What points of Wilson's 14 points alarmed and angered the British and the French?

Point three was another disagreement. It said: “The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers.” This point meant that anyone could trade with anyone, no matter if it was a free country or a colony. This upset both the British and the French as they both had overseas colonies and had total control of trading over their colonies, so all the gains would be for them. With this point, their colonies could not only trade with them, but with any other country that was willing to do so and this would reduce the gains that their colonizers had.

Another disagreement was on point four, which said “Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.” this point wanted to achieve disarmament to the most extent in order to achieve peace easier. This angered the French the most. This was because they did not want to disarm mainly due to the tensions with Germany and although this one had to disarm they wanted to be prepared for anything that could happen if the Germans rearmed and decided to take revenge on the French. They wanted to be ready in case of another German attack.

The last point in which France and Britain disagreed with Wilson and his Fourteen Points was point number five. Point number five read “A free, open-minded and impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that the interests of the population concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.” This point focused on self-determination. It said that all colonies should decide by themselves on their own future, rather than to be decided by its colonizers. This upset both the British and the French as they both had a large overseas Empire. They wanted to maintain their rule over their colonies as it was a way to demonstrate power and it was also useful for them as they could receive what was produced or found in their colonies. In this case, if their colonies decided to free themselves they would not have that much power or could not take advantage of what was traded from their colonies into their countries.

In conclusion, four of Wilson’s Fourteen Points angered and alarmed the British and the French. These were points two, three, four and five. Each one of those had a reason to anger or alarm the other countries in the conference. At last, many of Wilson’s Fourteen Points were not established in the post-war treaties.

Source: Traynor’s book. Page 105.