The Influence Of The Great War

President Wilson had cautioned citizens from taking side in the war in fear of jeopardizing wider US policy, during the time of neutrality. Untied States maintained this neutrality despite increasing pressure on President Wilson after the sinking of the Lusitania. This neutrality would crumble when Germany started to introduce its unrestricted submarine

Yet, events in Europe were altering President Wilson's outlook on the war. Germany's campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare was the cause of the loss of American lives in the Atlantic. The sinking of the Lusitania, a British liner, off the coast of Ireland on May 7, 1915 by a German U-boat that killed 128 Americans was a harsh reality that

On May 7th 1915, German U-boats, patrolling in the Atlantic Ocean, fired torpedoes at the British ship the Lusitania, sinking her in 20 minutes. On the ship were 128 Americans. President Wilson, demanded that Germany stop attacking passenger ships, and declared that America was too proud to fight. Wilson also tried to mediate a compromise settlement but failed. Wilson also repeatedly warned

The Great War, or World War I as it came to be known, dealt a devastating blow to the optimism and self-confidence of Western civilization (Foner 733). In fact, when war occurred in the year 1914, President Wilson proclaimed American neutrality. However, as in the years leading up to the War of 1812, naval warfare which was in Europe made its way into the United States (Foner 734). In addition to this, Britain declared a naval blockade of Germany and started to stop American merchant vessels (Foner 734). Moreover, Germany made the decision to commence submarine warfare on ships seen entering and leaving British ports. What is more, is that in May of 1915, the British liner Lusitania (which was transporting an excessive amount of weapons such as firearms) was sank by a German submarine off of the coast of Ireland, this resulted in the death of 1,198 passengers, 124 of which were Americans (Foner 734).

In May of 1915 a British ship called the Lusitania was sunk off of the coast of the United Kingdom in waters claimed to be a war zone by the Germans. This ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat and ended up killing one thousand ninety-eight passengers including one hundred twenty-four American passengers. The sinking of the ship caused a major uproar amongst Americans and raised the tensions between Americans and Germans living in the United States. This had a major part in the Preparedness policy, Woodrow Wilson was originally opposed to the United States involvement in the war, but had some outside influences like Teddy Roosevelt trying to persuade him to have the United States get involved. With the Preparedness policy, he had the United States get ready for the possibility of joining into the war. Wilson wanted to maintain a large standing Army and wanted to maintain an unarmed neutrality.

The United States entered WWI for many reason. Initially the US claimed to remain neutral through the War, despite President Wilson leaning always towards the Allies cause. The unrestricted submarine warfare initiated by the Germans in response to the British Naval blockade targeted every ship that was near the British Empire, military or civilian alike. The sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, which was a British cruise/transport ship, bound for Britain from New York resulted in the 1195 people dying including 128 Americans contributed to the tug of war in the US to grow against the Germans. Even though the two countries dealt with this issue diplomatically by the Germans agreeing to stop the unrestricted submarine warfare, the promise did not last long. Another British passenger liner, the Arabic, was sunk the same years causing two American lives.

The United States got involved in WWI in 1917. Tensions began between the U.S. and Germany with the sinking of civilian and commercial ships using U-boats (submarines). An example of this was the sinking of a passenger liner called the Lusitania. About 1,200 people died in this incident, which included 128 Americans. These sinkings caused President Woodrow Wilson to threaten to break diplomatic relations in the case the Germans did not stop. The already existing tensions grew in 1917 when the Germans said they would sink merchant ships heading toward British or other Western European ports. To add to this, it was later discovered that the Germans had promised to help Mexico takeover the American state New Mexico if they assisted the Germans

August 1914 Woodrow Wilson asked Americans to remain impartial to the war that broken out in Europe. In the beginning Wilson wanted to exemplify their democratic commitment to peace. Although the war challenged the neutrality of America. American farms and factories fed and armed both of Allied and Central Powers. America stayed neutral throughout the beginning even though Germany had sank a British passenger ship “Lusitania” in May 1915, which killed 1,201 people, including 128 Americans. However this did outrage many Americans and Wilson sent a strong worded warning.

