, and the four major victorious powers--Britain, France, Italy, and the United States--dominated the proceedings. President Woodrow Wilson favored a conciliatory settlement based on the liberal principles of his Fourteen Points, which included national self determination in Europe among its goals. French premier Georges Clemenceau, however, was most interested in securing his country against future German attack and took a different position. Many believe that the Treaty of Versailles and other treaties, agreements, and policies that emerged from this Conference contributed directly to the maintenance of tensions in Europe over the next two decades and led inevitably to World War II. The fact that the Treaty was dictated rather than negotiated would be important in subsequent history, for the Germans never did have a stake in the Treaty in terms of having been involved in its creation. The Fourteen Points were adopted as a basis for the armistice because the U.S. threatened to make a separate peace with Germany of the French and British did not agree. The Fourteen Points were a program announced by President Woodrow Wilson before a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1918, as the basis for a just peace settlement. Wilson hoped to rally liberal opinion throughout the world with his address. Although many of Wilson's suggestions had been made before, in total effect the speech represented a radical departure from the old diplomacy and called upon future victors and vanquished to liberalize their diplomacy and ideology. The first 5 points included the following: open covenants, openly arrived at; freedom of the seas; removal of economic barriers in international trade; reduction of national armaments to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety; and adjustment of all colonial claims on the basis of the self determination of peoples. Points 6 through 13 dealt with specific territorial settlements. The 14th point beca...