President Wilson’s Impact on the Course of History

President Woodrow Wilson was among the many presidents that are known for advocating for peace. During the First World War, Wilson represented the United States in offering advice for peace in the form of fourteen points. The points were to stop the war by enhancing transparency and accessibility of different nation’s territorial waters. Wilson had also aimed at solving border disputes that spurred the war. This step caused a shift in the development of history, specifically, the Second World War and the Cold War.

The inclusion of Wilson’s points into the course of history gave way for the United States to enter into a nuclear weapon arms race with the Soviet Union. During this period, the Soviet Union redirected most of its resources to military funding and the production of the nuclear weapon. By 1949, the Soviet Union released their first bomb followed by a retaliation from the United States with a hydrogen bomb in 1952. Mitrovich explains that “A hydrogen bomb could create a four-mile-wide fireball and a lethal fallout zone more than 10 miles in radius” (154). In the year that followed, the Soviet Union released another hydrogen bomb. Other countries suffered in the course of the war between these two countries. As a result, countries decided that they should reduce arms through strategic arms limitation talks. 

 Additionally, Wilson’s contribution to the course of history through his points led to the formation of the United Nations. The freedom to open diplomacy enhanced the formation of the United Nations on 24 October 1945 after the Second World War ended (Khan Academy). The United Nations was a replacement of the League of Nations, which had failed in preventing another war. The primary purpose of the United Nations was to ensure peace and security among nations. Furthermore, the United Unions took the responsibility of looking into disputes that may result in international abrasion.

Works Cited

Khan Academy. The United Nations, 2018, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/us-wwii/a/the-united-nations. Accessed 28 Oct. 2018.

Mitrovich, Gregory. “Raymond P. Ojserkis, Beginnings of the Cold War Arms Race: The Truman Administration and the U.S. Arms Build-Up.” Journal of Cold War Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, 2007, pp. 120-122.