This was announced through several United States newspapers, some on the same page that advertised the Lusitania trip. One of the United States trading partners at the time was Britain, and the submarine warfare interfered with trade and caused tension to rise. German submarines were known for watching ships movements, so the British Admiralty warned the Lusitania to be careful in the area lined out by the unrestricted submarine warfare. They suggested that at minimum, the liner should zigzag in order to confuse the Germans. May seventh, nineteen fifteen, the Lusitania is sunk by a German Submarine, ending the lives of over one thousand three hundred passengers and one hundred thirty Americans. The captain of the ocean liner had ignored the British Admiralty’s warnings and recommendations, leading up to the attack on the starboard side. The torpedo that hit the Lusitania was followed by a larger explosion, assumed to be the ship’s boilers. The ship sank less than twenty minutes later near the sothern coast of Ireland. This was one of the main reasons that the United States entered World War

“At first, citizens across the world enthusiastically supported their countries. Men raced to sign up for military service, eager to get involved before the action would be over. New recruits marched off to war cheered by crowds of well-wishers. Anywhere a crowd would gather, be it a soccer match or a church service, military recruiters could be found. Signing up young men – and later, women – to serve their countries” (T. Pendergast and S. Pendergast 2).

The sinking of these ships outraged the United States and Germany couldn’t risk the United States entering the war. Following an apology to the United States for their actions, in August Germany pledged to see the safety of the passengers before sinking unarmed ships. This pledge would not last long because in November Germany sunk an Italian ship without warning, killing 272 people and 27 Americans. These incidents caused President Woodrow Wilson to send a strongly worded warning towards Germany to stop unrestricted submarine warfare against ships. This warning caused the German government to halt the operation of unrestricted submarine warfare. During the time that Germany stopped operations of unrestricted submarine warfare, they lost major battles to Great Britain’s Royal Navy. Germany’s surface fleet were no match for the Royal Navy’s surface fleet. Germany couldn’t stand fleet-to-fleet against the Royal Navy so Germany made a policy of avoiding all fleet-to-fleet confrontations. By 1917 the lack of a productive navy caused Britain to resume their blockade of Germany. This lead to representatives from the German Navy to convince the military leadership and Kaiser Wilhelm II that resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare can lead Germany to victory. They argued that the United States were never neutral to begin with since they were supplying ammunitions to Great Britain and the fact that Germany was losing due to exhaustion from lack of food due to

As a leader, Woodrow Wilson served as President from 1913 to 1921 as our country’s 28th president. He was a progressive President, a leader during the great war, placed policies and had a role in forging peace of World War I. Wilson furthermore, issued the Fourteen Points, had a role at Versailles, and used his efforts to get the treaty ratified in the United States. As a progressive president, Woodrow Wilson has concerns about our country and War that American neutrality was proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson when in 1914 the war broke out. In May of 1915, the Lusitania, a British passenger liner, was taken out by a German submarine. This action killed 1,198 on board, of that, 124 were Americans. “Wilson composed a note of protest

At the turn of 19-20 centuries, capitalism has evolved into imperialism. The world was almost completely divided between the major powers. Unbalance of economic and socio-political development of the countries increased. States, after others entered the path of capitalist development (United States, Germany, Japan), quickly moved forward and pushed aside from global markets old capitalist countries - Great Britain and France, aggressively seeking redistribution of colonies. The most acute contradictions have arisen between Germany and Great Britain, whose interests were encountered in many areas of the globe, but especially in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, where German imperialism mainly directed its trade and colonial expansion.

On the same year(1915) in November another ship was sunk by U-boat it was an Italian Liner it got attacked without warning. Again Americans drown in this ship more than 25 Americans died out of 270 or more people on board. U.S. citizens started to go against the Germans and this wasn't irreversible. On January 31,1917 Germany declared that they will use restricted warfare in war zone waters. “Three days later, the United States broke diplomatic relations with Germany, and just hours after that the American ship Housatonic was sunk by a German U-boat,”(History.com). The United States were ready for war on February 22 after the congress passed $250 million arms appropriation bill. The president declared war on Germany after they sunk four more U.S. Merchant ships. “On April 4, the Senate voted to declare war against Germany, and two days later the House of Representatives endorsed the declaration. With that, America entered World War

then increased trade with the Allies, Britain and France, which gave them closer ties with the Allies forces. Secondly, the German navy launched a U-boat submarine, which torpedoed the British luxury liner Lusitania and killed 128 Americans in the process. Next, the U.S. intercepted a telegram in which Germany’s foreign secretary sent to the German minister in Mexico City. The telegram was urging Mexico to join the Central Powers in the war, and Germany promised to help Mexico recover Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona in return. This threatened the territorial integrity of the U.S. The final reason for U.S. involvement in the war was when U-boats started attacking American ships without warning. This forced President Wilson to ask for a declaration of war before a special session of Congress.