The principle of "complete victory" established an early precedent for the Allied policy of obtaining the Axis' powers' "unconditional surrender". The defeat of "Hitlerism" constituted the overarching objective, and represented a common Allied perspective that the totalitarian militarist regimes ruling Germany, Italy, and Japan were indistinguishable.[13] The declaration, furthermore, "upheld the Wilsonian principles of self determination", thus linking U.S. war aims in both world wars.[14]