History 118 Idea Paper 1

by: Pietro Di Matteo
Prof. Strickland
HIST 118
MR 10:00-11:15
Montclair State University
2/21/14

Why do people go to war? Because they disagree over a certain issue? Because one party feels that they are superior and that anyone else is weak and inferior? The United States in recent years have been involved in wars that were not necessarily theirs to fight. Vietnam was considered one of the biggest wastes of time, money, and soldiers, as well as the Korean Conflict right before that. In order to go to war, one must think to themselves, “how will this be beneficial to me and the country I represent?” There must be a good reason for men to die on the battlefield in order to obtain an end goal. For Woodrow Wilson, he saw World War I as an opportunity to help the peoples of the world. A victory for the United States “would lead to a new world based on ‘peace and justice’ among the ‘free and self-governing peoples of the world.’” To Wilson, this seemed like a good idea to move on from neutrality to warfare so the world would be better off at the end, but it only proved to be a waste of time for the United States. World War I was not a necessary war for the United States to enter.
World War I began over in Europe in 1914. At the time, Woodrow Wilson was already in office for two years, and declared that the United States was in neutrality and therefore would not be entering the war. It was not until 1917 when the Germans targeted and attacked American ships carrying goods being sent to Europe that Wilson entered the war. Although he kept America out of the war for two years, he saw World War I as an opportunity to promote both free markets and political democracy, and to help promote his foreign policy which is referred to as “liberal internationalism”. In his speech to the country to announce the entering of America in the war, he stated that,