contributions to American Entrance
To World War One
Nationalism
This created the need for all of the countries to be the best, both in economy and military. This created tension between European countries, but the US was urged to remain neutral.
Militarism
Militarism made many countries strive to have the best Military. This increased the already unstable tension in Europe. The US wanted to remain neutral, but also held a belief of Militarism. This did not drive the US fully to enter WW1, though.
Alliances
There were alliances all over the place. This further increased tensions, though, as it braced countries for an attack or for attacking, and created "teams" if said war were to happen. We had allies in Europe, which drew us a little closer to what was happening.
Archduke Ferdinand
Archduke Ferdinand, or rather his assassination, is said to have sparked WWI. All of a sudden, our allies, and their enemies were squaring off. We were urged to remain neutral, but some could not help but toi get antsy about the situation.
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente contained some of our allies (England, France, & Russia). So, when our allies go to war as the Triple Entente, it draws ourselves into the war as well.
Central Powers
The Central Powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, The Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria. Since it consisted of our enemies and our allies' enemies, we were drawn to battle with them along with our allies.
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson was a president of peace. He urged us to stay neutral during World War 1 and devised ways of creating peace after the war ended. He truly wanted to stay away from war until it was absolutely imperative that we needed to go to war.
Lusitania
When a British luxury liner, the RMS Lusitania, was sunk by a German U-boat, England was furious. They asked for our help, and we tried to stay out of it, but this brought us closer then we ever thought we'd get to the war.
Zimmerman Telegram
The Zimmerman Telegram was intercepted by the US when it was going from Germany to Mexico. This is what made us go to war, because in the telegram to Mexico was a promise from Germany that if Mexico attacked the US, they'd get US land for it.
Wilson's speech about making the world "safe for democracy."
In this speech, Woodrow Wilson is asking for a war. He is asking Congress to declare war against Germany in order to make the world "safe for democracy." It worked, and Wilson was even quoted saying, "It is a fearful thing," meaning that the war they were going into was scary, but it was inevitable.