War To End All War Essay

“The War to End All Wars” was erupted in 1914 with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand Archduke of Austria-Hungary. The war quickly consumed many countries, with Germany, Austria-Hungry, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria making the Central Powers, vs France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, and later the United States making up the Allied Powers. Originally the United States under President Woodrow Wilson was neutral and wanted to stay out of the war since it was in Europe. However, on April 6, 1917 America declared war on Germany, thus entering it into WWI. The Zimmerman Telegram led to the United States’ declaration of war, which made the United States’ involvement in the war just, and the results of United States joining the war in 1917 was the victory in Battle of Meuse-Argonne and the end of the war in 1918. When the war in Europe began the President of the United States Woodrow Wilson desired to stay neutral. “Both the Allied and Central Powers hoped to gain advantage over the other by controlling America’s trade relationships. Britain, who controlled the span of the North Atlantic Ocean, refused to allow American goods to be shipped to Germany and declared all cargo in neutral waters to be contraband. Britain then began seizing U.S. goods” (Aboukhadijeh). Britain also throttled the United States’ trade with Germany, by seizing American ships going to Germany, which led to the United States giving up on
trade with Germany. This made Germany furious and retaliate “Several U.S. ships traveling to Britain were damaged or sunk by German mines, and in February 1915 Germany announced unrestricted warfare against all ships, neutral or otherwise, that entered the war zone around Britain” (Staff). Then The German foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmerman sent a telegram to Mexico that said they intend to begin unrestricted submarine warfare against the United States. The Zimmerman telegram also proposed an alliance with Mexico in case of war between the United States and Germany, in return Germany would give Mexico back the territories of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. This Zimmerman telegraph was intercepted by British intelligence, and sent to the United States. “U.S. President Woodrow Wilson learned of the telegram’s contents on February 26; the next day he proposed to Congress that the U.S. should start arming its ships against possible German attacks” (Staff, Zimmermann Telegram published in United States). The United States formally entered WWI on April 6 1917, less than 2 months later after receiving the Zimmerman telegraph. Before entering WWI, the United States President Woodrow Wilson repeatedly tried to quickly end the war with peace treaties. “He repeatedly tried to prod the Germans and the British into a discussion of peace terms, usually on the basis of roughly the status quo ante bellum and post-war disarmament. On two occasions, in early 1915 and then again in early 1916, he sent his chief foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House (1858-1938) to Europe for face to face meetings with British, German, and French leaders, trying to find an avenue for wider talks or an opening for an American demand that hostilities cease” (Kennedy). These attempts for peace were never successful due to conflicting interests of France, Britain, and Germany. The United States entering the war was a last resort as self-defense to the murder of innocent American sailors, and the Zimmerman telegraph which threated their home land. Because of this, United States’ entrance into WWI was just.
The United States was originally neutral, until Germany awoke the sleeping beast of the American people, and feat which ultimately costed Germany the war. “America’s population of 90 million gave the military the potential to have a very large army. America’s industrial might was unparalled in the world” (Trueman). This military might culminate in the Battle of Meuse-Argonne, Germany spent four years building concrete bunkers, and defenses in the Argonne forest, which the new American “Dough-Boys” who had never seen combat had to run directly at in attempt to take the forest. The Battle of Meuse-Argonne took 6 weeks and was the bloodiest battle in American history to this day with “more than 120,000 casualties, including 26,277 dead” (Bradford Jr.). The young unexperienced American soldiers through their first yet, hardest fought battle of American history beat the experienced German Stormtroopers. The objective of this bloody battle was to capture the railroad hub at Sedan which would break the rail net supporting the German army in France. The Battle of Meuse-Argonne Offensive ended with the Americans still advancing until the Armistice of Germany in November 11, 1918 (Britannica). The Treaty of Versailles that officially ended the war a few months later was a direct result of America joining the war and winning The Battle of Meuse-Argonne.
The United States had a monumental influence on the result of WWI, it was with the help of the United States that the Allied Powers were able to take the Argonne Forest which the French had failed multiple times trying at a heavy cost.
When the American soldiers broke through the heavily fortified defenses in the Argonne Forest the Germans knew it was over and signed the Armistice of 11 November 1918. None of that would have happened in the time frame that it did if it wasn’t for the United States justly joining the war in 1917, because of the Zimmerman
telegraph.