Naomi Zimmermann
The Road to War With Germany
The US started off the war as neutral, as neither Wilson and the American public were keen on getting involved. The US did trade a lot with the allies though, so the German blockade of British goods interfered with the US economy. Eventually though, the US ended diplomatic relations with Germany after it announced that it would wage unrestricted submarine warfare.
There were several factors that led up to the US declaring war on Germany in 1917, including both ideological ideas of Wilson as well as specific actions that Germany took that incited anger in the American public and government.
The sinking of the Lusitania, a British liner, by German U-boat in 1915 enraged the American public as 128 American passengers were killed. Wilson issued a statement warning Germany that if they continued their unrestricted submarine warfare, the US would be able to declare war. The Zimmermann Note was another main cause that led up the US involvement in the Great War. It was intended to be a “secret” note(that obviously become not-so-secret) that would negotiate an alliance between Mexico and Germany. Germany wanted to be backed by Mexico if the US entered the war, and, confident that they would win, guaranteed Mexico the land back that they had lost in the 1840s with the Mexican cession.
After the sinking of the Sussex, a French passenger liner, by a German submarine, the Germans released the Sussex pledge. This entailed that the Germans would notify a ship before sinking it. But, it posed issues as there was always the threat that if Germans notified a allies ship that they were going to sink it, they could call upon other ships to come to their rescue and destroy the German ships.
Wilson’s obstinate idealistic terms also were how he convinced Congress to declare war and gained national support for US involvement in a war that the US public had previously wanted to stay out of. Wilson declared the Great War, a “war to end all wars,” as he sought to establish a “new world order” that was democratic which he thought would bring international peace.
The US officially declared war on Germany on April 4th, 1917 as Wilson got Congress’ approval. This was right after German submarines sank multiple US merchant ships that didn’t contain weapons.
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Interesting article that does a great job in summarizing the United States path to joining the war. I wonder, however, if it was Wilson's stubbornness that lead the United States into the war or if the issue was inevitable. Not only did the United States have vested economic interests in the Allies as their failure would be financially catastrophic, but with Unrestricted Submarine Warfare, the United States could never be sure of the safety of its citizens.
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