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意外产生的超级大国(7)

The First World War did not make the whole world safe for democracy.

Some former subject nations did indeed get independence.

Plucky Poland, my homeland, lasting being partitioned by Russia, Germany and Austria during the 18th century was reassembled as a buffer state, separating Germany from the Soviet Union.

But national self-determination was not automatically granted to everyone.

Nations of the non-white European colonies were notably out of luck.

While Wilson was at Versailles for the treaty negotiations, a young Vietnamese named Nguyen Ai Quok wrote to request a meeting with him.

Nguyen wanted a chance to persuade Wilson that French Indochina deserved independence under the framework of the 14 powers, just as much as Poland and Belgium did for example.

The meeting never took place.

Nguyen Ai Quok eventually rose to power in the Vietnamese Communist Party under the name Ho Chi Minh.

Despite Wilson's calls for more reasonable peace-terms, the Versailles Treaty's severe economic punishment upon Germany, led directly to the rise of Hitler's Third Reich and thus to World War II in Europe.

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