Why America Joined Ww1 Essay

Now that world war had once again begun, US involvement seemed inevitable. The United States didn't want to be involved in foreign, political wars. We wanted to be left alone. As a result, the Senate was strongly against the Versailles Treaty and refused to ratify it(4). We made a separate peace with Germany. This would come back to haunt us after we were forced into war by the attack of Pearl Harbor.

World War I devastated Europe and brought unprecedented human suffering. There were more than 38 million military and civilian casualties: 17 million deaths and over 20 million wounded, and a toll of $186 billion in direct costs, and an $151 billion in indirect costs. [1] The allied powers negotiated the Treaty of Versailles, which officially brought the war to end in June of 1919, with very limited participation by Germany. The provisions of the treaty primarily blamed Germany for the war, and imposed unreasonable terms that were responsible for German expansion, hyperinflation, and economic downfall, and eventually led directly to World War II. [2]

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

WWI started on July 28, 1914 and ended on November 11, 1918. At the time a man named Woodrow Wilson was president at the time. President Wilson did not want to go to war. In DBQ 16: Why Did We Enter World War I?-Historical Context by J. Weston Walch, it says “People were determined to keep out of the conflict and applaud president Wilson when he asked that his fellow citizens remain “neutral in fact as well as in name.””Then Germany started unrestricted warfare and a telegram was intercepted saying that a few of our states were going to be given to mexico if they helped germany attack the U.S. These are the main reasons why the U.S should join WWI.

“Every man who really loves America will act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality”.1 These are the words of President Woodrow Wilson during his “Declaration of Neutrality” on August 19, 1914. Something crazy would happen, the United States would enter The Great War a three years later. A lot of things influenced the United States to finally get to their eventual declaration of war on Germany. The two factors I thought most significant were: the United States’ economic interests favoring Great Britain and Wilson’s insatiable need to have a voice at the peace talks in Europe.

By the time President Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany and its allies, the World War I had already been raging for four years (Doenecke, 2010, p. 1). Prior to this declaration of war, America had tried to remain neutral, while Germany, Autria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria waged war against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Rumania, and Japan. Many of these belligerents joined the war at various times during this four year period, so the war continued to expand during this four year period. Wilson and a significant percentage (49%) of the American public had wanted to stay out of this conflict as possible when it first started (Doenecke, 2010, p. 20), but a series of events forced America's hand.

The American decision to declare war on Germany was influenced by several factors of varying degrees. To a great extent, the aggressive German naval policy contributed to the involvement of the United States in World War I. A secondary influence on this decision derived from U.S. economic interests abroad and on the homefront. Another influence leading to America’s entrance into war was the use of Allied propaganda. Therefore, the combination of German naval policy, American economic interests, and allied propaganda influenced to the American decision

This effectively made it impossible to trade with Germany as Document C reinforces when reflecting on the war. The British navy was one of the strongest in the world for America to go against them would be suicide and they also depended much more on Britain for trade and economic reasons than Germany. Which meant America was to stick to their neutrality and do nothing. They continued trading to the countries they were able to and left alone the countries they could not. In the letter of secretary of state William Bryan to the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations (Document D) he implies that the U.S. is still neutral. He then goes on to explain what a tight place the U.S. is in. He addresses many of the points made in Document B and articulates why the U.S. has made some of the decisions it has and gives very convincing argument that the U.S. has had neutrality as its motivation the whole time. Germany was most likely irritated with the United States passive manner and upset that they did not come to German rescue when they still openly traded with they’re enemies and then claiming neutrality. In their eyes America’s standoffish attitude most likely justified they’re actions towards the U.S. but to the United States nothing could justify the German aggression they were going to receive as the war progressed.

When war erupted in Europe in 1914, the US adopted a policy of neutrality and seclusion. This policy was favored by a vast majority of Americans, especially those of German and Irish descent. The people of the United States were drawn from many nations, primarily from the nations at war. The deficiency of public unity was the primary concern when America entered the war on April 6, 1917. The Wilson Administration felt they needed to sway public opinion, because American

"He Kept us Out of War" (World War I Quotes). This quote was a democratic slogan stated during the election of 1916 on behalf of President Woodrow Wilson. This slogan makes an attempt to refer to the good leadership qualities and decisions that President Wilson made to keep the United States of America out of the war and that is why he should be elected again to serve as President. Though this made a valid argument to show that Wilson was smart to keep us out of war, many events took place that continued to anger the U.S. which eventually made them declare war on Germany on April 6th, 1917 (World War I). In doing this, they broke their policy of non intervention. The United States held out of the Great War for so long because of

Although Roosevelt was a great United States President, there is the matter of how exactly the United States entered World War II. There is no debate that Roosevelt thought that the United States should enter World War II. He knew that fascism was wrong and that the Axis Powers, led ultimately by Adolph Hitler of Germany, had to be defeated to protect democracy. Also, Roosevelt knew a war would boost the United State’s economy severely. Generally, in war time there is many more jobs, which decreases unemployment tremendously. However, the majority of the citizens of the United States wanted to take an isolated approach from the rest of the world as far as foreign affairs are concerned. As much as 85% of the public opposed entering the war.4 The United States did not want to enter into another world war, such as World War I, that costs so many lives and money. When World War II broke out in 1939 with Germany’s invasion of Poland, Roosevelt called Congress to revise the Neutrality Act in an attempt to enter the war. His attempt failed. Knowing the public would not agree to enter World War II, Roosevelt took several measures to make sure that

America's policy of insisting on neutral rights while also trying to broker a peace resulted in tensions with both Berlin and London. US president Woodrow Wilson repeatedly warned that he would not tolerate unrestricted submarine warfare, and the Germans repeatedly promised to stop. In January 1917 the German military decided that unrestricted submarine warfare was the best gamble to choke British supplies before the American troops could arrive in large numbers. A proposal to Mexico to join the war was exposed in February, bringing war closer. (See Zimmerman telegram). After further U-boat attacks on American merchant ships, Wilson requested that Congress declare war on Germany, which it did on April 6, 1917 (see: Woodrow Wilson declares war on Germany on Wikisource). The House approved the war resolution 373-50, the Senate 82-6, with opposition coming mostly from German

Yet another factor that led to this decision of Neutrality by President Roosevelt was the American Economy. The health of the American economy could not be jeopardized, whatever was happening elsewhere. It was Roosevelt’s view that the United States would fare well (economically speaking) whether Europe went to war or not. Gold was flowing in from Europe’s capitals, orders were mounting daily for equipment and supplies of all kinds, and America was building a battleship for Stalin. For most of the 1930’s the United States traded as openly with Germany and Japan, as it did with any other country. Japan relied on fuel oil and scrap iron until 1941. Germany was one of the United States’ most important markets during the 1930’s. American investments in Germany increased by forty percent

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