Historical Debate Essay: The United States Moves To War

After winning the election of 1916 barring the slogan, “We kept us out of war!” Wilson began his “peace without victory” crusade. (Zieger, 44) He failed to identify the secret treaties that were entered between the Allies during the war and Germany’s unwillingness to concede anything from a war they did not lose. When it was apparent that a “peace without victory” would be unattainable all that was left was a catalyst and the United States

America had no intention of entering WWI as President Woodrow Wilson had declared their policy of neutrality in 1914 after the continent of Europe had erupted in conflict. President Wilson aimed to deal with all participants in the war in a fair way that did not show signs of allegiance to either side as he tried to help find a way towards peaceful resolution. Happenings in Europe soon changed Wilson’s view of neutrality. Many American lives had been lost at sea after the sinking of the Lusitania and other ships due to Germany’s unrestricted submarine attacks. Germany refused to alter their methods which forced Wilson to ask Congress for a declaration of war in 1917.

Wilson's attempts to mediate peace between the belligerents were ill fated from the start (Doenecke, 2010, p. 23-28). Both sides had begun to entertain the possibility of unrealistic gains if they invested more heavily into the conflict. The recent foreign relations history between the U.S. and Germany was not encouraging. In addition, Germany's invasion of Belgium on August 2, 1914, under the pretense of self-defense, was viewed by many influential Americans as indefensible and providing a window into Germany's indifference towards international law. The German invasion violated the Treaty of London and triggered Britain's entry into the war.

They say that the only thing that caused the United States to enter WW1 was the discovery of the Zimmerman Telegram. The Zimmerman Telegram was discovered February 1917 and the US entered the war on April 6, 1917. They say that was the only cause because it was in the closest timeframe. The Lusitania was two years prior, and the unrestricted submarine warfare was an ongoing 2 year struggle so the telegram was the only one applicable to the events happening during its declaration of war. Also that if Mexico had helped Germany, Germany said it would give them “substantial aid” in other words states it had lost in the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. This was a direct threat to the United States’ territory and that territory is the most valuable thing for a nation. The letter was impactful but not that impactful to be the sole factor of the United States’ entry in the United States. If this was the sole thing that happened, it is unlikely that the US would have entered the war. Americans were dying, and that was another things the US kept in mind while entering the war. A quote by Albert Einstein, “It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.” The United States felt guilty of all the American deaths because of its

Zieger points out a great question concerning this vague reason for going to war: If the pathological character of the German state was truly the reason for American entry, why did Wilson take so long to recognize its irredeemable evil? (Zieger, 54) Other would question Wilson's motives and influences for going to war or not going to war earlier for decades to come. Wilson's vision of neutrality and facilitating as peace maker for the warring nations as Roosevelt did in 1906 (Davidson, 647) came to questionable end. Wilson's next vision would be to facilitate peace as a member of the Allies and secure the world from another such war.

In the summer of 1914 World War I began in Europe between the Allied and Central powers. Although the war was seen as unavoidable in Europe it came as a surprise to the American people. When word reached America of the outbreak of war, President Wilson urged the United States government and the American people to hold a neutral attitude on the war in Europe(1). For the most part President Wilson’s initial stance on neutrality was strongly supported by the majority of the country. In the early stages of World War I President Wilson approached both the Central and Allied leaders and offered to be a mediator between the two sides. “The Central Powers replied that victory was certain, and the Allies required the dismemberment of their enemies' empires. No desire for

The United States entered World War I to fight for democracy. Another reason they entered war was because the arguments about capitalism. Part of the reason they entered the war was because of the German submarine warfare. Lives of innocent people were being taken for no reason. “German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind.” “American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of.” John Kenneth Turner said that the he thought that the war was a war for business. World War I made 21,000 new american millionaires, and 60,000 men made more than three billion dollars over their normal income. War makes money which is why Wall Street wanted war. America’s war aims were to keep the people safe, and increase the trading. They wanted to have peace and justice in the

