![]() ![]() On April 4, the Senate voted 82 to 6 to declare war. On April 2, 1917, Wilson went before a special joint session of Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Germany, stating: “The world must be made safe for democracy.” The American public was outraged by the news of the Zimmermann telegram and it, along with Germany’s resumption of submarine attacks, helped lead to the United States joining the war. The British gave President Wilson the Zimmermann telegram on February 24, and on March 1 the American press reported on its existence. Additionally, Germany wanted Mexico to help convince Japan to come over to its side in the conflict. ![]() The so-called Zimmermann telegram proposed an alliance between Germany and Mexico-America’s southern neighbor-if America joined the war on the side of the Allies.Īs part of the arrangement, the Germans would support the Mexicans in regaining the territory they’d lost in the Mexican-American War- Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Meanwhile, in January 1917, the British intercepted and deciphered an encrypted message from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German minister in Mexico, Heinrich von Eckhart. merchant ships, resulting in multiple casualties. During February and March, German U-boats sank a series of U.S. In response, America severed diplomatic ties with Germany on February 3. However, on January 31, 1917, the Germans reversed course, announcing they would resume unrestricted submarine warfare, reasoning it would help them win the war before America, which was relatively unprepared for battle, could join the fighting on behalf of the Allies. In response, the Germans issued the Sussex pledge, promising to stop attacking merchant and passenger ships without warning. Afterward, the United States threatened to cut diplomatic ties with Germany. In March 1916, a German U-boat torpedoed a French passenger ship, Sussex, killing dozens of people, including several Americans. Seeger was killed in the war in 1916.) Other Americans volunteered with the Lafayette Escadrille, a unit of the French Air Service, or drove ambulances for the American Field Service. (Among them was the poet Alan Seeger, whose poem “I Have a Rendezvous with Death” later was a favorite of President John F. citizens enlisted in the French Foreign Legion. Starting in the early months of the war, a group of U.S. Meanwhile, some Americans joined the fighting in Europe their own. In response, Wilson signed the National Defense Act in June of that year, expanding the Army and the National Guard, and in August, the president signed legislation designed to significantly strengthen the Navy.Īfter campaigning on the slogans “He Kept Us Out of War” and “America First,” Wilson was elected to a second term in the White House in November 1916. In 1916, as American troops were deployed to Mexico to hunt down Mexican rebel leader Pancho Villa following his raid on Columbus, New Mexico, concerns about the readiness of the U.S. Roosevelt promoted the Preparedness Movement, whose aim was to persuade the nation it must get ready for war. Some Americans disagreed with this nonintervention policy, including former president Theodore Roosevelt, who criticized Wilson and advocated going to war. President Wilson demanded that the Germans stop unannounced submarine warfare however, he didn’t believe the United States should take military action against Germany. The incident strained diplomatic relations between Washington and Berlin and helped turn public opinion against Germany. On May 7, 1915, a German submarine sank the British ocean liner Lusitania, resulting in the deaths of nearly 1,200 people, including 128 Americans. ![]() banks also provided the warring nations with loans, the bulk of which went to the Allies. Additionally, America was home to a number of immigrants from countries at war with each other and Wilson wanted to avoid this becoming a divisive issue.Īmerican companies, however, continue to ship food, raw materials and munitions to both the Allies and Central Powers, although trade between the Central Powers and the United States was severely curtailed by Britain’s naval blockade of Germany. With no vital interests at stake, many Americans supported this position. On August 4, as World War I erupted across Europe, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed America’s neutrality, stating the nation “must be neutral in fact as well as in name during these days that are to try men’s souls.” Russia, France and Great Britain, the major Allied Powers, eventually were joined by Italy, Japan and Portugal, among other nations. Germany and Austria-Hungary later teamed with the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria and were referred to collectively as the Central Powers. ![]()
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