For American neutrality, Zimmerman note, Nationalism, Imperialism, and Germany’s use of unrestricted U-boat warfare was too much to bear without a fair fight. President Wilson was a peaceful man. He didn’t want to be in a war, he wanted things to be fair and equal among all the countries. His slogan in the reelection for was “He kept us out of the war”. And despite this, five months later he asked congress to declare war on Germany.
Wilson had tried his best to keep America out of the war and to calm the war down.But the other countries wouldn’t listen to him and so In the end he had no choice. When World War I broke out In Europe, Woodrow Wilson declared that the united States would stay out of European affairs and remain neutral. He issued a declaration of US neutrality and called upon Americans to support his policy by not taking sides.
He yearned that the united States would remain neutral and continue to trade with opposing nations. The united States hoped to stay clear because there was no reason for the U. S.
To interfere with European dealings.Also, Wilson was aware of the huge immigrant populations whom have come from those nations currently at war. By 1915, America was allied economically to the Allies. Willow’s craving to remain neutral was declining as America drew closer to France and Britain. The formations of secret alliances were now being made. European countries led us to the creation of these so called hostile alliances. The two major groups were Central Powers and the Triple Alliance (allies).
The Central Powers were composed of Germany, Austria-Hungry, and the Ottoman Empire.However, later on Bulgaria and Turkey Joined the central Powers. As for the Triple Alliance, France, Britain, and Russia made this group up. Later on, just like in the Central Powers more countries joined in with the Triple Alliance and those entries would be the united States, Italy, and Japan. Militarism was one of America’s top reasons for joining in on the war. Materialism was basically the building of large armies. All the nations in Europe at that time were engaged in what today could only be called an arms race.
As soon as one nation built a new weapon, all the others followed suit.Now in the sass Britain was known for having the largest naval force. However, Germany wanted to have the biggest naval force so they started an arms race with Britain. Germany created a warship known as the “dreadnought” and Brutal made an “HAMS dreadnought”. This continued to cause rather conflict between the two countries, and soon started a whole new definition to war materials/weapons. With innovative forms of manufacturing such as the warfare. This mass production caused for a greater number of compatible weapons being produced.
In addition to advancements in arms such as the rifle which altered from the musket to a light automatic rifle, flame throwers, tanks, gas and machine guns were now being used on the battle field. New technology accounted for the numerous numbers of deaths never before seen in warfare. The improvements of technology were without the advancements in battle field maneuvers. Previous wars were fought in a volley line rather than patrolling tactics seen in WWW, Vietnam and today. This created many deaths on both sides early in the war. As the war progressed, tactics did change.Trenches were built and a no man’s land was the result.
As these trenches were ploughed, a stalemate caused any advancements of development at this stage in the war. Soon the machine gun became a defensive weapon rather than an offensive weapon, as it was used to stop offensive enemy troops across this no man’s land. Gas was used infinitely by both sides in an effort to triumph over the trenches. If any trench was taken by an opposing force, a succeeding trench was dug Just meters behind the one taken, making advancements longstanding and difficult. In this process many troops lost their lives, more so than any other war.U-boats were military submarines used by Germany in the war as a weapon. When the German Chancellor Bateman Hollowed proclaimed Germany’s purpose to use unrestricted submarine warfare, his one main concern was that it would aggravate an American response – in this he was to be precise.
By 1917, the war was not going okay for Germany on the Western Front. Unrestricted submarine warfare was an outcome of anxiety and the belief that the fierceness of such a tactic might Just keep America out of the war if the outcomes were remarkable and outrageous enough.On May 7th 1915, German U-boats, patrolling in the Atlantic Ocean, fired torpedoes at the British ship the Louisiana, sinking her in 20 minutes. On the ship were 128 Americans. President Wilson, demanded that Germany stop attacking passenger ships, and declared that America was too proud to fight. Wilson also tried to mediate a compromise settlement but failed. Wilson also repeatedly warned that America would not tolerate unrestricted penumbrae warfare, as it was in violation to American ideas of human rights.
Wilson was under great pressure from former president Theodore Roosevelt, who denounced German “piracy” and Willow’s cowardice. In January 1917, Germany announced it would destroy all ships heading to Britain. Although Wilson broke off diplomatic ties with Germany, he still hoped to avoid war by arming merchant ships as a warning. Nevertheless, Germany began sinking American ships instantly. On June 6th, 191 5, Wilhelm II ordered that all large passenger liners, whether neutral or not, must not be attacked. On August 19th, the ‘Arabic’, a British liner, was sunk without any form of warning being given.Two Americans died.
The Kaiser then ordered that no passenger liner was to be attacked until all the crew and passengers had been given the chance to escape. In September 191 5, Wilhelm changed his naval chief of staff. Vice-Admiral Buchanan was replaced by Admiral von Wholehearted, a senior German naval officer who was supportive of Bateman Hollowed point of view. On September 18th, Wholehearted ordered that all U-boats had to adopt the ‘cruiser’ system of warfare meaning, coming to the surface before attacking a ship.Wilson as a response of actions taken by the British government over which the Americans had no control. In February 1917, British cleverness gave the United States government a decoded telegram from Germany’s foreign minister, Arthur Zimmerman that had been stopped en route to his ambassador to Mexico. Germany had sent a memo to Mexico asking them to declare war on the United States alongside Germany if Germany decided to.
In exchange they would help Mexico acquire Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. But before the message could reach them, the British intercepted it and decoded it and showed it to America.The British also intercepted and decoded another message from Germany to Japan and Mexico this time asking them to declare war on the U. S. America was not happy about these things but they still waited to declare war. It would have clearly been unreasonable and foolish for Wilson to Join with the Central Powers after all the damage they caused. America already had good ties with France and Britain so it made sense for them to Join allies.
Seeing as Germany had plans to declare war on America there would be no since in trying to persuade them we want to fight on their side.With all he underhanded moves Germany has played on America such as the U-boat warfare and Zimmerman note left America with no choice. However, in the end we won being in the Triple Alliance and the Central Powers went down giving the Triple Alliance in complete control of Germany’s punishment. All in all Wilson successfully guided us through WWW and was able to do a little for himself such as presenting his fourteen point plan. Joining the Triple Alliance was a very good idea for America to take in that time and day, and was one of the only choices we had if we wanted to keep our country alive and strong.
