Why Did The Us Enter Ww1

The United States entered the war late on April 6th 1917, it had to quickly ramp up its efforts to supply troops and ammunition to the front. Training camps started popping up all throughout the country to meet the demand. A draft was put in place to generate enough men to go over and fight. There was a social cry for war, many people hopped on the bandwagon to help out anyway they could. The United states had to quickly mobilize their forces deploying, a draft and creating many pop up training camps throughout the country as well as converting factories from commercials goods to munitions. Many men flocked to enlist after the U.S joined the war. However the number on men that volunteered did not merely meet the number of men required to fight.
President Woodrow Wilson brought about a draft to meet requirements. Many were against this draft but there were no riots throughout the country protesting it. “May 18, 1917, Congress ratified the Selective Service Act, requiring all able-bodied males between the ages of 21 and 31 to register for active duty”(infobase). After congress put this act into law all men had to enlist meeting the requirements for war. Thirty-two camps were created, 16 in the north and 16 in the south, each being near a railroad so supplies could easily be brought in. Propaganda was widely used during WWI.
Its goal was getting Americans to back the war and help in any way they could. Propaganda was controlled by the Committee of Public information. The committee sent speakers around the country to make to insight nationalistic views in the people. They hired hundreds of writers artists and speakers to achieve their goals of rallying as many people behind the war effort as possible. Along with speakers they put up posters to show the people that the enemy was the devil and wrote articles about heroes to make the people feel we were winning the war. There motto was “100% Americanism”(infobase). This motto put American nationalism into a two word
statement. Twelve train cars a day were brought into to each camp to meet supplies needed. Men were given physicals to prove that they were physically capable of fighting. “The men were given complete physicals, most for the first time in their lives. Many had never been to a dentist. It was probably not a pleasant first experience. Overworked army dentists simply pulled out any tooth that looked like it might give trouble”(infobase). Instructors had to turn their men from fresh recruits into hard soldiers capable of fighting. The government had to tens of billions of dollars to fund the war effort. New taxes on income, alcohol and tobacco were set in place to meet the this amount. The new taxes paid for about one third of all funds needed, the rest was to be borrowed through war bonds.”Clubs and civic groups of all types, as well as federal and local government agencies, organized "Victory Loan" and "Liberty Loan" drives to encourage citizens to buy war bonds”(infobase). Many music and movie stars helped to create funds by urging the populus to invest in war bonds. Commercial factories were converted from the production of goods to the production of munitions. Factories now started mass producing things such as ammunition, weapons and vehicles. “American industry had to be converted to war production. Steps were made to shift production to arms”(histclo). Corporated executives had to rearrange shipping methods to meet demands to supply a war. Many train and other transportations schedules were changed to meet this demand. Trains ran around the clock supplying factories with the needed supplies to mass produce wartime goods. The war industry board began seizing materials such and coal and steel. They also assumed control of production.(infobase) They also created new industries to meet war demands such as the arms trade. The War Trade Board also had full control over imports and exports. They controlled how much was going out to keep as much as they could for the war effort. The Federal Fuel Administration assumed full control over resources like coal and oil.
Two of the most important resources during war time. Coal and fuel are needed to fuel vehicles to move the raw materials to the factories and then the munitions to the front. “In order to provide enough fuel for defense industries, the Fuel Administration forced nonessential industries to close on certain days during the winter of 1918”(US History). This move was made to lower the energy usage on the homeland so it could be repurposed to aid the war effort. Many were against this move. This plan was quickly replaced to one that prioritized deliveries of fuel to front instead of restriction homeland use, however it was a step in the right direction to improving the efficiency of the American war machine. The Federal Food Administration was founded to provide adequate food supplies for military needs. It looked over farm production to make sure they were as efficient as possible. It also regulated food prices. The administration asked Americans to plant victory gardens to repurpose the food being produced to the front. People could be self sustainable so they no longer had to live off commerical food. All of the food that was longer being eaten by Americans on the homefront was sent to the soldiers fighting in
Europe.(infobase)
The United states had to quickly mobilize their forces, deploying a draft and creating many pop up training camps throughout the country as well as converting factories from commercials goods to munitions. America successfully organized materials and troops to send the the front. It was a hard work to do in a short amount of time but they were successful.