Discuss The Reasons For The Us Entering World War 1

Between 1900-1920 the United States got into two major wars, the Spanish American War and World War 1. The were some similarities between the reasons for entering and the outcomes of them, there were also some differences.

There are similarities and differences between the reasons for entering the Spanish American and entering World War 1. Similarities like social Darwinism and differences like militarism.

The racial prejudice promoted and justified by social Darwinism played a role in the United States entering both the Spanish American war and World War 1. In the Spanish American war the United States believed that they were better equipped as a race to self govern and that it was their duty to help the “savages” of the world by spreading democracy. There were racial motivations for the US entering World War 1. The racial motivations were caused by the US’s preference for the Anglo-Saxon structure over the German Teutonics structure, the United States wanted to spread democracy to Germany and other parts of Europe that weren’t Anglo-Saxon. So again we see the belief that the US was the best at self government and the want to spread democracy.

Before the Spanish American war, war was seen as a chance for each generation to prove themselves. It was a boy's chance to show that he was man and for boys and men alike to demonstrate bravery and courage. The people wanted a war. The difference with World War 1 was that people didn’t want to enter the war. Woodrow Wilson ran and won a second term as President with the slogan “He kept us out of war”. People didn’t want to go through another war for a multitude of reasons like, war was expensive and the US was still recovering from the panic of 1907, the US also thought that it wasn’t their problem, Europe got themselves into this mess they can figure it out