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Trench Warfare In World War I

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World War I left a lasting impression on the world. New weapons such as tanks and poison gas turned the war into a “war of attrition.” Trench warfare was primarily used in this war and the conditions there were part of the reason why millions of people died. The war remained a stalemate between the opposing sides until the United States made the decision to join the war on the side of the Allies. This changed the course of the war and the Allies beat the Central Powers. Many factors in Europe contributed to the start of the war. Later, other reasons forced America to join the war which would leave drastic results. Many things happened in Europe which lead to the outbreak of war. As early as 1872, France lost Alsace and Lorraine on her eastern …show more content…

For example, on May 7th, 1915, German submarines torpedoed the British passenger ship, the Lusitania. According to Source 2, about 1,260 people died and 128 of those people were American. The Germans continued to use unrestricted submarine warfare and torpedo neutral ships which went against our morals and angered us. Another thing that pushed us to join the war was the Zimmermann Telegram. The Zimmermann Telegram was a message to the German minister of Mexico that was sent from Berlin, January 19th, 1917. It told the Mexicans to attack us and reclaim their lost territories in America if we got involved in the war against Germany, The Germans thought that if Mexico attacked us, we wouldn’t join WWI and they could have an easy victory. However, it had the opposite effect and it created more anti-German feelings in America. Another reason we joined the war was to make the world safe from evil. According to Woodrow Wilson’s War Message in Source 4, “Our object is to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power.” We wanted to join the war to spread and protect democracy, not to conquer land like most European nations. All of these events lead to our entrance to the

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