Woodrow Wilson Idealism

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Chapter 31 Essay In the destructive nature of World War I where the great powers of the world were locked in an armed struggle for survival. America lay on the sidelines, sticking to her policy of neutrality. But as the war progressed and the rules of war broken, America found herself getting sucked into this new global war. When America finally did declare war it was inspired by German naval policy, Woodrow Wilson's idealism, and America's claim to world power. All motivated the U.S. to declare war on Germany and help the war torn Allies and defeat the Central Powers. The first major influence in America's push for war with Germany was the German naval policy during the war. This caused extreme strain between the two nations and would…show more content…
Woodrow Wilson's idealism and nationalism. Wilson was a progressive Democrat and had a vision to make democracy "safe for the world", this is one of the major causes of Wilson's declaring war as he saw it was America's duty to spread democracy all over the world and he had an ambitious 14 point plan to do so. Which was basically just an outline of his policies for Europe and for the rest of the world, Wilson would also create the League of Nations an assembly of all the world’s nations and Wilson was the main architect of the proposed league. Wilson wanted a body of all countries to meet and to resolve all the world’s problems through diplomacy, as to avoid another major war. And he's ideals was a major influence in America going to war. Wilson was ready to take the opportunity of this major war and push his ideals of democracy and independence for the many nations of Europe. Although the League of Nations would fail to pass the U.S. Senate and only would eventually fall apart his ideals would live on and push the country to war in the name of democracy. And that is why Wilson's idealism was one of three main major influences in America's push for…show more content…
to declare war in the summer of 1917 was America's aspirations to become a world power. Prior to this the US was a great power but that was mainly confined to the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific regions. By entering this war between all of the world's great powers, America would emerge as a major world power at the end of the war, that is the course after winning the war and stake its claim at the bargaining table. Also, entering in such a massive global war would spur the American economy and help it grow tremendously. And provide and massive industrial boom as American factories would pump out massive amounts of war supplies including machine guns, Army uniforms, and artillery pieces to name a few. But what might be the most important would be the massive expansion of the U.S. military that accompanied the war. The war would already increase the American military and would double its standing army and navy and develop its Air Force. And the U.S. military saw a massive spike in drafts as young patriotic Americans would flock to the Army in response to the war. Because of World War I America would have the second largest navy in the world and largest standing army at the war’s conclusion and that massive military would now back up in the U.S.’s claim that it truly was a world power and it helped the U.S. become a major player on the world stage as well as the signing of the armistice that would follow. That is why
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