In August of 1914 Europe was set ablaze with the start of World War I.Countries of the old world quickly formed sides and raced to arms. Both sides felt that there would be a quick victory and the war would be over in short order.Great Britain, France and Russian formed the core of the Allied powers and faced a determined foe in the alliance of Germany, Austro-Hungarian
Empire.On the outset of conflict The Central powers quickly gained the upper hand and raced head long into France, upon reaching the Marne River the British and French armies stopped the cold and the stalemate began.America at this time was a neutral and watched from a far as the old world ripped itself apart.It would take 3 years and five key factors to push American to
declare
…show more content…
Although, it took almost three years, by the end of 1916, most of America felt that German domination of Europe was unacceptable and must be thwarted.Backed up by important American’s like Theodore
Roosevelt, American was moving quickly to support U.S. involvement in the war.
The final nail in the coffin for American neutrality was the Zimmermann telegram. This single document, named after German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann did more to enflame U.S. sentiment about the war then almost all other reasons combined. Concerned that the resuming unrestricted submarine warfare would bring the United States into the war on the side of the
Allies, Germany began making contingency plans for this possibility. To German High
Command instructed Zimmermann to seek an alliance with Mexico.In return for attacking the
United States, Mexico was promised the return of territory lost during the Mexican-American
War including Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, as well as substantial financial assistance. In
January of 1917, British intelligence deciphered a telegram from German Foreign Minister to the
German Minister to Mexico, detailing the German offer. The telegram had such an impact