How were the United States goals in World War I similar or different to the United States goals for fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan? The United States goals in World War I and Iraq and Afghanistan are very different, and this is partly because they are in totally different time periods and the technology is very different. World War I took place from 1914-1918 (Strachan 1), whereas the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan started in 2003 and are still going (Deese 1), although many of the United States goals have already been accomplished. Also, the causes of the wars were totally different. They were not started for similar reasons partly because of the time period, and because of some of the conflicts with other countries. The United States had a few prominent goals in World War I that stood out among some of the others, and one of them was making allies with other countries so that they could become more powerful (Strachan 1). They did this in many ways; one of them was joining to fight on the “allies” side of the war with Britan, France, and Russia (Varho 1). This would help them to become more powerful, and to win the war because the “axis” powers weren’t able to stand up to a whole new country pushing the military on them as well. Also, the United States joined the allies because of the sinking of Lusitania, this was a British passenger ship, and it was sunken by a German U-Boat that was illegally off the coast of England (Strachan 1). Another cause that showed the United States was allying with other countries to become more powerful was that President Wilson stated that “The United States would make an effort to end the war by joining and defeating the axis powers.” (Varho 1) Also another goal of the United states in World
Fitzsimons 2
War I was to neutralize the Germans as a threat in the iron and steel industry, as they had been trying to surpass the United states in production for the past few years. The United States saw them as a threat
Cited: Appleby, Scott. “Terrorism: Americas New Enemy.” World Book Student. World Book, 2010. Web. 17 Nov, 2010. . Deese, David A. "Iraq War." World Book Student. World Book, 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. . Gallagher, Jim. Causes of The Iraq War. New Jersey: OTTN Publishing, 2006. Print. Gard, Carolyn. The Attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. 2003. Print. Maley, William. "Afghanistan War." World Book Student. World Book, 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. . Mockaitis, Tom. "September 11 terrorist attacks." World Book Student. World Book, 2010. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. . Strachan, Hew. “World War I.” World Book Student. World Book, 2010. Web. 16 Nov, 2010. . Varho, Scott. “Outbreak of World War I: Did Germany Cause World War I.” Gale World History in Context. History in Dispute, 2004. Web. 16 Nov, 2010. .