World War I

At the beginning of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson had a choice on whether or not he was suppose to enter World War I. It was a good idea for him to stay out at the beginning of the war, because the cause of the war had nothing to do with America. However, there were events during the war lead up to the United States entering the war. These events were the America’s neutrality, the Zimmerman note, and Germany’s use of U-Boats. These events forced Wilson to enter the war.

When World War I began the United States had nothing to do with it. America stayed neutral during the first three years of the war. This is because World War I interrupted international trade and the entire world’s economy. Wilson’s primary focus during his presidency was the economy. The main countries that were at war with one another were the countries that the United States did a lot of trading with. Since those countries were at war their primary focus wasn’t on trading with one another. This resulted in America’s neutrality.

In early 1917 the British intercepted a telegram from Germany to Mexico. The telegram was a note from Alfred Zimmerman discussing why Mexico should enter the war on the Central Powers side. On the note Zimmerman promised Mexico the if they and the United States entered the war and the Central Powers won Mexico would recieve the land that they had lost in the Mexico-American war. Many Americans were outraged at the fact that this could indeed happen. This was another contributing factor in America entering World War I

Germany’s use of U-boats (submarines) was the final factor in America entering the war. In 1915 Germany claimed the British waters was a War-zone. Germany claimed that they would attack any ship that entered the zone. This surely backfired on the United States and Germany. A British ship called the Lusitania was torpedoed killing 128 American passengers. This resulted in Wilson threatening to cut off diplomatic relations with Germany if the sunk another ship carrying US passengers. However, when 2 Americans were injured by Germans the Sussex pledge was devised. This pledge was so that Germany wouldn’t sink passenger ships without a significant warning. Unfortunately this didn’t last long, because the Germans began using the U-boats once again in 1917 which was a primary factor in the US entering the war.

Initially, President Woodrow Wilson had a choice on whether or not the US would enter the war. World War I had nothing to do with the United States. Events regarding the United States during the war forced Wilson into entering the war. These events were America’s neutrality, the Zimmerman note, and Germany’s use of U-boats. That’s why Wilson had no choice on whether or not the US would enter the war.