DBQ

World War I began and ended with the United States. Even though the United States officially entered the war two years after the war began the United States were still somewhat involved. The Americans could have said that they were neutral and convinced themselves that they were neutral, but in actuality they weren’t. There were specific and events general events that lead up to the US entering the war.

Some specific events involving the United States proved that they weren’t neutral. Those events were the use of German U-boats, the sinking of the Lusitania, the Sussex pledge, the Zimmerman note, and the Russian Revolution. While the US was trading with the Allies German U-boats sunk the Lusitania, an American ship. This caused tension between the US and Germany, which resulted in the Sussex pledge. Another factor Arthur Zimmerman promising lost land to Mexico from the United States, and Russia preserving Democracy in the Russian Revolution.

There were three factors that tried to prove that the US were neutral. those acts were: not lending money, British blockage, and William Jennings Bryan’s resigning. A US policy mandated that the US would not lend any money to the Allies nor Central Powers. Unfortunately this policy was broken once J.P. Morgan loaned money to France who was on the Allies side. Another factor was British blockage. The British seized any and all ships that they thought would be carrying contraband to the Central Powers. The US declared that in violation of the international shipping law. This was because the US wanted to trade with everyone. William Jennings Bryan resigned because he was afraid that the United States would enter the war. He knew that German U-boats, the Zimmerman note, and J.P. Morgan’s three billion dollars would force the US into war.

Hugo Munsterburg from Harvard University claimed that, “By permitting this new interpretation the United States practically supports the starving out policy of the Allies...” This is true because the United States were close to the Allies. An example of this was J.P. Morgan giving France three billion dollars. The United States had problems against Germany and the Central powers. When Germany resumed using U-boats the United States entered the war. Many events proved that the US was indeed not neutral, however they tried to do things that proved that they were.

Once World War I began the United States had nothing to do with it. They declared themselves neutral because of the fact that they didn’t have anything to do with the war. The United States were too involved with most of the warring countries prior to the war. In addition, there were too many events involving the United States with the warring countries. This lead up to the United States entering World War I.