Public opinion reacted with outrage to the suspected German sabotage of Black Tom in Jersey City, New Jersey on 30 July 1916, and to the Kingsland explosion on 11 January 1917 in present-day Lyndhurst, New Jersey. On the other hand, Wilson came under pressure from war hawks led by former president Theodore Roosevelt, who denounced German acts as "piracy", and from British delegations under Cecil Spring Rice and Sir Edward Grey. citizens aboard, Wilson demanded an end to German attacks on passenger ships, and warned that the USA would not tolerate unrestricted submarine warfare in violation of "American rights" and of "international and obligations." Wilson's Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan, resigned, believing that the President's protests against the German use of U-boat attacks conflicted with America's official commitment to neutrality. When the German U-boat U-20 sank the British liner Lusitania on with 128 U.S. troops began arriving on the Western Front in large numbers in 1918.Ī 1915 political cartoon about the United States neutralityĪfter the war began in 1914, the United States proclaimed a policy of neutrality despite President Woodrow Wilson's antipathies against the German Empire. Wilson then asked Congress for "a war to end all wars" that would "make the world safe for democracy", and Congress voted to declare war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917. Publication of that communique outraged Americans just as German U-boats started sinking American merchant ships in the North Atlantic. The German Empire also made a secret offer to help Mexico regain territories lost in the Mexican–American War in an encoded telegram known as the Zimmermann Telegram, which was intercepted by British Intelligence. In the same year, the German Empire decided to resume unrestricted submarine warfare against any vessel approaching British waters this attempt to starve Britain into surrender was balanced against the knowledge that it would almost certainly bring the United States into the war. In 1917, with the Russian Revolution and widespread disillusionment over the war, and with Britain and France low on credit, the German Empire appeared to have the upper hand in Europe, while the Ottoman Empire clung to its possessions in the Middle East. He did, however, expand the United States Navy. Until 1917, Wilson made minimal preparations for a land war and kept the United States Army on a small peacetime footing, despite increasing demands for enhanced preparedness. President, it was Wilson who made the key policy decisions over foreign affairs: while the country was at peace, the domestic economy ran on a laissez-faire basis, with American banks making huge loans to Britain and France - funds that were in large part used to buy munitions, raw materials, and food from across the Atlantic. entry into the war.ġ917 political cartoon about the Zimmermann Telegram published in the Dallas Morning NewsĪs U.S. There was substantial public opposition to U.S. Under the leadership of President Woodrow Wilson, the war represented the climax of the Progressive Era as it sought to bring reform and democracy to the world. Armed Forces.Īfter a relatively slow start in mobilizing the economy and labor force, by spring 1918, the nation was poised to play a role in the conflict. The war saw a dramatic expansion of the United States government in an effort to harness the war effort and a significant increase in the size of the U.S. mobilized over 4 million military personnel and suffered the loss of 65,000 soldiers. American soldiers under General of the Armies John Pershing, Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), arrived at the rate of 10,000 men a day on the Western Front in the summer of 1918. made its major contributions in terms of supplies, raw material, and money, starting in 1917. had remained neutral, though it had been an important supplier to the United Kingdom, France, and the other powers of the Allies of World War I. A ceasefire and Armistice was declared on November 11, 1918. The United States declared war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917, nearly three years after World War I started.
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