Introduction
At the start of WW1, the American President claimed to remain neutral, and this was the policy favoured by a vast majority of Americans. 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 how things changed in a certain way will be discussed in this paper.
Discussion
President Woodrow Wilson was not in favour of entering into World War 1. However, the USA entered this war for certain reasons. Many ships of the USA were travelling to Britain, and the 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 became the reason for President Wilson’s outrage; however, the German government made an apology and categorized this as an unfortunate blunder. Later on, on the seventh of May, a British ocean liner named Lusitania was sunk without any warning while it was passing by the coast of Ireland. The 1,198 passengers were killed out of a total of 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 travellers 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 beginning 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 the war zone. After this declaration, the diplomatic relations of America with Germany were ended, and after a few hours, an American Liner named Housatonic was destroyed by a German boat. This resulted in the passing of 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 the Zimmerman Telegram. An encrypted message was sent from German Minister Zimmermann to Mexican German Minister Eckhart. It proposed an alliance between Mexico and Germany. Mexico lay on the south side of America, and this telegram was sent to the Allies in case America decided to join the Allies. It arranged that Germans would help Mexico to regain their lost territories in the Mexican-American war. Germany was also making efforts through Mexico so that they would bring Japan into war. This telegram was given to the US by Britain in the last week of February, and this resulted in outrage from the American Public.
All these things, along with the German attacks on submarines, led the USA to join the war. On April 2, President Wilson presented a bill for a declaration of war in Congress. After four days, this bill was passed in favour of declaring war on Germany. At the start, there were just 133,000 members in the US Army. 2.8 million men were inducted into war, and around 2 million Americans volunteered for their service in this conflict. In June 1917, the first infantry American troops entered the European continent and in October, they entered the combat in France.
The outcomes of World War 1 were greatly affected by the entry of the US. They tried to remain neutral, but there were so many conflicts happening at that time that they interfered in the war. The reasons why President Wilson’s opinion changed in favour of entering into war are significant. One of the important factors was the invasion of Belgium, which was neutral before. Germany’s massacre in the country was a major reason for the outrage of American citizens. There were stories of civilians who were unarmed and killed by Germans. Some of these stories were also propaganda for Britain, but there was a strong anti-German impression that settled in the minds of Americans. From an economic point of view, American businesspersons were in favour of allies. There was a Preparedness Movement, and most of the people in the business community favoured it because it was campaigning for the intervention of the US for allied forces. Even many harmless groups suffered the most from this severe oppression (Luebke).
Another major factor in the involvement of the US in the war was the sinking of the 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 US’s involvement made the world a safe place to live (Kennedy). With all the issues going on, public opinion changed against Germany, and the loyalty to the nation increased their anger against the enemy.
The morale of the forces was boosted by the arrival of American forces. October 1918, there were a total of 4 million 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 was to fight the greatest and most powerful economy in the world. As a result, the chances of defeat for Germany increased, and they signed an armistice in November 1918. The end of the 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 all 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 a safe place for democracy. The winning of powerful America was certain, but it 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 into the war was much needed at that moment. There were numerous reasons 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 whether 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 it had been spending a lot of money to buy war supplies, and now it was 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.
