The Reasons Why the U.S. Entered WWI

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James De Lorenzo
Mr. Misurelli
U.S History II B
3 March 2013
The Reasons why the US Entered WWI The First World War erupted on the 28th of July, 1914 with the assassination of the Austrian Archduke. This horrific war finally ended on November 11th, 1918. The United States didn’t officially enter the war until April 6th, 1917. The US entered during the middle of the war and endured the bloody conflict to the very end. Woodrow Wilson, the president of the US during WWI, struggled with the choice of having the United States enter the war or not. Woodrow Wilson, as well as Congress, wanted the United States to remain neutral throughout the war and stay out of European affairs. After all, the US is 3,000 miles away and involving itself in the agonizing total war could be very costly. The United States really had no choice, I feel that they did it to them self. If the United States never try to sending weapons, medical supplies, and money to Britain and France. They stayed truly neutral they would never join Word War 1. The Americans had no idea that war was imminent in the summer of 1914. Under Presidential Control, Wood Wilson wanted the United States to stay neutral. Public opinion went along with neutrality at first. Neutrality was strongly among the Irish Americans, German Americans, and Swedish Americans, as well as many farmers especially in the South, and church leaders and women. German atrocities in Belgium

De Lorenzo 2 and the RMS Lusitania, partly as German- Americans lost influence, and partly in response to Wilson's position that America had to play a role to make the world safe for democracy. (www.boundless.com) The sinking of the Lusitania heightened tensions between the U.S. and Germany and helped sway American opinion in favor of joining the war. The first big incident that happen to the United States to join World War 1 was the sinking of the RMS Lusitania. The Lusitania was a British ocean liner that had 120 Americans on bored. On May 1, 1915, the Lusitania left port in New York for Liverpool to make her 202nd trip across the Atlantic. (http://history1900s.about.com) Since The World War 1 had started it was very dangerous for ships to get to Europe. Each side would try to blockade each other to prevent war supplies to reaching the enemy. German U-boats stalked British waters they continually looking for enemy ships holding war supplies to sink. May 7, 1915, Captain William Thomas Turner slowed the Lusitania down because of fog. 14 miles off the coast of Southern Ireland at Old Head of Kinsale, neither the captain nor any of his crew realized that the German U-boat, U-20, had already spotted and targeted them (http://history1900s.about.com) The U-boat fired a torpedo and hit the starboard side of the Lusitania. The Lusitania sunk within 18 minutes. 1,959 people on board, 1,198 died, the toll of civilians killed in this disaster shocked the world. The Americas were outraged that 120 Americas had died. The final incident that happen to the United States to join The World War 1 was The Zimmermann Telegram. In 1916 Woodrow Wilson was elected President for a second term, because of the slogan "He kept us out of war." Events in the
De Lorenzo 3 early 1917 would change the hope of Americans staying out of the war. On January of 1917, British cryptographers deciphered a telegram from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Minister to Mexico, von Eckhardt, offering United States territory to Mexico in return for joining the German cause.(http://www.archives.gov). British waited until February 24 to present the telegram to Woodrow Wilson. The United States press published news of the telegram on March 1. The public opinion changed that day people wanted to go to war and stop Germany. At first Wilson tried to maintain neutrality while fighting off the submarines. The U-boats sank seven us ships after then President Wilson called congress to vote declaration of war on Germany, which Congress voted on 6 April 1917. The vote was passed and the United State had entered World War 1. The United States home front had very little planning to go to war with Germany. Entire population of the United States to produces the soldiers, food supplies, and money needed to win the war. The United States government set 500,000 to 1,000,000 new employees to bring together the expertise necessary to redirect the economy into the production for war supplies and food necessary for the war. The Food Administration lead by Herbert Hoover made a massive campaign to teach Americans to economize on their food budgets, so the government could send food to their troops. Propaganda was very big in the news rooms in the United States. They often lied about what was going on in the west about Germany to get young men to sign ` De Lorenzo 4 up for the Military. Children had a big role in helping troops across seas, the Boy Scouts of America helped distribute war pamphlets, helped sell war bonds, and helped to drive nationalism and support for the war. The United States had a small army, after the passage of the Selective Service Act it drafted 2.8 million men and by summer 1918 was sending 10,000 fresh soldiers to France every day. The United States Navy sent a battleship group to join with the British Grand Fleet to Queenstown Ireland and submarines to help guard ships with imported goods and war supplies. On the battlefields United States troops kept coming and Germany were unable to replace their losses. Victory over Germany was achieved on November 11, 1918 after German morale had collapsed on both the Western and Home Fronts. After the war Britain, France and Italy inputted hard economic penalties on Germany in the Treaty of Versailles. The United States Senate did not sign the Treaty of Versailles, they felt that Britain, France and Italy were being too hard on Germany. The United States signed separate peace treaties with Germany and its allies. Senate also rejected to enter the newly created League of Nations on Wilson's terms.