Woodrow Wilson to 50 million dead.
It's often difficult and sometimes unfair to lay blame for a war 20 years after a man's death but the connection between Woodrow Wilson and the circumstances leading to World War II are very strong.
It was noted in a previous connection the role President Woodrow Wilson played creating the fire that would eventually erupt in the Pearl Harbor sneak attack. His connection to the circumstances that brought on the Nazis is also quite strong and it begins with the 1916 presidential election.
Wilson ran as the candidate "that kept us out of the war" and from personal records it appears Wilson truly believed America should remain neutral in the European conflict. Public opinion at the time seems to have been in somewhat agreement but that opinion was not particularly solid, as would be demonstrated the following year. Wilson won the 1916 election by the narrowest of margins. Like Florida in 2000, the 1916 election hinged on one state (California) and just 3800 votes. Whether Wilson was truly committed to keeping the nation out of war or just using the issue for politics is unclear. However; within one month of his second term inauguration he was asking Congress to declare war and committing the United States to the conflict in Europe.
What changed between November 1916 and April 1917? Actually nothing, except that Wilson didn't have to worry about the campaign. The issue that drove America into the war was supposedly Germany's decision to renew unrestricted submarine warfare. However; this was simply a pause in the German policy that had actually been in place in 1914-15. The cause for entering the war in 1917 was identical to the circumstances in 1915. Actually, in 1915 a better case could be made because of the May sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania, killing more than a hundred Americans.
What changed in Europe between 1915 and 1917; however, was dramatic. France and Britain lost more than 1 million soldiers in two of the most long lasting and deadly battles in history (Verdun for the French, the Somme for the British). 1916 sapped the spirit from the allies along with their ability to carry the battle to the enemy. Had the United States entered the war in 1915, when it should have based on the reason it did enter two years later, the course of the war would have been dramatically different. It is very likely the battle of Verdun would not have occurred at all. It was a German strategy to bleed the French and reduce their fighting strength and resolution. However; if the Germans knew that American troops would be replenishing the French cause this strategy and the battle itself would have been pointless. Furthermore, because the battle of the Somme was Great Britain's attempt to relieve the pressures on the French fighting at Verdun it is equally likely this battle would not have been necessary either. For the same reasons the Russian Army might not have collapsed either as the Germans would have had to shift their forces westward to match the influx of troops coming from America.
By 1917, when the Americans finally joined the war, the allies were on their last legs. The Russians had already sued for peace and the government would fall to eventually lead to the Bolshevik takeover. The French army was at its breaking point (which included a mutiny) and the British were withholding additional support in fear of more senseless death. In 1918, following Germany's last big gamble the front finally broke and the allies began their offensive to the end. Of all the armies fighting in 1918 only one, the United States, still had a fighting spirit. When the opportunity came to stop the fighting the Allies accepted a truce rather than a German surrender. It was this fact, that Germany had not surrendered, that would be the rallying cry for all disgruntled Germans in the 1920s and 1930s. When the Germans made provocative moves in the Rhineland and Checkoslovakia/Austria in the 1930s the Allies just let them move.
Had Woodrow Wilson brought the United States into the War in 1915 (under the same circumstances he would do so two years later) the entire course of the First World War and the provocations leading to the Second World War would have been different. Instead, he waited until Allied spirit was broken before committing troops and Adolf Hitler would be the eventual result. Ironically, Wilson most likely would have easily swung public opinion in favor of the war and his election campaign would have been much easier. Instead, he waited. This two year wait would eventually lead to World War II and 50 million dead.
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