Transcript File - History With Abbott

Beginning in 1914 Europe was at war, the
Central Powers against the Allies.
With the
outbreak of war,
President
Woodrow Wilson
advocated nonintervention and
neutrality.
America did not
want to get
involved.
1. Monroe Doctrine and U.S.
involvement in Europe
2. Economic interest in
trading with all European
nations.
3. Possible split in American
loyalty.
- Most were sympathetic to
Britain.
- Large German immigrant
population.
4. The U.S. wasn’t ready.
Despite his early position, on April 2, 1917 Wilson
addressed Congress and asked for a formal
declaration of war against the Central Powers. What
made him change his mind?
As war broke out,
U.S. businesses
hoped to work and
trade with both
sides. As orders
for weapons and
supplies poured in
from Europe, the
American economy
took off.
As such, ships filled with American goods, and American
workers were sailing across the Atlantic toward Europe.
However,
Britain set
up a
blockade
preventing
U.S.
supplies
getting to
Germany.
Why is
this a
problem?
In response to the British blockade, German UBoats began to attack ships on the Atlantic
carrying U.S. supplies to Britain.
American companies and British merchants began to
load military supplies onto passenger ships believing the
Germans would not attack ships full of innocent people.
On May 7, 1915 the British passenger ship
Lusitania was sunk by U-boats. 1,198 people
were killed including 128 Americans.
Americans were
outraged and
began to talk
about war with
Germany.
President Wilson
demanded that
Germany stop
targeting
passenger ships.
Germany responded in August, 1915 when
they sunk the British ship Arabic. Two
Americans were killed this time.
How did Wilson
respond?
He once again
demanded that
Germany stop
blowing up
passenger ships.
This time, however,
he began to suggest
that if Germany did
not comply, the U.S.
might be forced into
action.
Germany agreed
to stop blowing
up unarmed
passenger ships
without first
giving those
ships a warning.
But, in March
1916, what
happened?
German U-boats torpedoed the Sussex, a French
passenger ship.
Following the attack on the Sussex, Wilson had had
enough. If Germany did not stop attacking ships, the
U.S. would break of all relations with Germany, the first
step towards war.
How did Germany
respond?
Sussex Pledge:
- Germany would stop
blowing up passenger
and merchant ships
without first giving those
ships a warning.
- But, Germany
expected to U.S. to
convince Britain to end
the blockade of German
ports.
Wilson promptly
accepted
Germany’s
pledge. But,
what was his
problem in doing
so?
The U.S. had no way of convincing the British to
lower their blockade of German ports. As a
result, the blockade remained in effect.
By January, 1917 Germany had figured this out;
the British blockade wasn’t going away.
Germany thus declared “unrestricted
submarine warfare.”
Germany promised to blow up any ship it found
in British waters regardless of where it sailed
from or what it was carrying.
Wilson was
shocked. He still
hoped to keep the
U.S. out of the
conflict. However,
he knew that if
Germany did in fact
blow up a U.S. ship,
he would have to
choice but to
demand war.
In this growing atmosphere of tension between the U.S.
and Germany, British intelligence intercepted \a telegram
between the German foreign minister Arthur Zimmerman
and the German ambassador to Mexico.
This
telegram
became
known as
the
Zimmerman
Note.
Germany
suggested
Germany would
help Mexico
invade the United
States. When
Mexico and
Germany won
the war, Mexico
would get back
land it had lost to
American in the
1840’s.
Why did Germany do this?
Mexico rejected the German offer realizing that
war with the United States would be suicide.
Germany could offer no real military support.
The American
public was
outraged. Not
only had
Germany killed
American
civilians on the
high seas, but
now Germany
dared to threaten
the United States
itself.
As a result of:
- the British Blockade
- U-Boats
- Unrestricted submarine
warfare
- Zimmerman Note
President Wilson asked
Congress to declare war on
Germany. Congress agreed
and the U.S. officially
entered WWI on April 6,
1917.
Once the U.S. was at
war, the government
began to use
propaganda to
encourage Americans to
get involved.
The first goal was to get
Americans to give $ to
fund the war effort by
buying bonds.
If Americans
couldn’t or
wouldn’t buy
bonds, there
were still other
things they
could do to
support the war
effort.
The
government
also used
propaganda
to encourage
men to enlist
in the army.