave his famous speech. At the time, colonial powers were fighting for more colonies in Africa, Asia and some parts of the Americas and thus, the speech that President Woodrow Wilson gave made the leaders of the various budding nations intensify their fight for liberation. It is for this reason that the most interesting aspect of the speech was that on liberation of nations and the people of the various nationalities across the globe.

It is a common belief that the speech stirred nationalist movements across the globe. The leaders of the various nations who heard the speech decided to fight the colonial powers who were oppressing them and denying them the freedom of self-governance. One of the nations that benefited immensely from this speech in Egypt. In attendance at the conference were Egyptian leaders who were itching to attain self-governance and the opportunity to make decisions for themselves as an independent African nation. Woodrow's rhetoric of national self-determination had a significant influence on the Egyptian nationalist movement in 1918-1920. During this time, Egypt was under a European colonial power which was oppressing the locals and exploiting the country's resources for their gain. Woodrow's speech served to cement the expectations of the nationalists who believed that they could achieve liberation from their colonial powers and make decisions regarding their governance without external influence as it had been the case for a long time before the Paris Conference. Woodrow's assertions that nations all over the world had to liberalise left the Egyptian nationals with more radicalised national demands and this thus stirred them to fight the oppressors.

President Woodrow Wilson's speech, though presented more than a decade ago, still resonates even in the contemporary times for a variety of reasons. For one, issues of liberalisation are still a thorny issue for most African countries and other third world nations across the world. Secondly, citizens of various nations are taking charge of the various things happening to them in the failed regimes, and this is a testament to the ongoing wars in the Middle East and part of Central Africa. As such, the speech about liberalisation is the most interesting issue that I can associate with the Wilsonian movement.

Works Cited

Hobson, C. "The Wilsonian Revolution: World War One." The Rise of Democracy, 2015, doi:10.3366/edinburgh/9780748692811.003.0006.