In April 1917, Wilson asked Congress to declare war on the German empire in order to "make the world safe for democracy." While democracies tend to be the most peaceful form of government, as people are not likely to risk their lives in war unless absolutely necessary, America did not have a moral and humanitarian reason to "make the world safe for democracy." In April 1917, America joined the Entente side in the war as...
In April 1917, Wilson asked Congress to declare war on the German empire in order to "make the world safe for democracy." While democracies tend to be the most peaceful form of government, as people are not likely to risk their lives in war unless absolutely necessary, America did not have a moral and humanitarian reason to "make the world safe for democracy." In April 1917, America joined the Entente side in the war as an "associated power," not an ally. This meant that Wilson still tried to maintain the moral high ground that America was not in this war for any type of gain. However, it is a farce to think that America was defending democracy in this war. Britain, France, and Belgium all had extensive colonial holdings in Africa--these colonies were ruled brutally by Europeans. Russia was still in the war in 1917 on the Entente side--Russia was an autocracy with the power of the state fully vested in Czar Nicholas II and his Romanov family. America joined the war to protest German unrestricted submarine warfare and Germany's Zimmerman note, but America did not go to war to make the world safe for democracy. America does not have a moral obligation to promote democracy all over the world--it is nearly impossible to force a democracy on a group of people who are not prepared to institute it. Given what happened at the Versailles Treaty, the world was even less safe for democracy than when America entered the war in 1917.
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