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Why the USA entered World War 1 in 1917

Introduction

At the start of WW1, American President claimed to remain neutral, and this was the policy favored by a vast majority in America. However, at that time, Britain was a trade partner of America, and this thing created tension between the relations of America and Germany. These things became even more stressed. The events that occurred during that time and they things changed in a certain way will be discussed in this paper.

Discussion

President Woodrow Wilson was not in favor of entering into World War 1. However, USA entered in this war because of certain reasons. Many ships of USA were traveling to Britain, and Germans sank them. Even during February 1915, unrestricted warfare was announced against all the ships. During this course, an American private vessel named William P Frye was sunk. This thing became the reason for the outrage of President Wilson however; German government made an apology and categorized this as an unfortunate blunder. Later on, at seventh of May, a British ocean liner named Lusitania was sunk in without any warning while it was passing by the coast of Ireland. The 1,198 passengers were killed out of the total 1,959. The number of Americans killed during this incident was 128. Germans were claiming that there were weapons on this ship while this thing was unacceptable. America demanded an end to these attacks taking place on merchant ships and unarmed passengers. It resulted in a pledge in August in which Germany promised to ensure the safety of travelers before sinking an unarmed ship. Despite this, an Italian liner was sunk without giving any warning, and 27 Americans were killed in the 272 causalities. All these incidents resulted in changing the public opinion of Americans against Germany.

These threats and counter threats started to increase during the starting years of the twentieth century, and in this game of European power, anions put themselves in an inflexible position (Coffman). In 1917, Germany announced warfare in the waters of war-zone. After this declaration, the diplomatic relations of America with Germany were ended, and after few hours, an American Liner named Housatonic was destroyed by a German boat. This thing resulted in passing a bill in Congress of $250 million to prepare the USA for war. Germany sank four other American merchant ships at the end of March.

Another important factor in driving American forces in World War 1 was Zimmerman Telegram. An encrypted message was sent from Germany Minister Zimmermann to Mexican German Minister, Eckhart. It proposed an alliance between Mexico and Germany. Mexico lied on the south side of America, and this telegram was sent to ally in case America decided to join allies. It arranged that Germans would help Mexico to regain their lost territories in Mexican American war. Germany was also making efforts through Mexico so that they will bring Japan into war. This telegram was given to the US by Britain in last week of February, and this resulted in the outrage from American Public.

All these things along with the German attacks on submarines lead the USA to join the war. On April 2, a bill for a declaration of war was presented in Congress by President Wilson. After four days, this bill was passed in favor of declaring war beside Germany. At the start, there were just 133,000 members in US army. 2.8 million Men were inducted in war, and around 2 million Americans volunteered for their service in this conflict. In June 1917, the first infantry American troops entered in the European continent and in October, they entered in the combat in France.

The outcomes of World War 1 were greatly affected by the entry of US in it. They tried to remain neutral, but there were so many conflicts happening at that time which caused them to interfere in this war. The reasons why the opinion of President Wilson changed in favor of entering into War are significant. One of the important factors was an invasion of Belgium that was neutral before. Germans massacre in the country was a major reason for the outrage of American citizens. There were stories of civilians that were unarmed and killed by Germans. Some of these stories were also propaganda of Britain, but there was a strong anti-German impression settled in the minds of Americans. From an economic point of view, American businesspersons were in favor of allies. There was a Preparedness Movement, and most of the people in business community favored it because it was campaigning for the intervention of US for allied forces. Even many harmless groups were suffered most from this severe oppression (Luebke).

Another major factor for the involvement of US in the war was the sinking of Lusitania as discussed above. The reason behind the infuriation of Americans was that the people on board were not warned before the attack. Also, there was a pledge of diplomatic relations between America and Germany that heated the emotions of Americans against Germany. Another reason was the unrestricted warfare of submarines against all the ships reaching Britain. The involvement of US took place to make the world a safe place to live (Kennedy). With all the issues going on, the public opinion changed against German, and the loyalty to nation increased their anger against the enemy.

The morale of forces was boosted with the arrival of American forces. October 1918, there were total 4 million of Americans taking part in the war. 1.3 million Troops were fighting on the front while 2 million were in France. The morale of enemies also decreased because they knew what it is to fight the greatest and powerful economy of the world. As a result, the chances of defeat for Germany increased, and they signed an armistice in November 1918. The end of world war resulted in the formation of two entirely different societies. One of which focused on materialism while the other one was motivated towards collectivism. The winning party sharpened the rivalry. There is a cold war that still exists, and its effects are felt over the world. Even some of the factors still exist.

The complete course of the war was changed because of American intervention. The real aim was not fulfilled, but this was done to make this world safe place for democracy. The winning of powerful America was certain but is also had an accelerated effect on the industrial pressure in war.

Conclusion

All the events and reasons discussed above are strong evidence that the entry of America in the war was much needed at that moment. There was numerous reason that forced the entry of America into war when they were determined to stay in the neutral position. The history would have completely changed if America had not entered in America. Germany was not refraining from attacking all the ships entering the war zone no matter they were loaded with arsenals or not. There had to be a big power like America to enter the war zone to end it. Britain would have to slow down its spending on military equipment because that had been spending a lot of money to buy war supplies and now they were running out of money. A great economic boom happened in the US because Britain made heavy purchases to play a defensive role.

Works Cited

Coffman, Edward M. The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I. University Press of Kentucky, 2014.

Luebke, Frederick C. Bonds of Loyalty: German-American and World War I. Northern Illinois University Press, 1974.

Kennedy, David M. Over here: The first world war and American society. Oxford University Press, 2004.

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