Project on America and World War I
Background: Review the Topic Summary on Wilson and World War I
World War I was a great turning point for the United States. Except for a few very limited excursions earlier in America's history, this was the first time American troops had set foot in hte Old World. The Great War—a terrible war by any measure—had raged for almost four years before the Americans became heavily involved in the summer of 1918. By comparison with the suffering of the other countries involved, American losses were small, but the American contribution quite likely changed the outcome of the war, giving victory to the Allied powers rather than to Germany and her allies.
The United States did not have to become involved. One could argue that America's vital interests were not threatened, though our rights as a neutral nation had certainly been placed in jeopardy by both the British and the Germans, the crucial difference being the submarine warfare conducted by Germany which led to the deaths of innocent civilian passengers on commercial vessels. There were some Americans who said at the time that we should have gone in earlier; and there were many Americans who argued that we never should have gone in at all.
A recent and very interesting book on Woodrow Wilson and the First World War makes a strong case that Wilson was strongly influenced by the political left in his approach to the the great conflict in Europe. Many left-wing groups, including the Socialist party in the United States, were willing to consider the advisability of United States becoming involved in the war, but only if Wilson would exert all of his moral influence in order to try to affect the peace outcome in such a way that future wars could be avoided. The peace movement was very strong, and Wilson's persistent efforts to create a League of Nations, and to have the warring factions adopt his Fourteen Points, constituted a real commitment to trying, as he put it, to make the world safe for democracy. At first glance his efforts seems to have failed, for the second world war was in some ways even more terrible than the first. The League of Nations prevented very little and various peace or disarmament efforts, such as the Washington Naval conference, the London Conference and various Geneva conferences, while attempting to reduce the threat of war or at least restrict its impact, did nothing to prevent the holocaust that began in 1939.
We have the advantage of being able to look back over the Second World War and see where things were going, but who could tell in 1917 where the world would head, especially when the outcome of the Great War was still unknown? These are factors to keep in mind as you consider what you want to say for this project.
World War I Sources:
World War I Sites:
Write an essay in which you consider some of the following questions: