In 1916, the German Kaiser order for sunken ships suspecting to have prohibited cargo without letting people know aboard. One of the serious attacks was the British ocean liner
There were two major events that took place that sent the United States into WWI. Before these events took place, America wanted to stay neutral with thoughts and action. On May 7, 1915, a German submarine, called U-boats, torpedoed and sank a British passenger liner Lusitania. About 1,198 lives were lost including 128 Americans. Many Americans were shocked and anger about this act and called it “mass murder and piracy”(671).
This submarine war zone promoted that they would sink all of the enemy's merchant ships if they tried to ship through the area. Wilson's responded by letting Germany know that if anything happened to the Americans ships, or people, that there would be some major
With the constant looming danger of the German navy bombing an innocent ship, the freedom of the sea was threatened. Merchants could no longer travel the oceans without the fear of being bombed - a direct menace to a country’s free trade. The bombing of the Lusitania two years prior to the war message was already a warning sign to the American people of Germany’s reckless naval power. Finally, numerous of Germany’s acts and agreements were conducted in the “insert quote” and “insert quote”.
According to Henretta, “This imbalance undercut U.S. neutrality, tying America’s economic health to Allied victory.” Germany continued to push boundaries using U-boats to sink a passenger ship, partaking in submarine warfare and attacks on U.S. ships. This forced President Hughes to take
This unknown fact of American being neutral or not, ultimately lead to the United States needing to enter World War I. Although the United States President at the time, Woodrow Wilson, explained the reasoning for the U.S. entering WWI was because of Germany’s submarine warfare, the violence toll that Germany took on America relates back to the concealed matter of the nation of the United States actually being neutral throughout the time before war
During World War I, the Germans use a fighting tactic called Unrestricted Submarine Warfare. German U-Boats, or submarines, were told to sink any ship that posed a threat, passenger or cargo, it did not matter. In a newspaper article it shows that the Lusitania was a passenger boat going from the coast of New York to Ireland that was sunk by a German submarine (“Lusitania”). The fact that Germany sunk a passenger ship without reason infuriated the Americans. As the political cartoon by Matthew Bollinger shows, President Woodrow Wilson is holding a piece of paper that says that American lives were lost on the sinking of this ship (Bollinger).
As he had wanted to start the war through democracy the sinking of the Lusitania and the 1198 people killed of which 128 were Americans also impacted the decision of going to war. However, on April 2, 1917, Wilson finally asked Congress to declare war on Germany, citing the country's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, as well as its attempts to incite Mexico to attack the U.S. Congress, declared war on Germany on April 6. In sum, the United States entered World War I primarily due to German actions that threatened American lives and interests, such as the sinking of the Lusitania, the use of submarines to attack American ships, and the Zimmermann Telegram. Additionally, economic ties, President Woodrow Wilson's belief in a moral duty to fight for democracy and self-determination, as well as to end the war quickly and end the suffering caused by the conflict played an important
America had tried hard not to get involved in European affairs and conflicts, but with our growing connections it became hard. Businessmen saw the opportunities and profitable advancements of Europe, which brought a large number of American 's overseas. Great Britain was a major trade partner with the U.S, so we were indirectly involved in their war. The Germans started sinking any British ships that came into view of their Unterseeboots, even if they were passenger or fishing vessels. When
The Imperial German Government’s purpose was to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use it’s submarines to sink every vessel. “The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind,” Woodrow Wilson mentioned in his speech. This speech was monumental because it convinced American citizens entry into the war was necessary, brought America into a devastating war, probed America was a power of the world, brought women into workplaces, and it pushed for women’s suffrage. Not every
On June 15th, The Board of Trade investigated on the ships sinking concluding that the ship was unarmed by German forces during
The United States felt secure, and felt that it did not need foreign entanglements. But in 1914 Europe was thrown into turmoil. The United States tried its endeavor best to remain isolated and out of conflict. But in 1917 the Germans sank the Lusitania, a British luxury liner, killing 128 Americans who were travelling on the ship. This action infuriated the American public and the US government.
Germany’s resumption of submarine attacks on passenger and merchant ships in 1917 became the primary motivation behind Wilson’s decision
It was not their conflict, and there was, initially, no overwhelming reason to get involved. The public, as shown in , was against engaging in the Europeans’ war. Wilson was also an advocate for neutrality. The country was not completely uninvolved; the United States was supporting the Allied Powers economically by smuggling weapons and supplies via passenger ships. When the Lusitania sank at the hands of the German U-boats, Wilson was forced to reconsider his stance.
The reason the U.S.A went into WW1 wars because a German U-boat sunk one of our ships. This was an attack on the U.S and we were not going to
