Why 1866 Set the Stage for Two World Wars
<i>And it meant that there was a precedence for taking up arms for equality and freedom...for a war that would, &quot;make the world safe for democracy,&quot; as President Woodrow Wilson put it in 1917 when he requested a declaration of war on the German Empire.</i><p>What was the German Empire doing to threaten equality, freedom, and democracy that France and England and the US weren&#x27;t also doing? The argument that the US entered because it declared itself to be in favor of those ideals is quite a stretch.