The more I think about the President's declaration as to the right of self-determination,

the more convinced I am of the danger of putting such ideas into the minds of certain races.

It is bound to be the basis of impossible demands on the peace Congress and create trouble in many lands.

The phrase is simply loaded with dynamite.

It will raise hopes which can never be realized.

It will, I fear, cost thousands of lives.

In the end, it is bound to be discredited,

to be called the dream of an idealist who failed to realize the danger

until too late to check those

who attempt to put the principle into force. What a calamity that the phrase was ever uttered.

A man who is a leader of public thought should beware of intemperate or undigested declarations.

He is responsible for the consequences.

U.S. Secretary of State, Robert Lansing.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Thank you. Episode 176,

1919, Austria-Hungary, Part 1.

This episode begins the series that I call the history of the 20th century

19-19 world tour. In the year 1919, the Paris

Peace Conference is in progress, working out the series of treaties that will officially end to the

Great War. The current world situation poses a challenge for me as I relate to you the history

of the 20th century. I try to make this podcast a chronological telling

of the story of the century, as far as that is possible, and I try not to reference historical

...