History Faceoff: Should The US Have Entered World War I

After much debate in congress, the U.S. entered World War I hesitantly on April 6, 1917, even after the U.S. was adamant about remaining neutral at the start of the war. There were mixed feelings on whether or not the U.S. should have entered World War I and author Cristopher Klein addresses both sides of the argument in his article, “History Faceoff: Should The U.S. Have Entered World War I?” The first half of the article is about why the U.S. decided to wage war on Germany. They entered the war for the security of the country and the preservation of world peace. The second half of the article discusses why some historians believe that the U.S. should have never entered the war. Some historians argue that joining the war only did more harm than good and that the war didn’t affect the country. I believe that the United States was correct in deciding to declare war on Germany because they failed to meet U.S. demands and they posed a major threat to the country’s security.

The United

totally made the correct decision when it joined the war in 1917. The U.S. needed to join because they were still being disrespected by countries across the world and I don’t think the world truly knew America’s strength until after World War I. Additionally, the U.S. had suffered many lives lost with Germany’s naval policies and they saw a potential world power imbalance if Germany were to win. With all the money invested into the Allies, the United States would have incurred a worsened Great Depression than what the country saw in the 1930s. Also, the League of Nations was started and if it wasn’t for the League of Nations laying the groundwork for other worldwide collaboration organizations then the world would be in chaos and we would have had more world wars after World War II. The U.S. had a moral obligation to defend democracy and freedom across the world. Although the war was costly, the U.S. entry into the war proved to be a necessary and just