The Pros And Cons Of The United States In World War I

World War I broke out and many European nations made alliances for war, except the United States. The United States showed dissension towards the war because it didn’t create alliances till the end of the war. Daniel described dissent as “feeling apart from others”. The United States wasn’t part of the conflict in Europe until Germany

From the start of World War I in 1914 there were two different sides ,the Allied powers (which consisted of France Russia and Great Britain) ,and the Central Powers (Austria Hungary and Germany). The war began due to the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. This assassination was the straw that broke the camels back ,as tensions were already high due to militarism imperialism nationalism and the gaining of allies. At the beginning of World War I United States had a policy of neutrality ,President Woodrow Wilson said (in the message to the Senate) "every man who really loves America will speak and act in the true spirit of neutrality". The United States was afraid of getting involved in World

Wilson viewed America as a nation of peace and he wanted to preserve this view. However, as time went on, the little things the U.S did while claiming its neutrality started to matter. Germans retaliated to the U.S trade with the Allies. One thing led to another and the U.S joined the war under the Allies’

Just days before the United States breaking from neutrality the president stated that “German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind.”(Doc 5) Submarine warfare was not the only problem that caused the United States to join World War I. In 1914, just a few years before the United States joined World War I, German attacked Belgium and slaughtered hundreds of innocent men, women, and children. Belgium had remained neutral throughout the war which made this attack on Belgium even more unjustifiable. Yet another example of Germany’s unrestricted warfare was the Zimmerman telegram.

The Great War was not so great of a war even though it was given this ironic name. This war is better known as, World War I. Two main points that encouraged the United States to join the Great War was the sinking of the Lusitania and the exposing of the Zimmermann Telegram. President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany after the Zimmermann Telegram was deciphered. After analyzing plenty of documents from during that era, it could be suggested that the messages that President Woodrow Wilson encouraged the Americans to push for neutrality, while Franklin D. Roosevelt believed in the fight.

When President Wilson requested that Congress declare war on Germany, America was not ready to mobilize our troops for war. The United States  had just begun to pull itself out of recession and were not ready for a war economically. Some Americans wanted to see the fall of Germany, but did not support sending our soldiers across the ocean. Despite all this, Wilson continued to push for American contribution in the war effort. Eventually, Wilson’s tactics won over and we were able to send large amounts of reinforcements into the war.

World War I also had a huge impact on the American foreign policy. The U.S. was isolated but came out of isolationism to join the war. “... Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is involved and the freedom of its peoples…” (Document 4). In his speech, President Woodrow Wilson was telling the U.S. that we were joining the war because he wanted to keep peace in the world for democracies and their people. Another way WWI changed the U.S. foreign policy was by getting attacked and fighting back, taking us out of isolationism.

Former United States Representative, Joe Baca, states, “Pearl Harbor caused our Nation to wholeheartedly commit to winning World War II, changing the course of our Nation’s history and the world’s future.” What this quote purposely left out was how the United States needed a way out of the Great Depression. The only way out of the depression was war. Even with all the acts and plans Franklin D. Roosevelt put forth, none would truly be able to turn the economy around. Pearl Harbor was an emotional time for America; however, it was also an extremely key time for the American Government.

As much as the United States wanted to stay neutral during World War I, it proved impossible. This meant the United States had to raise the forces and money to wage war. The United States had desperately tried to stay neutral. However, ties to Britain, propaganda, the sinking ships by German U-boats, and a German attempt in the Zimmermann Note to get Mexico to declare war on the U.S pushed the United States to get involved. Thus, the President during this mayhem is the most important figure for America.

When World War I broke out, The United States were frustrated from the toll the war took on them and wanted to remain free from foreign conflicts. This

The Experience of WW1 on Australia’s home front led to all Australian men to enlist for war in support of Great Britain ‘the mother country’ meant Australia was at war. The Australian home front was affect due to many effects of WW1 such as, conscription, government power, Gallipoli .Conscription was called on in 1916 by prime minster Hughes, when the Australian army needs troops to fight in war, but there aren’t enough volunteers, he began conscription which is a law that says if you are able to fight, you have to fight. In 1916 prime minster Hughes suggested raising the numbers of Australian troops to maintain the full strength at the front line, by conscripting those who are unwilling or opposed to enlist in war. Conscription affected those

George Washington encouraged the United States to take a neutral approach, to avoid wars with nations in the future. Woodrow Wilson wanted to continue the policy of neutrality. He eventually asked Congress to declare war on Germany. The Government failed to sign the Treaty of Versailles and join the League of Nations. Many thought that joining the League of Nations would lead to war.

On April 2, 1917, the 28th president of the United States of America, Woodrow Wilson, delivered a speech before the Congress in order to declare war against Germany. This period of history represents the first worldwide conflict and opposes the Allied forces of the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and Japan against the Central Powers of Germany, Bulgaria, the Austrian-Hungarian empire, and the Ottoman empire. Woodrow Wilson involved the United States, which was originally neutral at the beginning of World War I when the Germans attacked and sank the Lusitania, a ship transporting ammunition to the allies but also American citizens. More importantly, in his speech, Woodrow Wilson explicitly states his opinion and purpose that ' 'the world must be made safe for democracy ' ' (Voices of Freedom 107) and that the immediate contribution of his nation to World War I would bring "peace and justice" (Voices of Freedom 105) to the world, as well as the end of the threatening expansion of

In the early 1900’s European countries began competing and with that they were also building strong army’s and navy’s. After a while, the United States got involved and were in need of the people’s support. It took convincing but once people got on board with the idea of going to war, war fever in the United States was at an all-time high. The United Nations had not yet been established which meant conflicts were not getting resolved. This was unlike anything the U.S. had done before.

During this period, the idea of neutrality started to change because of the fact that the U.S. was not actually staying neutral and because the lack of practicing isolationism. During the 1920s and 1930s, a lot of things were starting to be changed in the U.S. For example, we saw women gaining the right or vote and African Americans starting to be seen as equals. During the time, we also saw the Nye Committee started to investigate the claims that the arm manufacturers were pushing the U.S. into WWI for profits, which these claims were investigated but not found to be true. The First Neutrality Act that was passed, was passed in 1935 which banned the sales of goods to nations at war.