Woodrow Wilson Asks for War. On April 2, 1917 Woodrow Wilson went before a joint session of Congress to seek a Declaration of War against Germany. He did this so that in order that the world be made safe for democracy. Four days later, Congress voted to declare war. This happened with six senators and fifty House members who disagreed. In 1917 the war in Europe had already lasted two-and-a-half years and had become one of the most murderous conflicts in history. By the time the war ended a year and a half later, an entire generation was destroyed and France alone lost half its men between the ages of twenty and thirty-two.