Beginning from the birth of the United States, a policy of neutrality and a will to stay out of foreign affairs is evident. So when archduke Ferdinand was assassinated the United States wanted to try its best to reap the benefits of the situation while avoiding joining in the conflict that would come to be known as World War 1. However, in 1917 the United States declared war on Germany despite this longstanding tradition and joined the conflict. One of the leading causes of this decision was the aggression of the German naval policy. When Great Britain set up a naval blockade to cease trade with Germany, Germany declared their U-boats would attack ships traversing those waters. This aggressive policy led to a hindrance on American trade as well as an endangerment of American citizens causing them to side against Germany. An additional factor that influenced the United States to side against the Germans In World War 1 was Allied propaganda. Since the United States was cut off from the Germans and the others of the triple alliance this was the only propaganda that they had encountered. President Woodrow Wilson’s ideology also played a factor in joining the war. Woodrow Wilson claimed that entering the war

President Wilson was seen as an the only idealistic person from the influential people in the conference. As a matter of fact the Treaty of Versailles is seen from historians’ point of views as one of the main reasons that lead to World War Two. The questions that remains a mystery is where is the peace that President Wilson wanted and promised for

It was unnecessary for the united states of america to join the world war 1. The united states getting into ww1 t actually made the war last longer. The united states was not in any real danger in the first world war. Germany had no long range weapons or planes that could come close enough to america to do anything to it or a big enough navy that could hurt america. So why fight an enemy that isn't a threat to you that money and time could have been spent on actual problems that affected america . 53,402 american soldiers died in battle and 63, 114 deaths for other reasons such as illness resulting in a total of 116,516 deaths. In ww2 405,399 deaths happened. That's more than 3 times the amount of deaths from ww1. Just imagine how hard it must have been for all those families to deal

One justification for the United States entering World War I, would be that the United States’ international transactions, money-wise, were affected. The U.S government’s perception would be to enter WWI, so that the loss of profits from Germany would, hopefully, increase the potential profits of loans and exports from France and Britain. Secretary William Jennings Bryan’s message to President Woodrow Wilson, August 10th, 1914 stated, “...because the value of the [loan] would be directly affected by the result of the war…”. This extract from the document, attests that to some extent the United States was justified to enter WWI, because of …

The notion of an American way of war informs how scholars, policymakers, and strategists understand how Americans fight. A way of war—defined as a society’s cultural preferences for waging war—is not static. Change can occur as a result of important cultural events, often in the form of traumatic experiences or major social transformations. A way of war is therefore the malleable product of culturally significant past experiences. Reflecting several underlying cultural ideals, the current American way of war consists of three primary tenets—the desire for moral clarity, the primacy of technology, and the centrality of scientific management systems—which combine to create a preference for decisive, large-scale conventional wars with clear objectives and an aversion to morally ambiguous low-intensity conflicts that is relevant to planners because it helps them address American strategic vulnerabilities.

First of all, I think the United States did a good job of deciding to enter World War One (WW1) for the following reasons,

When the First World War erupted in Europe on July 28, 1914; President Woodrow Wilson formally proclaimed that the United States would remain neutral on August 4, 1914. However, the United States did not stick to this proclamation, and eventually became involved in the war efforts. This investigation aims to evaluate the reasons the United States violated their neutrality in order to join the war. In inquiring into the reasons of the United States’ entry into the war, the Zimmermann telegram will be assessed. Primary sources, Message to Congress., 2d Sess., Senate Doc and War Messages, 65th Cong., 1st Sess. Senate Doc. No. 5 by Woodrow Wilson will also be assessed. Online sources, for example

Throughout history there has been competition for resources and domination. This competition has led to conflicts that have caused destruction, social disruptions and death. World War I was no exception to this competition. World War I was known as the war to end all wars and was caused by a combination of factors. Some causes of World War I was nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and the main cause which was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip of Serbia. While the United States attempted to remain neutral and stay out of the war, Germany choose actions that gave the U.S. no choice but to enter and help their Allies defeat the other powers.