Woodrow Wilson Prepare America For War Essay

The end of Woodrow Wilson’s first term was met with great approval by the American people for avoiding war in Europe. His first term demonstrated a fair and balanced foreign policy. By the end of his term, Wilson knew in the back of his head, that the United States would not be able to evade war in Europe. Several attempts were made by the United States to make peace with foreign nations who were causing problems. As the turbulence developed in Europe, Wilson began making plans to prepare America for war. Although steps during Woodrow Wilson’s presidency could have been made to maintain neutrality, Wilson was more or less forced into the Great War in 1917 by Germany being oblivious and indifferent towards his warnings. Throughout the
early twentieth century, the provocation between European nations quickly escalated after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand’s wife, Sophie. Because the shooter was a Serbian nationalist and the assassination itself was perceived by the emperor as an attack on royalty, conflict was the only form of retaliation. The initial conflict between Austria-Hungry and Serbia led to the creation of several joint alliances. Knowing that the United States had no part in causing the war in Europe, Wilson declared that America would remain impartial through the Declaration of Neutrality. However, Wilson’s cultural and economic ties with Great Britain made him prefer Britain over Germany. Other problems with Germany during the early twentieth century also caused hostility with the U.S. government. Germany not only stopped goods going into Great Britain, but also prevented several shipments going out of the United States by encouraging German-Americans to stop shipments. As a result, trading with Germany would eventually come to an end and trading with Great Britain rapidly increased. Because Wilson continued to trade with Britain, Germany did not see the United States maintaining the neutrality it once declared to have. If Wilson was to completely avoid war in Europe, than the one sided trading with Great Britain had to stop. Although Wilson did his best to avoid entangling the United States with Europe, it was evident through the unrestricted submarine warfare declared by Germany, that at some point, America had to intervene.
Von Bismarck, a German aristocrat during the mid to late eighteen hundreds, believed in a smaller, but more powerful Germany. Later efforts were made by Wilhelm II in the late nineteenth century to make Bismarck’s idea come to fruition by militarizing Germany and designing new policy. During his reign, Wilhelm was able to build three dozen battleships. As a result, Germany became a much more dominant naval power leading up to the Great War. The creation of the submarine also gave the Germans an unprecedented power over Great Britain. It was not the creation of the submarine that frightened Britain and the United States, but it was how the submarine was used. On February 4th, 1915, Germany threatened to sink any ships within British waters. Even neutral nations were warned not to sail within the restricted area. However, if neutral nations chose to, they would be doing so at their own risk. As a result, Great Britain protested that Germany could not suddenly change the rules of war. At the same time, the United States instantly opposed the war zone and warned Germany that it would do whatever it could to safeguard American lives and
property. Even with the stern warning given by Wilson, Germany remained apathetic towards the United States. In May of 1915, the Lusitania, a British passenger ship with a hundred and twenty eight Americans, was sunk by a German submarine. The sinking was met by Wilson denouncing the German government. Later that year, a German submarine sunk another British passenger ship. Outraged, Wilsons sent a letter to Germany threatening to sever diplomatic relations. The following year, a French passenger boat was sunk by a German submarine. Again, Wilson forgave the Germans with a temporary ultimatum. The Housatonic, a U.S. ship, was torpedoed early the following year in 1917. As a result, Wilson severed diplomatic relations with Germany. At this point, Wilson knew he could not climb his way out of the hole he got into. He finally realized that it was time to prepare the United States for war.
As the turmoil expressed throughout Europe worsened, Wilson did his best to avoid entanglement. Wilson made multiple attempts to forgive Germany for sinking U.S. ships. However, Wilson could not do much more to prevent the United States going to war in Europe if the Germans continued to ignore his demands to put an end to unrestricted submarine warfare.

Bibliography
Brinkley, Alan. “The Road to War” A Survey: American History. 12th ed: McGraw-Hill Companies. Pg.613-617. Print
This is a secondary source. It provided information regarding the short term and long term causes of the Great War.
“The Great War” The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 2012. Print.
This is a secondary source. It provided an in depth look at Wilson’s reasons for entering the conflict in Europe.
United States. Cong. Senate. President Wilson 's Declaration of Neutrality. By Woodrow Wilson. 63rd Cong., 2nd sess. S. Doc. 566. WWI Document Archive. 2009. Web. 17 Dec. 2013. .
This is a primary source. It validates how Woodrow Wilson wanted to maintain neutrality with belligerent European nations.