How Did Woodrow Wilson Define American Foreign Policy In The Twentieth Century

The conclusion of the First World War led to the League of Nations being founded in 1919. It was the first international organization to promote world peace and world cooperation. President Wilson, being petrified by crimes that were being committed, set an idealistic goal for peace, which he addressed in his Fourteen Points. Ultimately the United States voted against entering the League of Nations, which proved itself ineffectual in stopping aggression by Italy, Germany, and Japan. Yet and still it leaves the question, was President Wilson solely responsible for the US not joining the League of Nations?

When war broke out in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed American neutrality. A British passenger liner, Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine in May 1915. This action killed 1,198 on board, of that, 124 were Americans. “Wilson compose a note of protest so strong that Bryan resigned as secretary of state, fearing that the president was laying the foundation for military intervention” (743). In vengeance, President Wilson set in motion a policy, “preparedness” to expand the army and navy by the later part of that year, 1915.

In July 28, 1914 to November 11,1918 World War 1 took place where over 17 million lives were lost and over 20 million wounded soldiers. This war was between Britain, France, Russia, Italy and the United States against Germany, and Austria-Hungary. The main cause of World War 1 was militarism where many European countries kept increasing their size of their army and navy without a war going on. In the article “What Was the Underlying Cause of World War 1?” it shows an example of how militarism was the main cause of World War 1. In the article it says, “But otto von Bismarck the Chancellor of Prussia who led the unification of Germany was sandwiched between Russia and France.” The article talks about how Germany was landlocked by Russia and France.

Just weeks later, with France in the midst of a Nazi invasion and British forces surrounded at Dunkirk, a decision had to be made: would the British reach a peace settlement with Hitler as suggested by Foreign Secretary Viscount Halifax and Neville Chamberlain, the leader of the Tories, or would the British stand and fight to the death as proposed by Winston Churchill? As we now know, the British decided to go with their new Prime Minister and continued to fight. Prior rips into Chamberlain for his wishes to make a peace settlement when he was Prime Minister, saying that Chamberlain’s belief that the British could reach a negotiated agreement with the Nazis showed an incomprehension of the enemy on Chamberlain’s behalf. Prior goes on to give strong, but fair praise to Churchill for how he handled his first days as Prime Minister. He was constantly being undermined by Halifax, who was working for intervention from the Italians for a peace settlement, even after it was becoming increasingly clear that the Italians would join sides with the Nazis.

His disagreed with both Roosevelt and Taft’s ideas behind their policies. Wilson believed that the United States had to be the lead in spreading democracy and peace across every country. He based his diplomacy on economic power and would only give support to countries who had moral beliefs similar to those of the United States (Moral diplomacy 1). In 1913, Victoriano Huerta took control of Mexico and President Wilson would not recognize him as president since he illegally seized power. When several American sailors were arrested for wandering into a prohibited zone, Wilson used the incident to give reason for sending US Navy ships to the port city of Veracruz.

The haunted memories from a six-year-long war that stained history pages with all the innocent lives it took. The two famous speeches “Be Ye Men of Valour” and “Attack at Pearl Harbor” were spoken by two different men, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, that called to their nation on the threats that threaten them. Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Britain, was at the request of France for aid for the Germans had broken through the French defenses. It was up to Churchill to tell his nation what was at stake as well as tell them what must be done to keep Europe out of the claws of the Germans. Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president of United States of America, was in his second term of the presidency when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941.

Ever since his unquestionable win in 1952’s election, President Dwight Eisenhower was pushed to the lead of the cold war. While an expansion of domestic and international fear of communism spread, Eisenhower had the success of bringing about a settlement that would end the Korean War. By many people, President Eisenhower has been thought to be taking an offhand attitude towards the Cold War. Nevertheless, Eisenhower was effectively enclosing communism and attempted to guard international freedom from any sort of communist sabotage. In his famous Doctrine, Eisenhower spoke about the inclining catastrophe of the Cold War in the 1950’s Dwight David Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas on the 14th of October 1890.

The rise of nationalistic fervor across the world in 1914 around the world spurred significant competition among the Great Powers that pushed the world into what was then known as the “Great War”. The Treaty of Versailles signed in 1919, officially marked the end of the hostility between Germany and the Allied Powers but the competition among the great powers continued, threatening the global balance of power. To address this, in 1922, each of the Great Powers — United States, Great Britain, France, Japan and Italy, met in Washington for the first time since the signing of the Treaty of Versailles to ensure that the mistakes that led to the outbreak of war in 1914 would not be repeated. They hoped that through diplomacy, they could establish and ensure global balance of power among the five nations and significantly reduce any potential for future conflict. Despite the end to

In defying the compromise of the Great War nearly twenty-two years prior, Germany remilitarized their country in order to expand their borders, creating political conflict. The Berlin Games caused conflict between countries and races as Hitler defied the compromise of the Treaty of Versailles and started World War Two all under the face of a peaceful, hospitable Germany. The Berlin Olympics were full of controversy and conflict, but before the world could band together it was first threatened to never affiliate in the first place. The Games were awarded to Berlin after the war and before Hitler came to power (Smith). The Olympics were the biggest gift that the Fuhrer received when he started his dictatorship and twisted laws to strike at the Jews.

In order to challenge Britain, Germany augmented its battleships from nine to twenty four cruisers between 1898 and 1900. This made Britain feel challenged as at the time Britain had the best Navy system by far comparing with the other great powers, forcing them to act. Another Kaiser Wilhelm’s action that made the war inevitable was the controversial “blanck-cheque for war”. Everything started when Franz Ferdinand (successor of the Austria-Hungary throne) was shot by Serbians in June 1914, a month before the actual beginning of the War. Wilhelm, instead of encouraging a careful response, approved an Austrian attack on Serbia and assured Austria that, if Russia (former German ally but now a Serbian ally) decided to intervene, Germany would support Austria.