Intrigue of nations.

• Author: Dallek, Matthew
• Position: Book Review: THE ILLUSION OF VICTORY: Americans in World War I - Book Review

THE ILLUSION OF VICTORY: Americans in World War I by Thomas Fleming Basic Books, $30.00

ON APRIL 2, 1917, PRESIDENT Woodrow Wilson appeared before a joint session of Congress to deliver a speech about the war in Europe. The German Navy was waging "warfare against mankind" on the high seas, he told the lawmakers. German submarineshad sunk unarmed passenger ships, murdered American civilians, and assaulted the sensibilities of freedom-loving people around the world. With his declaration that "the world must be made safe for democracy," Wilson argued that the United States could no longer stand on the sidelines. Wilson's speech abandoned the nation's isolationist traditions and charted a new course for internationalism, envisioning the United States as the indispensable nation that could guarantee peace and prosperity abroad. While U.S. involvement in World War I didn't last long, it marked a bold departure in the nation's foreign policy. During the war, America's military and civilian leadership traveled to Europe. They forged alliances, negotiated a peace, and enmeshed the United States in the complexities of continental politics. As Wilson saw it, the ultimate aim was to create a world order that the League of Nations would enforce and the United States would oversee.

In certain respects, 86 years later the United States is still grappling with Wilson's vision. One hears echoes of Wilson's rhetoric in contemporary debates about the United Nations' role in the world and the pros and cons of going to war in the Middle East. But scholars and serious journalists have largely ignored World War I in recent years. Filmmakers have made documentaries about the Civil War. World War II has become the stuff of feature movies, HBO specials, and Tom Brokaw tributes. When Memorial Day arrives, CNN showcases the Vietnam War Memorial and, especially, the veterans who flock there to pay tribute to fallen comrades. Even the Korean War has a memorial on the National Mall that is larger than the World War I monument; and in contemporary news accounts about the U.S.-North Korea standoff, the Korean War forms the backdrop against which any new war is measured. What little contemporary analysis there is of World War I often interprets the war as little more than a prelude to something else. Others describe it simply as the end of the progressive era, the moment when the domestic reform movement went down to defeat.

In one of the few recent books exploring the...